Journal - Comune di Monteleone di Spoleto

V.8 Central panel, detail
of the Boeotian shield
V.9 Central panel, detail
of the helmet
70
evidence of modern solder repairs remains on the interior
surface.
Technical observations. The curved border of the panel is
modeled to fit the now-lost wooden rail to which it was
originally attached with nine nails placed at regular intervals.
The edging (cat. 1b) runs from the top of the curve to
almost halfway down the side. The edge is flat and irregular
in the lower half where the front panel is joined to the
bronze side panels; there are some holes for nails, either
reused or made ex novo in modern times. an opening was
cut in the bottom center of the panel in antiquity for what
was certainly a wooden element, now lost (see the observations
on the boar protome [cat. 2a] and Section iii.a).
The reliefs were produced in the repoussé technique
from the inside. The most important forms, such as the figures,
shield, and helmet, are in the highest relief, while secondary
elements, such as the deer and the birds of prey, are
in lower relief. in the devices on the shield, the bronze sheet
is worked so thin that a negative image of the decoration
traced on the obverse is visible on the reverse.
The incised lines were executed by repeatedly hammering
a tracing tool held at an oblique angle (Figures iii.11,
iii.12). The triangular shape of the toolmark is a result of the
angle at which the tracer was held against the metal surface.
it is deeper at the wide end of the triangle and shallower
at the tip. Thus, the more acute the angle, the shorter the
triangle. The tool did not leave separate strokes; instead,