09-29-2013, 10:39 AM
Mary Beard mentions an interesting fresco in the British Museum Pompeii Exhibition which I didn't know about before.
So it evidently depicts two guys playing dice. One gets angry, yells some names, and they both get tossed out by the landlord.
Now if you look at the bottom of the chair legs, what is that? Is it supposed to depict shadows? Shadows seem to be very rare in frescoes or any other sort of image, so this would be unusual. Or does this show chairs with some flat portion at the ends, almost like feet at the end of legs? I remember seeing some ornamental feet on Roman furniture, but these seem to be pretty big. How do you interpret this?
[attachment=8063]Pompeiifrescobarfight.jpg[/attachment]
So it evidently depicts two guys playing dice. One gets angry, yells some names, and they both get tossed out by the landlord.
Now if you look at the bottom of the chair legs, what is that? Is it supposed to depict shadows? Shadows seem to be very rare in frescoes or any other sort of image, so this would be unusual. Or does this show chairs with some flat portion at the ends, almost like feet at the end of legs? I remember seeing some ornamental feet on Roman furniture, but these seem to be pretty big. How do you interpret this?
[attachment=8063]Pompeiifrescobarfight.jpg[/attachment]
David J. Cord
www.davidcord.com
www.davidcord.com