Emanuel Mayer, University of Chicago

Of Garden Gnomes and Silver Cups

Abstract

There is a strong tendency in classical archaeology to assume that ancient "art" was socially "elite." Because of this supposition, elite literature is often used as the key to understanding ancient iconography. With a socially more nuanced view of ancient visual culture, interpreting domestic decor becomes more complex. This paper will explore new possibilities for a  socio-cultural interpretation of Roman domestic art. The social and also economic complexities of Pompeian visual culture will be framed by a modern and an ancient example.

First, I will chart the long journey of garden gnomes from rococo palaces and bourgeois parks to working class front lawns, and back into the world of fashionable design. Thereafter I consider an example from the Satyricon in which the fictional nouveau riche Trimalchio is ridiculed as a boor for misinterpreting the mythological images on his precious silver cups. These considerations will channel into a discussion of the importance of economic class for the reception of Pompeian wall-painting.