Ancient Plaster

Abbey Ellis is based at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, where she has served as a Research Associate in the Krateros Squeeze Digitization Project and as a Visitor in the School of Historical Studies. Her research considers ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, plaster casts ancient and modern, and historic reproductions more generally. In 2021, she was awarded her Ph.D. by the University of Leicester’s School of Museum Studies. Her Ph.D. project focused on issues of value related to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford’s collection of archaeological plaster casts. In addition to her work at the Institute, she is a Guest Lecturer at the Princeton Academy of Art. Emma Payne is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Classics, King’s College London, where she also completed a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship (2018–2021), exploring the making of ancient Greek and Roman stone and plaster sculpture. She completed her PhD in 2017 at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, studying the archaeological and historical significances of casts of classical sculpture. She is the author of Casting the Parthenon Sculptures from the Eighteenth Century to the Digital Age (Bloomsbury, 2021). Before her PhD, she trained as a conservator of archaeological and museum objects through which she gained a keen practical awareness of the materiality of objects. She presently works on a number of archaeological conservation projects as a freelance conservator, mainly in the southeast of England.

Ancient Plater adds significantly to the growing academic literature on plaster casts and their importance in the reception of Greek and Roman antiquity.

• Notes on Contributors AcknowledgementsIntroduction ABBEY L. R. ELLIS AND EMMA M. PAYNEPart I Modelling and Moulding in Plaster 1 Freehand Modelling with Lime Plaster CLARE VENABLES2 Lime Kilns and Plaster Production BETH MUNRO3 Thoughts on the Disposition of the 1983 Cache of Plaster Figures from ‘Ayn Ghazal, Jordan KATHRYN WALKER TUBB4 The Material Behind the Masterpiece: Plaster and the Production of Greek and Roman Chryselephantine Statues KENNETH LAPATIN5 Sculpting with Plaster at Dura-Europos EMMA M. PAYNE6 Discussing Middle Byzantine Stucco Production: The Case of Hosios Loukas FLAVIA VANNIPart II Plaster in the Sculptor’s Workshop 7 Plaster Piece-Moulding THOMAS SCHELPER8 In the Workshop of an Ancient Egyptian Sculptor: The Estate of the Chief Royal Sculptor Thutmose At Akhet-Aten – Amarna DIMITRI LABOURY9 Plaster Casts and the Transmission of Iconography: A Central Asian Perspective RACHEL MAIRS AND LAUREN MORRIS10 Italy, France, and the Origin of the Full-scale Plaster Model ECKART MARCHAND11 Did Roman Marble Sculptors Work from Plaster Models? The Baiae Plaster Casts in Context AMANDA CLARIDGE12 The Function of Ancient Plaster Casts from Metalworks: A Reconsideration ABBEY L. R. ELLIS13 Plaster Moulds for Stone Sculpture THOMAS MERRETT AND EMMA PAYNEPart III Life Casting in the Classical World 14 Life Casting in Antiquity: A Sculptor’s Perspective NIGEL KONSTAM15 Plaster Life Casting and the Production of Bronze Statuary in Ancient Greece: The Early Classical Revolution W. ALEXANDER LUMSDEN AND CAROL MATTUSCH16 Roman Non-elite Plaster Death Mask Moulds Revisited: Practicality, Purpose, and Memory preservation KELSEY SHAWN MADDENPart IV Ancient Subjects, Modern Eyes 17 Modern Life Casting MARTIN HANSON18 Flexible Casting Techniques through History MARIAM SONNTAG19 Casting from Life: A Delicate Matter VERONIKA TOCHA20 We Contemporize, They Persist CHRIS DORSETTIndex