Two cnidian plastic vessels of the 2nd century ad from the collection of the state historical museum: technological research

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Abstract

The article considers two textbook-famous Cnidian plastic vessels from the collection of the State Historical Museum in Moscow. One of them, shaped as a ram, comes from the excavations of N.I. Veselovsky in the Kuban region, the second one – a lagynos with erotic scenes on its body – was found by I.I. Gushchina at the Late Scythian burial ground Belbek IV in the Southwestern Crimea. As part of a project to do research on monuments of the classical period from the State Historical Museum collection, an X-ray tomographic study of these vessels was conducted at the National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”, which made it possible to clarify the technology of their manufacture.

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About the authors

Denis V. Zhuravlev

State Historical Museum; National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”

Author for correspondence.
Email: denzhuravlev@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

Polina V. Guryeva

National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”

Email: Gureva_PV@nrcki.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

Ekaterina S. Kovalenko

National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”

Email: Kovalenko_ES@nrcki.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

Elena Yu. Tereschenko

National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”

Email: elenatereschenko@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

Ekaterina B. Yatsishina

National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”

Email: Yatsishina_eb@nrcki.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

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2. Fig. 1. The ram-shaped plastic vessel. Mound 9 near the village of Tiflisskaya. Excavations by N.I. Veselovsky. First half of the 2nd century AD. Photo by I.A. Sedenkov

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3. Fig. 2. The lagynos from the Belbek IV burial ground. The middle – second half of the 2nd century AD. Photo by I.A. Sedenkov

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4. Fig. 3. Three-dimensional representation of various features of the ram-shaped plastic vessel based on the results of X-ray tomography: a – the location of defects (cavities and cracks) in the vessel walls, б – model of the inner surface of the vessel for the front side, в – model of the inner surface for the back side. 1 – cracks, 2 – possible traces of smoothing of the vertical joint on the body, 3 – an internal cordon in the area of contact between the head and neck

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5. Fig. 4. X-ray tomographic sections of the ram-shaped plastic vessel: a – an area of ceramic loss in the lower left part of the base filled with restoration composition; б – a fragment of a vertical joint between the right and left sides of the vessel head; в – protrusion of material in the contact area between the right and left parts of the body; г – cross-section cutting the bottom of the vessel. 1 – an area of ceramic loss, 2 – cracks, 3 – surface coating, 4 – cavities in the areas of joining structural parts, 5 – protrusion of material, 6 – an area of attachment of the bottom to the lower part of the base

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6. Fig. 5. Construction of the handle and neck of the ram-shaped plastic vessel based on the results of X-ray tomography: a – attachment of the handle to the body; б – attachment of the neck to the body; в – tomographic section cutting the vessel neck. 1 – an external fragment of the handle; 2 – an internal fragment of the handle; 3 – a partially preserved overlaid fragment of the handle; 4 – longitudinal cavities inside the handle; 5 – an internal cordon in the area of joining the head and neck, 6 – cavities in the areas of joining the right and left parts of the neck

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7. Fig. 6. Results of X-ray tomography of the lagynos: a – the location of cavities inside the vessel walls; б – large cavities in the areas where the handle and head are attached; в – the area of the head attachment to the body showing the secant plane location; г – attachment of the handle to the body. 1 – cavities between the upper fragment of the body and the head; 2 – the handle; 3 – the back wall of the head; 4 – the upper part of the body; 5 – an additional wedge-shaped fragment of paste for the handle attachment; 6 – cavities between the handle and the head; 7 – a cavity between the wedge-shaped fragment and the handle; 8 – longitudinal cavities inside the handle

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8. Fig. 7. Construction of the lagynos head and neck based on the results of X-ray tomography: a-б – the area of joining two parts of the head (the location of the secant planes is shown); в – three-dimensional representation of the inner surface of the head front. 1 – a protrusion in the area of joining the right and left parts of the head; 2 – an internal cordon in the area of contact between the head and neck of the vessel

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9. Fig. 8. Construction of the lagynos body based on the results of X-ray tomography: the joint between the upper and lower segments of the body shown in the tomographic section (a) and models of the internal surface (б); areas for attaching decorative elements at the bottom of the vessel (в–г), the position of the secant plane is shown in (д). 1 – coiling in the area of joining the upper and lower segments of the body; 2 – bending of material around the hole in the upper part of the body; 3 – elongated cavities between parts of decorative elements located on the bottom

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