Chapps
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chapps.bsky.social
Chapps
@chapps.bsky.social
4K followers 370 following 5.6K posts
Former tech drone, living in L.A. I now create digital reconstructions of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. No, really. 🏳️‍🌈

Flickr account (museum photos, mainly, free to use and high res): https://www.flickr.com/photos/125386285@N02/
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chapps.bsky.social
Chapps @chapps.bsky.social · Nov 11
FYI, to anyone interested, I upload all of my high res photos to my Flickr account where they’re organized into albums and tagged with keywords, so they’re easy to search. All free to use, with credit. www.flickr.com/photos/chapp...

I’ll eventually upload my reconstructions! 🏺
Screen cap of my Flickr Photostream. Labeled ‘Stephen Chappell (aka Chapps)’, at the moment I took the pic, it included things like a terracotta figurine of two girls playing ephedrismos, a bronze Roman cavalry parade helmet, a gold Ptolemaic coin, an Egyptian faience vase, etc.
Reposted by Chapps
drrjwarren.bsky.social
#ArtDD2026
Roman scent bottle

From the Met Museum, photographed by @alisonfisk.bsky.social with thanks.

@saocousins.bsky.social @holnicotenh.bsky.social @stevecobbin.bsky.social @andykaitken.bsky.social @indikon.bsky.social @mayfieldbirder.bsky.social
Painting of balloon-shaped glass bottle, in blue, green and gold.
February 8, 2026 at 6:06 PM
chapps.bsky.social
#NewYork, folks - gotta love it! 🥶 😭
Screen cap of weather app, showing 11ºF temps in NYC, but feels like -12ºF! Yeah, AI … me frozen in front of a very frozen Met Museum in a winter hellscape.
February 7, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by Chapps
nataliehaynes.bsky.social
For some reason as I glance at the news headlines today, I am thinking of the Greek goddess of retribution, Nemesis. Bonus fact: sometimes she takes on the form of a goose (which is just another reason to be cautious around geese) 🪿
February 6, 2026 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Chapps
alisonfisk.bsky.social
A little bear figurine carved out of amber some 6,000 years ago 🐻❤️

A hole runs through the bear’s torso suggesting it was threaded on a cord, perhaps worn or carried as a protective charm.

Found in a peat bog near Słupsk, Poland, in 1887.

📷 National Museum in Szczecin

#FindsFriday
#Archaeology
Photo by G. Solecki/A. Piętak of a small figurine of a bear carved out of amber between 9600 and 4100 BC. The amber is a deep translucent orange. The display lighting makes it glow in places. The bear's head is carved to show ears, mouth, nostrils and eyes. A hole runs through the bear’s torso, suggesting it was threaded onto a cord. Dimensions: Length 10.2 cm, Height 4.2 It was discovered in Słupsk during peat mining in 1887. According to the museum catalogue ‘’Shortly after its discovery, the figure underwent conservation work to restore its original appearance as it was covered with a layer of dull patina from the exposure to the minerals contained in the peat. Already at that time, at the end of the 19th century, it was assumed the restoration had gone too far. The figure was stripped entirely of patina, the anatomical features of the animal were emphasised, the eyes and nostrils were sharply drawn, and the amber was carefully polished”. In 2013, a competition was organised by the Education Department of the National Museum in Szczecin, for children to choose a name for the bear. The winning name was ‘Słupcio’,
February 6, 2026 at 8:04 AM
chapps.bsky.social
First night in #NYC, and it’s crazy that this is the view from my room, 22 stories above the city. Tomorrow, the #MetMuseum.
February 5, 2026 at 2:07 AM
chapps.bsky.social
A Corinthian delight: three examples of ancient caricatures. The pyxis at the top shows a child-like Herakles drawing water from a fountain. On the lower left, a kylix depicting a woman playing the usually all-male drinking game kottabos. On the lower right, Artemis and her curious dog. 🏺 1/

📸 me
February 5, 2026 at 12:49 AM
chapps.bsky.social
One of the best examples of ancient #polychromy that I know of is this terracotta thymiaterion - incense burner - in the form of a group of colorfully dressed women sitting around a wellhead. The iconography reflects a local cult, perhaps of Demeter and Kore. 🏺 1/

4th c. CE. #MetMuseum
📸 me
This thymiaterion has five individually hand-made women sitting on the edge of a red-painted wellhead, with one sitting in her own high-baked chair. All are brightly painted, and each woman has a 'hat' with a cup on top for the burning of the incense. All painted slightly differently - three with orange-yellow tunics, two with red tunics; two red himatia (cloaks), two purple-black himatia, and one yellow himation. They each once carried an attribute in each hand, but several are missing. In this photo, one woman carries a yellow (meant to be gold) phiale, an offering plate, and a pomegranate; the other woman facing us carries a spindle with wool. Met Museum (2012.546)
February 3, 2026 at 9:51 PM
chapps.bsky.social
Heading to NYC on Wednesday, and giving up my 80º weather for … 20ºF?? I’m going to die. 🥶 Just a few days, though.

