Twelve artifacts in bronze are being restored thanks to the generous donation of Michigan Patron Cristina Cameron. The Vatican Museums’ restorers tell us that the twelve bronze items belong to the category of instrumentum domesticum; a category that includes the vast and varied set of items that illustrate everyday life in the ancient world. Ten of the pieces are in the collection of the Profane Museum, and two are in the Christian Museum. 

Most of these objects are, in fact, from the height of the Roman period. However, one item, the kyathos (inv. 65659) stands out as being datable to between the III and IV centuries B.C.  This item is a typical product of the Etruscan environment as an integral part of the banquet instrumentum. The kaythos was used for pouring wine and transferring it to libation vases. The remaining pieces of the Profane Museum represent the attachments of the container for oil lamps, configured in the form of human and gorgon faces, theatrical masks, erotes, palmette, and Attis’s head. 

The Christian Museum items include an oil lamp in the shape of a peacock (inv. 60910 ), an animal closely connected to the symbol of light. It was a donated in 1887, at the bequest of Card. Domenico Bartolini. The artifact was acquired on his Oriental travels and it is of probable Egyptian manufacture.  Recent studies suggest it is from VI-VII century A.D.

With respect to their preservation, these items are in a compromised state. The original sheen one would expect to find on this type of artifact is no longer visible because they have been covered by thick dark-colored sediment, a byproduct of corrosion.

The eleven sconces and the oil lamp are in a reasonably good state of preservation, although the surfaces appear to have not undergone restoration. They require a cleaning intervention because of incrustations and light corrosions. Restorers will provide a final consolidation to protect the works.

Below are images of five of the twelve artifacts.  Please click on any one to launch the slideshow.