The Triumph and Trade of Egyptian Objects in Rome: Collecting Art in the Ancient Mediterranean (Image & Context Book 20)

Preface This book arose from the recognition, early in my graduate career, that Egyptian art in Rome was far more complex that it was usually given credit for at that time. My focus then was Roman wall painting, particularly that of the so-called Third Pompeian Style, which incorporates Egyptian motifs. Egyptian material depicted in Roman fresco became the subject of my Ph.D. dissertation, completed in 2015 and immediately made available online in unpublished form. Yet the dissertation made clear to me -as did new scholarship that emerged during my graduate studies, discussed in the introduction -that there was much more to be done. Far more than just wall painting was implicated in my theory that Romans used Egyptian material as highly prized collectibles. Rather, a great range of objects needed to be taken into account: from those made in Egypt to those made elsewhere, from wall painting to jewelry, textiles, and sculpture. And so this book project was born. Some principles outlined in the dissertation are certainly present here, but the arguments are new, the scope vastly expanded and, indeed, shifted from the rather limited fresco corpus treated in the dissertation. The focus here on trade and triumph, as well as on sculpture as a special genre, are part of an attempt in this book to explore the mechanisms and mindsets that marked Roman collecting of Egyptian art -as well as the ways that this topic has been studied in the scholarship so far. This emphasis on structures, including our own structures of knowledge-making, has made this book a very different study from the pointed, specific work of the dissertation that started me on this path. It is a great pleasure to thank the generous people who helped me write this book. Foremost among them has to be Christopher Hallett, whose valuable guidance has continued long after my graduation. The many colleagues who read parts of the manuscript, helped with references and images, and indulged one conversation after another have my eternal gratitude:

From gleaming hardstone statues to bright frescoes, the unexpected and often spectacular Egyptian objects discovered in Roman Italy have long presented an interpretive challenge. How they shaped and were shaped by religion, politics, and identity formation has now been well researched. But one crucial function of these objects remains to be explored: their role as precious goods in a collector’s economy. The Romans imported and recreated Egyptian goods in the most opulent materials available – gold, gems, expensive wood, ivory, luxurious textiles – and displayed them like true treasures. This is due in part to the way Romans encountered these items, as argued in this book: first as dazzling spolia from the war against Cleopatra, then as costly wares exchanged over the expanding Roman trade routes. In this respect, Romans treated Egyptian art surprisingly similarly to Greek art. By examining the concrete mechanisms through which Egyptian objects were acquired and displayed in Rome, this book offers a new understanding of this impressive material at the crossroads of Hellenistic, Roman, and Egyptian culture.

"The lavish Egyptian imports and Egyptian-themed art created in Rome in the first centuries BC and AD form the focus of this book. These objects' significance was shaped by the peculiar passions of Roman art collectors no less than by the economic conditions triggered by Octavian's triumph. These are examined here for the first time as concrete mechanisms that determined how Romains acquired and displayed their Egyptian treasures"