Going to hit up the #MetMuseum, and the #BrooklynMuseum, of course, but is there anything I shouldn’t miss (besides theater)?
The Met Museum facade in a deep freeze - yes, AI.
February 3, 2026 at 3:12 AM
Reposted by Chapps
benwurgaft.bsky.social
for, um, almost no reason at all, here is Margaret Talbot's 2018 article on how we got the myth of whiteness in classical statuary, with references to @sarahebond.bsky.social: www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Sculpture
For centuries, Westerners have been engaged in an act of collective blindness.
www.newyorker.com
February 2, 2026 at 7:05 PM
chapps.bsky.social
A true rarity, this bronze goose was discovered in the ruins of Constantinople’s famed luxurious hippodrome. It has a pipe in its beak, so it was probably part of a fountain, providing water to the 100,000 spectators who could fit into the circus stands. 🏺 1/

Roman, 4th c. CE. #BritishMuseum
📸 me
Bronze figure of a goose with a dark patina, perhaps from a fountain. The neck section is removable and there is a pipe in the beak. The feathers are all delineated by engraving - it’s highly detailed. The webbed feet are missing. British Museum, London (1859,0601.1)
February 1, 2026 at 8:52 PM
chapps.bsky.social
Nooooo! My heart just fell out of my body. RIP to Catherine O’Hara, one of the greats. 😭

deadline.com/2026/01/cath...
Catherine O’Hara Dies: Beloved ‘Schitt’s Creek’, ‘SCTV’, ‘Home Alone’ Actor Was 71
Catherine O’Hara, the beloved, multi-award-winning actor, writer and comedian died today at her home in Los Angeles following a brief illness. She was 71. O’Hara launched her extraordinary career as o...
deadline.com
January 30, 2026 at 6:55 PM
chapps.bsky.social
Have you ever wondered what Romans used as a monetary X system before the introduction of coins? Feast your eyes on these two early Republic aes signatum bronze currency bars, one with the image of a bull, the other an elephant. Not marked with value, a somewhat confusing system. 🏺 1/ 📸 me
In the time of the early Republic, before the adoption of a formal coinage system, the Romans used flat bronze currency bars. This example - with a relief of a bull on both sides - is known as aes signatum (Latin, literally 'stamped bronze'), usually weighing around five Roman pounds. The value of these bars isn't known, and they weren't standardized. They were in use from the 5th century BCE until the mid-3rd century BCE, when they were replaced by the first Roman coin, the aes grave. The ancient writer Livy (4.60.6) records how wealthier taxpayers: '...were first to contribute; and because there was as yet no coined silver, some of them conveyed their weighed brass to the treasury in wagons, rendering their contribution very showy.' Roman Republican, ca. 280-250 BCE. Minted in Rome. British Museum, London (1978,0721.1) Relief of an elephant in profile on this bronze currency bars, facing right, his trunk held upwards in an S shape. He or she also has tusks. In the time of the early Republic, before the adoption of a formal coinage system, the Romans used flat bronze currency bars. The weight fluctuated and there's no agreed-upon value, but in the modern era this particular denomination - with an elephant on the obverse, and a sow on the reverse - is known as aes signatum (Latin, literally 'stamped bronze'), usually weighing around five Roman pounds. These were in use from the 5th century BCE until the mid-3rd century BCE, when they were replaced by the first Roman coins, the aes grave. Minted in Rome about 275 BCE. British Museum, London (1867,0212.1)
January 29, 2026 at 10:47 PM
chapps.bsky.social
As I lay here dying of food poisoning (I threw up in my dog’s food bowl!😭), let’s have a peek at this Roman sard sealstone depicting two sows with a male pig … well, makin’ bacon. 🥓 Probably meant to be a symbol of fertility, a charm for good luck and prosperousness. 🏺 #BritishMuseum

