PREFACE 



The objects described in the following catalogue are reproduc- 

 tions, made by the firm of Sabatino De Angelis and Son, of originals 



in tlif National .Museum of Naples. The material is bronze, except 



where some other material is expressly mentioned. With a few 

 exceptions these objects constitute a fairly representative selection 

 from among the bronze utensils, instruments, and articles of furni- 

 ture in the great Neapolitan collection ; and while not exact in every 

 particular, they do, nevertheless, give a fairly correct idea of the 

 originals. Inasmuch, therefore, as a complete and scientific account 

 of the Naples bronzes has never been issued, it has seemed worth 

 while to prepare a somewhat detailed catalogue, with illustrations, 

 of these reproductions. It has, of course, been out of the question 

 to furnish particulars as to technical processes employed in manu- 

 facture, such as might be expected from a catalogue of originals. 

 And it has been equally impossible in most cases to make out to what 

 extent the originals have been repaired since their discovery, or to 

 what extent objects have been combined without proof. Some sus- 

 picious circumstances have, however, been noted under Nos. 70 and 

 73. The question would be an interesting one to follow up ; but even 

 if some liberties may have been taken in the past which a scrupulous 

 director of a museum would not take to-day, there is not the slight- 

 est reason xo suspect any essential falsification of the witness of these 

 objects to ancient life. 



The great majority of the Neapolitan bronzes come from the 

 Campanian cities buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A. D. 

 These objects are designated in the following catalogue as Roman. 

 In regard to the precise sources of many of them, exhumed in the 

 earlier periods of excavation, great uncertainty prevails, and it is 

 not uncommon to find even the most reputable authorities disagree- 

 ing. An extreme instance is afforded by the candelabrum given 

 as No. 70 in this catalogue. This is assigned by the Antichith di 

 Ercolano to Herculaneum, by Ruggiero, Degli Scavi di Stabia, to 

 Stabiae, and by the new Guida illustrata del Museo Nazionale di Na- 

 poli (1907) to Pompeii. In view of this situation, it has seemed wise 

 to be sparing with indications of provenience. The statements under 

 this head made by the three works just cited have been repeated 

 when not in conflict with one another, and occasionally some other 



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