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Writer's pictureKim Brunner

Working with a Historical Motif- Theories

Before I begin all photos of the extant Circus Cups were taken by Roberto Fortuna and Kira Ursem and have been provided to me by the Museum of Denmark.

Lines by my own hand vs the Extant Leopard

A few months ago I started down a journey to reproduce a 2-3rd century Roman design, known as Circus Cups, on a modern bowl using Acrylic Enamels. So far I’ve gotten lines set on the Leopard, and have started on the next animal on this particular bowl: the lion.

I did not anticipate how much I’d learn from working on these designs!

Bird close-up showing the faded areas where white was

The first thing that stood out to me was the birds. Legs and wings showing up clear, barely recognizable against the aged glass, and they lacked beaks! Upon closer inspection of the photos graciously provided by the Museum of Denmark I saw not only the subtle color difference, but also that of a triangle on the head. While there are no markings of eyes nor a beak facing right as other artists have portrayed, that triangle struck me as odd.

That, combined with the pale, odd look of the antelope and flowers, shows me that the enamels had been thinned and layered upwards of 3 layers on top of using more than simply black as an outline color.

Antelope on left showing up messier than leopard on right

The birds only have 2 layers, the base brown and the white on top to create the wings, legs, and a beak facing the viewer. The antelope, however, I believe had 3 layers. First would be the lines, primarily black with brown for the antlers. Second the blue, the same shade of the leopard. Third a whitewash to pale the animal.

But why blue?

To answer that question you first need to understand that shading in enamels and mixing colors was not easily done in the 2-3rd century, artists preferring simple styles and single colored motifs. Trying to make anything gray or off-black or off-white simply wasn’t possible. Second, purple is a very rare and hard to come by color historically up until our modern practices of dyes. Using it on glassware would have been near to impossible.

So, with shades out, and purple out, the artists would turn to blue with a black outline. Colors, unlike black, often cure semi-transparent when applied thinly. Using blue with a black outline would symbolise a black animal. A layer of thinned, whitewash enamel would allow the artist to show the animal as gray or lighter black, hence the odd look of the antelope; the whitewash overtime breaking up the outline much as it faded on the birds.

My theory, I believe can be proven when you look at other, naturally colored animals. The lion, for instance, bears brown lines, as does the bear and bull on another glass.

I also believe that the trio of Circus Cups was painted by 2 or more other artists looking at the different styles between the 3 glasses. I believe each was painted by a single person, then sold together as a set to their final destination in Denmark.

Lions Butts are hard to paint

This has been my TED talk on Roman Circus Cups found in Denmark. Thank you!

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