📸 me
Horizontally oval deep orange-red sard sealstone with a detailed engraving of two fat sows, and a male pig mounting one of them. Roman, 1st c. CE, British Museum (1865,0712.168)
January 29, 2026 at 7:50 PM
chapps.bsky.social
It’s amazing how changing the display of an antiquity in a museum affects how you see it. The lighting - natural or artificial - and the ability to see an item in the round or restricted to a frontal view. La Dama Fonseca, below, in two different settings. 🏺
This impossibly elegant woman with a swan neck has no known findspot, and given her pristine surface and features, it’s possible that she was reworked in modern times. Her skin is polished to a high sheen, and her high mound of curls are nearly complete. The rear of the bust shows the complex set of braids and up-combing required to make this hairstyle work. It doesn’t appear to represent a wig. Marble, early 2nd century CE. Gift from Father Fonseca to Pope Benedict XIV. Musei Capitolini, Rome (inv. MC0434) Side view of the same bust - La Dama Fonseca - showing how the enormous pile of curls atop the front of her head is completely different in the rear, which is made up of at least eight braids that are coiled up like a bun, and pinned.
January 29, 2026 at 2:45 AM
Reposted by Chapps
drnwillburger.bsky.social
Fascinating world of ancient #glass: One of my favourite #Roman objects made of glass is this little basket (height 6.5cm). It is not clear what it was used for, possibly to hold cosmetics.

From Syria, dating 3rd century AD.

On display at British Museum

📷 me

🏺#archaeology
The picture shows a vessel in the shape of a two handled basket of brown colour.
January 28, 2026 at 12:10 PM
chapps.bsky.social
This little #Roman silver statuette of a shepherd is displayed incorrectly at the #BritishMuseum (1st pic). Because when he's turned, you can see that he's carrying an adorable smiling lamb in a skin bag slung over his shoulder. 😍 🏺 1/

Probably 1st c. CE.
📸 me #ancientbluesky
Silver statuette of a young shepherd - with apparently some worn gilding, given the golden sheen on his short cloak (which the museum doesn't mention) - facing forward, carrying an open skin bag in the crook of his left arm, and something slung over his shoulder. He's clean-shaven, with full short hair combed forward ('Caesar-style'), and wearing open toed boots. He's standing contrapposto, all his weight on his left leg, while his right foot, slightly back, is lifting - he's obviously walking towards us. British Museum (1867,0508.764) A photo taken a few years ago, when the statuette was turned to the right, allowing us to see that the shepherd has another skin bag slung over his shoulder, in which a cute smiling lamb is taking a ride, its front hooves hanging over the front edge of the bag.
January 28, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Chapps
drnwillburger.bsky.social
Weekend timeline cleanse!

A #Greek rhyton in the shape of a #dog's head. 🐕🐶

Vessels such as this were used in drinking parties. Since they didn't have a base, their contents had to be consumed before the vessel could be put down

Dating ca. 475 BC.

📷 Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia 🏺
Pottery drinking cup shaped like an animal’s head. The vessel is glossy black, featuring a rounded snout, raised eyes, and a handle. A red-digured banquet scene encircles the lower part. The cup is photographed against a plain light background
January 17, 2026 at 8:16 AM
chapps.bsky.social
I’ve loved #StarTrek since childhood, so of course I’m watching the new ‘Starfleet Academy’ series. But what brought tears to my eyes was the arrival of the ship to my hometown of San Francisco, with a version of my old friend Scott McKenzie’s song playing over the scene…. 🖖 1/
Still from the new ‘Starfleet Academy’ streaming series from Paramount/CBS. High above San Francisco Bay, with the Golden Gate Bridge on the left, still partially wreathed in fog, and the Marin headlands in the distance, with futuristic buildings where Fort Baker is in the present time. Just below us, the enormous saucer of the Academy school ship is making its way to drydock at the Academy grounds. All wide screen and majestic.
January 26, 2026 at 9:38 PM
chapps.bsky.social
The article below adds some fascinating detail to the rule of the #Thracian king Seuthes III, whose bronze portrait head, greaves and helmet I've photographed, below. He straddled multiple cultures, as the treasures from his tomb attest. 🏺

