Overview

Ancient Plaster: Casting Light on a Forgotten Sculptural Material offers a fresh exploration of plaster in the sculpture of the ancient Mediterranean and beyond. Challenging the traditional focus on marble and bronze, this volume reveals the crucial role of plaster both in the sculptor's workshop and as a medium for finished sculpture. Combining academic insights with contemporary artists' perspectives, the book also delves into the controversial topic of life-casting in antiquity and provides groundbreaking new interpretations of well-known plaster objects such as those from the Roman city of Baiae, near Naples. With chapters extending the chronological and geographical scope to early modern Europe and contemporary art school contexts, the book illuminates plaster's versatility and the continuity of its use across millennia. By rehabilitating this material, often overlooked or lost to the archaeological record, the volume offers a transformative view of ancient sculpture, appealing to both scholars and art enthusiasts alike.

Full Product Details

Author:   Abbey L. R. Ellis ,  Emma Payne
Publisher:   Liverpool University Press
Imprint:   The British Academy
Volume:   274
ISBN:  

9781836245940

ISBN 10:   1836245947
Pages:   418
Publication Date:   29 August 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction ABBEY L. R. ELLIS AND EMMA M. PAYNE Part I Modelling and Moulding in Plaster 1 Freehand Modelling with Lime Plaster CLARE VENABLES 2 Lime Kilns and Plaster Production BETH MUNRO 3 Thoughts on the Disposition of the 1983 Cache of Plaster Figures from ‘Ayn Ghazal, Jordan KATHRYN WALKER TUBB 4 The Material Behind the Masterpiece: Plaster and the Production of Greek and Roman Chryselephantine Statues KENNETH LAPATIN 5 Sculpting with Plaster at Dura-Europos EMMA M. PAYNE 6 Discussing Middle Byzantine Stucco Production: The Case of Hosios Loukas FLAVIA VANNI Part II Plaster in the Sculptor’s Workshop 7 Plaster Piece-Moulding THOMAS SCHELPER 8 In the Workshop of an Ancient Egyptian Sculptor: The Estate of the Chief Royal Sculptor Thutmose At Akhet-Aten – Amarna DIMITRI LABOURY 9 Plaster Casts and the Transmission of Iconography: A Central Asian Perspective RACHEL MAIRS AND LAUREN MORRIS 10 Italy, France, and the Origin of the Full-scale Plaster Model ECKART MARCHAND 11 Did Roman Marble Sculptors Work from Plaster Models? The Baiae Plaster Casts in Context AMANDA CLARIDGE 12 The Function of Ancient Plaster Casts from Metalworks: A Reconsideration ABBEY L. R. ELLIS 13 Plaster Moulds for Stone Sculpture THOMAS MERRETT AND EMMA PAYNE Part III Life Casting in the Classical World 14 Life Casting in Antiquity: A Sculptor’s Perspective NIGEL KONSTAM 15 Plaster Life Casting and the Production of Bronze Statuary in Ancient Greece: The Early Classical Revolution W. ALEXANDER LUMSDEN AND CAROL MATTUSCH 16 Roman Non-elite Plaster Death Mask Moulds Revisited: Practicality, Purpose, and Memory preservation KELSEY SHAWN MADDEN Part IV Ancient Subjects, Modern Eyes 17 Modern Life Casting MARTIN HANSON 18 Flexible Casting Techniques through History MARIAM SONNTAG 19 Casting from Life: A Delicate Matter VERONIKA TOCHA 20 We Contemporize, They Persist CHRIS DORSETT Index

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Author Information

Abbey Ellis is based at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, where she has served as a Research Associate in the Krateros Squeeze Digitization Project and as a Visitor in the School of Historical Studies. Her research considers ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, plaster casts ancient and modern, and historic reproductions more generally. In 2021, she was awarded her Ph.D. by the University of Leicester’s School of Museum Studies. Her Ph.D. project focused on issues of value related to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford’s collection of archaeological plaster casts. In addition to her work at the Institute, she is a Guest Lecturer at the Princeton Academy of Art. Emma Payne is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Classics, King’s College London, where she also completed a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship (2018–2021), exploring the making of ancient Greek and Roman stone and plaster sculpture. She completed her PhD in 2017 at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, studying the archaeological and historical significances of casts of classical sculpture. She is the author of Casting the Parthenon Sculptures from the Eighteenth Century to the Digital Age (Bloomsbury, 2021). Before her PhD, she trained as a conservator of archaeological and museum objects through which she gained a keen practical awareness of the materiality of objects. She presently works on a number of archaeological conservation projects as a freelance conservator, mainly in the southeast of England.

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