Prethodno priopćenje
Preliminary Report About Fragments of Wall and Ceiling Decoration From the Castropola 40 Site at Pula
Astrid Mirjana Majkić
orcid.org/0000-0002-1278-7256
Sažetak
Numerous wall and ceiling decoration fragments
were discovered in the course of rescue archaeological
excavations that were executed on three separate
occasions between 2004 and 2005. The Castropola 40
site is located in the old, upper section of the town of Pula
(Fig. 1). The construction site, i.e. garden in which the
excavations were carried out, is separated from Castropola
Street by a tall wall. In Layer III, at a depth of 1.40
to 2.60 m, we unearthed a Roman and Late Roman
structure containing a fireplace, as well as a medieval ramp
(Fig. 2 - 4) that was leant against the wall remnants, and
conducted towards the upper section of a terrace, i.e. to
the foot of the Kaštel hillock. The discovered structure
is trapezoidal in shape and features a preserved eastern
and southern wall, where a larger number of fragments
of painted plaster were excavated, which did not belong
to said structure but were used as fill for a medieval ramp
erected at a later date.
Taking into account that we are still performing
restoration works on these fragments, we were only able
to partially explore two separate wholes, and we made
an attempt to classify these finds based on their formal
characteristics. In this work we only showed the most
important decorative motifs that, we believe, pertain to
the oldest and the youngest phases of wall and ceiling
decoration. We are, therefore, talking about two separate
wholes dealing with either walls or ceilings.
Into the first whole representing wall decoration,
which is also believed to be the oldest, we placed ten
fragments (Fig. 5 - 14, A 43096/1, A 43096/2, A 43097,
A 43098/1, A 43098/2, A 43099, A 30902, A 30903,
A 30904, A 30905). These fragments were classed on
the basis of the background color: black - underneath
which red paint was applied (a red background is not
visible on fragments A 43097, A 43099 and A 30905),
and red background (both background colors present
on A 30902), as well as chromatic analogies of different
stylized floral motifs and volutes, leaves, perhaps part of a
flower bud (?), and linear motifs painted with an ocheryellow
color. All motifs were carefully executed with a
paintbrush in freehand, using ocher-yellow on a black
background on which no traces of anterior preparatory coats were observed. When executing floral motifs and
volutes, special care was dedicated to the interaction of
light and shadow, all of which was achieved by painting
with darker and lighter ocher-yellow nuances, which
gives an impression of volume. The miniaturist quality of
the executed motifs, which corresponds to the taste of the
third style, gives them a specific aspect. The mentioned
fragments are further characterized by straight-line strokes
that fail to transmit a realistic depiction of things; a wall is
shown as a flat surface devoid of any sense of perspective.
A black background in combination with ocher-yellow,
featuring miniaturist motifs, points to the period of the
third style due to a greater use of black. As the use of
yellow increased in the fourth style, it is possible to date
the mentioned wall decoration fragments into the period
before the end of the third style, i.e. approximately to the
middle of the 1st century AD.
Fragments of ceiling decoration belong to the second
whole, where only the most characteristic motifs are
shown. The first group of motifs (Fig. 15 - 19, A 43069-1,
A 43069-2, A 43071/a-c, A 43072/a-c, A 30910-2) is
characterized by the use of green and red on a white
background. A motif resembling an upside-down letter
“V”, up to which small stylized green leaves are depicted,
reminds us of embroidered borders of the fourth style.
Included in the second group of motifs (Fig. 20 - 23,
A 43075/3-6) are stylized yet very simple, crude
green garlands resembling a fishbone motif on a white
background. The leaves are mostly elongated at the edges,
and rounded on fragment A 43075/3. Included in the
third group of ceiling decoration motifs are fragments
(Fig. 24 - 25, A 43088/a - c, A 43090/1) characterized
by a white background, depicted on which are stylized
garlands with varicolored (red, green, pale yellow, orange),
small-sized, thick foliage, pale yellow dots are sometimes
located above this foliage, whereas fragments (Fig. 26,
A 43091/1) featuring a branch motif (?) and a pale
yellow bud (?) belong into the fourth group. Ceiling
fragments featuring depictions of garlands belong into
the group of simple, schematic forms. It is not possible
to discover precise analogies because the motif is subject
to individual variants. Ceiling fragments from an early
Christian basilica at Bare (Narona), with depictions of
stylized garlands connected with a circular motif, were
dated to the beginning of the 3rd century. Located in
Panfilo’s catacomb are red-brown stylized garlands that
bear resemblance to the example executed on fragment
A 43075/3, dated to the first half of the 3rd century.
The palette of colors employed for ceiling decoration
is limited to green and red, the background being white,
and these are the characteristics of the so-called “red and green linear style” (that begins from the second half of the
2nd century and lasts until the middle of the 4th century).
Green is a predominant color used to depict garland
motifs as well as those in the shape of the inverted letter
“V”, red follows, which was used to border panels and
to depict polychrome garlands, and at the end we have
pale-yellow and orange used to execute details, e.g. small
foliage, dots and buds.
We are at present not in a position to detect any
precise analogies due to the fact that the fragments were
discovered in rubble and were employed as fill for the
erection of a later-date medieval ramp. We can therefore
assume that only a detailed analysis of all the discovered
fragments will shed more light onto the artistic and technical qualities of the decorative methods.
Ključne riječi
wall decoration; ceiling decoration; third style; Pula; 3rd century
Hrčak ID:
63483
URI
Datum izdavanja:
19.11.2010.
Posjeta: 2.290 *