Ivory Etruscan folding stool restored – History Blog

Etruscan Sella Curulis, an ivory in the 6th century BC, sat there while exercising his formal duties, has been newly restored and exhibited at the Citizen Archaeological Museum in the city of Bologna in northern Italy. The new recovery fixes mistakes made in the first two interventions, eliminating the glue that damages ancient ivory and puts the debris back into a more reasonable configuration.

The ancient city of Felsina was founded by the Etruscans in the 6th century BC in the seat of modern Bogna. Elder Pliny in his Natural History That is “Prince Etruscan”, the main city in Istruria today. Etruscan Felsina was conquered by the Celtic Bowy tribe in 390 BC, who renamed it Bononi after themselves, even in 193 the Boyes were defeated by Rome.

The stool was found in 1887 on the land of Giardino Margherita Park in the heart of Bologna. Before the park opened in 1879, archaeological excavations discovered a large Etruscan cemetery of 172 graves. During the construction of the new gazebo at the 1888 Emilia exhibition, 173 of the graves were found, which contained a rich cemetery supplement, including large fragments of Greek vases, jewelry and ivory seats in different forms.

It consists of two pairs of legs crossed by an X-shaped cross and is connected by a metal pin and a side cross plug-in. The seat is secured to the cross table and may be made of leather. Small seats or stools made of wood are well represented in Etruscan archaeology, but ivory is unusually rare and is of the highest quality workmanship. This shows that the chair is placed in the Magistrate’s grave.

The entire stool is covered in an effective ivory board, and this choice makes it a commonly standard object in Northern Etruria. Ivory is a luxury, usually imported from Africa or Asia, for small cults or personal decorations. It is used for a piece of furniture, and for daily use, which shows the extraordinary rank of the dead.

The assumption made by scholars is that the owner of the grave may be a senior magistrate in the Filson Etruscan community, whose authority is also manifested through material symbols such as this. In terms of the choice of form and material, the Mediterranean influence, perhaps Greek or Anatolian.

The stool is in the display cabinet, with other tombs found in 173 tombs. The innovative interactive touch screen next to the display provides visitors with an overview of objects and repairs in three modules: a video story of the restoration process, a virtual tour of the tomb, and a 3D grave that the audience can rotate and flip.