Copper engraving of an ancient Roman lamp depicting the Capitoline triad as Juno and Minerva with Zeus represented as an eagle

Copper engraving of an ancient Roman lamp depicting the Capitoline triad as Juno and Minerva with Zeus represented as an eagle in one of the earliest publications to record findings at Herculaneum published in 1757.

Printed in eight volumes, the Antichità di Ercolano shows objects from all the excavations the Bourbons undertook around the Gulf of Naples. These include Pompeii, Stabiae, and two sites in Herculaneum: Resina and Portici. The first four volumes depict paintings. The fifth volume, published in 1767, was devoted to bronze busts. Another volume on bronze statues was issued in 1771. Another volume on paintings came out in 1779 and the last volume, published in 1792, depicted lamps and candelabras. However, none of the volumes include depictions of marbles recovered from the site.



Image: Elaborate eagle lamp from Herculaneum as sketched and printed in volume 8 of Le Antichità di Ercolano, 1757-1792 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Note: I thought it interesting that the lamp resembles the gold pectoral I posted about on December 23. In the engraving, Zeus is represented only by the eagle on the lamp. The pectoral had both the eagle and a bust of Zeus but if you look closely at the pectoral, the bust of Zeus appears to be separate and could have been added later. This could have been a popular design that carried through subsequent centuries as the lamp would have been produced before 79 CE and the pectoral was dated between the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. But with no provenance for the pectoral, it makes me a little skeptical of the date after finding the image of the lamp.

If you wish to see more engravings of findings by the Bourbons you can see more of them here:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Le_Antichit%C3%A0_di_Ercolano

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