Scope and Content of Collection

An assembled collection of modern photographs of ancient works of the minor arts, chiefly from the Greek and Roman periods, Greek Archaic through the late Roman Empire (6th century BC-6th century AD). Object types include: arms and armor, athletic equipment, furniture, jewelry, lamps, loomweights, masks, mirrors, models, molds, musical instruments, ornaments and appliqués, scales and weights, seals and stamps, textiles, toys, utilitarian objects, vessels, and votive objects.

The collection contains photographs from numerous sources, including commercial vendors and photographers, museum collections, auction houses, research institutions' archives, and scholars' archives and collections. Of particular importance are the photographs reproducing the contents of the James Tassie collection of casts of ancient gems at the Victoria and Albert Museum. One of the few sets of photographs documenting this collection, this corpus is important for the study of ancient gems, the history of gem collecting, iconographic sources of neoclassical images, and the formation of 18th century taste.

Significant scholars' archives contained in the collection include those of Giovanni Becatti and Ludwig Goldscheider. In addition, the collection contains selected prints of objects found in excavations carried out by Bryn Mawr College at Murlo, Italy; other photos were acquired from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Among commercial vendors and photographers, the most important sources are Alinari (including the Anderson and Brogi archives), Bildarchiv Foto Marburg, Bulloz, Christie's, Photographie Giraudon, Hirmer Verlag, Sotheby's, Max Hutzel, Barbara Bini, Alison Frantz, and Emile Serafis.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by object type, form, culture, and location (city, museum).