Ankle player
The knuckle player is a type of Hellenistic sculpture that has come down to us in six Roman copies.
All versions of the statue have the same basic attitude. Shown is a woman who sits on the floor with her legs drawn up, supports herself with her left hand and has just thrown two ankles ( astragals ) with her right hand . The left hand covers two other knuckles. The woman is dressed in a thin chiton that is belted around her waist. The item of clothing has slipped down from the left shoulder to the elbow and shows part of the left half of the body unclothed. The nudity lifts the sitter from the sphere of the living to an ideal, divine level.
Venus with the shell
The Venus with the Shell owned in the 17th century's most famous antiquities. The girl depicted was given a shell in the hand of a contemporary restorer instead of the ankle. The statue was in the Villa Borghese , Johann Joachim Winckelmann called it the " naked woman of the Villa Borghese ". The original is now in the Louvre in Paris (inventory number MA 18). The statue came here with many other works from Villa Borghese at the pressure of Napoleon , who forced the owner of the collection, Duke Camillo Borghese , who became his brother-in-law through his marriage to Pauline Bonaparte , to sell. Over time, the original became less well known than a marble copy that Louis XIV had made for Versailles .
In the middle of the 18th century, both the original and the copy were almost forgotten as a newer, better quality statue was discovered.
Knuckle player in the Antikensammlung Berlin
This new statue was found on the Caelius in 1730 . It ended up in the collection of Cardinal Melchior de Polignac . In 1742 the knuckle player and other pieces from the collection were acquired by Friedrich II for his residence in Sanssouci . Today it is in the Berlin Collection of Antiquities (inventory number Sk 494).
What is special about this version of the statue from the Antonine period - towards the end of the 2nd century - is that, contrary to other well-known examples of the statue, it is not an adult, but an adolescent girl. The portrait is individually designed, which suggests that a deceased girl is depicted. The statue apparently belonged to the girl's grave, which explains the portrayal. Due to the individuality of the presentation, this variant of the ankle player is unique.
Two things stand out about the 70 centimeter high statue: on the one hand the melon hairstyle, which was particularly widespread at the time the statue was created, and on the other hand the facial expression of the girl. It is often stated in the literature that the girl concentrates intensely on the game. But if you follow the statue's gaze, you will see that it is not directed at the game. The gentle facial expression does not show interest in the game, but rather a melancholy absence.
The Roman replica is not infrequently felt - despite its character as a recreation of a Hellenistic original and genre motif - as something unique in its successful form.
The statue was added to the neck and torso. Among others, the sculptors Wilhelm Jacobi and Moritz Daniel Oppenheim created modern copies.
Knuckle players in the British Museum and in Göttingen
In October 1765 another variant of the ankle player was found in two copies in the Vigna Verospi near Porta Salaria on the grounds of the Villa des Sallust in Rome . One specimen ended up in the British Museum in London via the collection of Charles Townley , the other was acquired by Count Wallmoden . A plaster cast of this statue has been in the cast collection of the University of Göttingen as a gift from Count Wallmoden since 1781 , and the original has also been there on permanent loan since 1979. The woman depicted here looks older than the Berlin knuckle player. A sixth copy is now in the Albertinum in Dresden.
Copy in Tiefurt Castle
On the veranda of Tiefurt Castle near Weimar is a copy of the ankle player made by court sculptor Martin Gottlieb Klauer around 1790 .
literature
- Max Kunze : ankle player. In: The antique collection in the Pergamon Museum and in Charlottenburg. von Zabern, Mainz 1992, ISBN 3-8053-1187-7 , pp. 243–245.
- Wolfgang Maßmann: Different times, different views: the restoration of the Berlin knuckle player. In: Yearbook of the Berlin museums. Vol. 40, 1998, pp. 199-205.
- Katrin Schade: The two faces of the Berlin knuckle player. In: Yearbook of the Berlin museums. Vol. 40, 1998, pp. 188-198.
- Kathrin Schade: The ankle player in Berlin and related girl statues. In: Adolf Borbein (Hrsg.): Antike Plastik. Delivery 27. Hirmer, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-7774-8510-1 , pp. 91-110.
Web links
- Internet catalog of the Berlin sculptures in the archaeological database Arachne .
Remarks
- ↑ Kunze 1992, p. 243.
- ^ Johann Joachim Winckelmann: Letters. Volume 1: 1742-1759. Critical-historical complete edition with the support of the German Archaeological Institute. Edited by Walther Rehm in conjunction with Hans Diepolder . de Gruyter, Berlin 1952, p. 76.
- ↑ For example Kunze 1992, p. 245.
- ^ For example by Elisabeth Rohde : Greek and Roman Art in the Museums in Berlin. Henschelverlag, Berlin 1968, p. 115: The child's head with the so-called melon hairstyle has been brought into such a harmonious harmony with the body by the artist that one perceives the work as a thoroughly unified whole.
- ^ Anja Klöckner: Reception of antiquities with Moritz Daniel Oppenheim. ( Memento of the original from January 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Magazin forschung 2/2001, pp. 64–72.
- ↑ Illustration of the plaster cast
- ↑ On these and other copies of the type cf. the exhibition catalog D'après l'antique. Paris, Musée du Louvre, October 16, 2000 - January 15, 2001. Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-7118-4040-9 , pp. 322–333.
