Journal - Comune di Monteleone di Spoleto

iii.29
details of the toolmarks on the monteleone chariot:
iii.29 on the spots of the panther on the proper right
panel. iii.30 on the hair of the fallen warrior on the
proper right panel. iii.31 on the hair of the woman
on the proper left panel. iii.32 on the hair of the
proper left kouros. iii.33 on the leg of the bird on the
left on the central panel
54
iii.30 iii.31
iii.32 iii.33
The second method uses a pointed tracing tool like a
screwdriver that makes the marks observed in the tracing on
the monteleone chariot. The tool is held obliquely and the
single strokes create a triangular pattern. each stroke is
deeper at the base and shallower at the tip, which is covered
by the next stroke, thereby forming an imbricated line
(Figures iii.12, iii.14, iii.42). The final result is an uninterrupted
traced line made of deliberately visible strokes, the
more precise the work the more distinguishable the strokes.
Here, the craftsman’s skill lies not in the evenness of the
traced lines but in the dazzling effects of reflected light.
Thus even the smallest curves, which could have been fashioned
more easily and rapidly with a curved punching tool,
are meticulously traced with the same straight pointed tool
as all the other lines.
The first technique appears on the large bronze front
panel and eagle head of the chariot from the Via appia
antica, which is chronologically closest to the monteleone
chariot. 55 it was also used on the panels of the slightly older
Castel San mariano cart, 56 as well as the panels of the more
recent chariots i and ii, the sphyrelata (wooden statues covered
in bronze), and other bronzes from the same complex
that i was able to examine in the museo nazionale
dell’umbria in Perugia. 57 Furthermore, the same technique
was used on the cart in Tomb Xi of the eretum necropolis in
Sabina Tiberina, which dates to the last quarter of the seventh
century B.C. 58 other scholars have observed this technique
on contemporary and later etruscan and italic
bronzes. 59 none of the few studies of archaic etruscan-italic
tools has compared them with tools from other areas. nor
have i investigated them systematically. nonetheless, every
example of traced line work securely identifiable by me and
others as etruscan-italic indicates a hull-shaped point. The
point used on the monteleone chariot is definitely different.
The second method, the method used on the monteleone
chariot, has so far not been adequately studied. 60 it appears
on some bronze vessels thought to come from a rhodian
workshop. among those from italy, i call attention to a
phiale from the Saline at Tarquinia, now in the louvre. 61 The
phiale seems to show the same toolmarks and procedure
for fashioning curved lines, such as the fronds of the palmettes.
The master craftsmen of the monteleone chariot and
of the phiale from the Saline both started working from the
center of a curve, then continued outward in a clockwise