📸 me #ancientbluesky

flic.kr/s/aHBqjBSifK
The slightly over-life-size bronze head of a bearded man was found ipropped up on the ground of a rich Thracian tomb. As can be seen from the ragged edges of the bronze's neck, the head was crudely separated from the body of a statue, of which no trace was discovered in the tumulus. The excavators have speculated that the comprehensive equipment of the tomb with royal accoutrements despite the absence of human remains, together with the deposition of a reused partial portrait statue, suggests a symbolic rather than physical interment of the king. His body was not in the tomb. The hollow-cast bronze itself is in an exceptional state of preservation. The surfaces of both the hair and the flesh parts display a noble patina, in a palette between malachite green and dark chocolate browns. Most extraordinary, however, are the composite eyes, made from various materials, including alabaster for the sclera and glass in contrasting colors and opacity levels for the pupils, irises, and lacrimal caruncles. The eyes are inserted into open sockets of the hollow bronze, where they are framed by eyelashes cut from thin sheets of copper. The translucency and reflectiveness of the irises are such that the eyes retain their literal sparkle, giving the portrait an intense gaze that has rarely failed to stun viewers in the twenty years since the portrait's discovery. The image of a mature man is characterized by an ovoid skull, with a rounded forehead, wide-set eyes under bushy eyebrows, a large and aquiline nose, long handlebar mustache, and an untrimmed, scraggly beard - spade-like and jutting forward. In the combination of these iconographic and physiognomic details, the head is unlike any known portrait of a Greek man, including philosophers or rulers. The context of the head's discovery in the tomb of Seuthes Ill makes it more than plausible that the portrait indeed represents that Odrysian king. 3/4 view of the front, with its shaggy beard jutting forward. The slightly over-life-size bronze head of a bearded man was found ipropped up on the ground of a rich Thracian tomb. As can be seen from the ragged edges of the bronze's neck, the head was crudely separated from the body of a statue, of which no trace was discovered in the tumulus. The excavators have speculated that the comprehensive equipment of the tomb with royal accoutrements despite the absence of human remains, together with the deposition of a reused partial portrait statue, suggests a symbolic rather than physical interment of the king. His body was not in the tomb. The hollow-cast bronze itself is in an exceptional state of preservation. The surfaces of both the hair and the flesh parts display a noble patina, in a palette between malachite green and dark chocolate browns. Most extraordinary, however, are the composite eyes, made from various materials, including alabaster for the sclera and glass in contrasting colors and opacity levels for the pupils, irises, and lacrimal caruncles. The eyes are inserted into open sockets of the hollow bronze, where they are framed by eyelashes cut from thin sheets of copper. The translucency and reflectiveness of the irises are such that the eyes retain their literal sparkle, giving the portrait an intense gaze that has rarely failed to stun viewers in the twenty years since the portrait's discovery. The image of a mature man is characterized by an ovoid skull, with a rounded forehead, wide-set eyes under bushy eyebrows, a large and aquiline nose, long handlebar mustache, and an untrimmed, scraggly beard - spade-like and jutting forward. In the combination of these iconographic and physiognomic details, the head is unlike any known portrait of a Greek man, including philosophers or rulers. The context of the head's discovery in the tomb of Seuthes Ill makes it more than plausible that the portrait indeed represents that Odrysian king. Right side view, showing the hooked nose in particular. Excavated from the Golyama Kosmatka tumulus (burial mound) in 2004, these bronze greaves were among the opulent grave goods associated with the Thracian King Seuthes III. The armor found in the tumulus - a bronze helmet, this pair of decorated bronze greaves, a gorget-pectoral, and fragments of a composite (leather?) corselet - was all highly decorative and probably ceremonial. The greaves were cast in separate molds for the right and left legs, and additionally forged and chiseled; the knees are decorated in high relief with heads of Athena wearing an Attic helmet with three crests, supported by figures of a sphinx (the central one) and griffins (the lateral ones). Bronze, late 4th century BCE. Kazanlak, Iskra Historical Museum, Bulgaria. Photographed by me at an exhibition on ancient Thrace at the Getty Villa Museum in Malibu, California. From the Golyama Kosmatka tumulus near the town of Shipka, Bulgaria. The tomb inside is believed to be associated with the Thracian king Seuthes III (ca. 330-300/295 BCE). A rich assembly of luxury objects and armor were found in the burial chamber, including this bronze helmet and several silver vessels bearing inscriptions with the king's name, as well as a few bronze coins of Seuthes. The archaeologists did not, however, find any human remains or other evidence of an actual burial. This helmet is of the so-called Chalkidian type, with fixed cheekpieces, and belongs to the "Thracian group" with an outwardly curved nape guard. In the middle of the pediment-like frontal part, there is a dotted inscription: ΣΕΥΘΟΥ, "(belonging to) Seuthes." Soldered above the inscription is a gilded-silver appliqué depicting the frontally facing head of the goddess Athena wearing a winged helmet terminating in a swan's head at the top. Two silver plume holders were attached above the temples. Late 4th century BCE, bronze and silver with partial gilding. Kazanlak, Iskra Historical Museum, Bulgaria. ______ Photographed at the Getty Villa Museum, part of the 'Ancient Thrace and the Classical World: Treasures from Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece' exhibition.
January 26, 2026 at 7:19 PM
chapps.bsky.social
The ring below is a historical mashup. It's a chunky Anglo-Saxon gold filigree finger ring set with an ancient Roman intaglio featuring the god Bonus Eventus, aka "good outcome." He personifies the successful results of labor, particularly agriculture. 🏺 1/

6th c. CE ring, 1st-5th c. intaglio. 📸 me
Anglo-Saxon gold filigree finger-ring - with gold wires representing branches or vines, and a myriad of tiny granular gold balls representing flowers or fruit - set with an engraved oval Roman intaglio gem made of nicolo, depicting figure of the god Bonus Eventus. Bonus Eventus was the Roman god of "good outcome," personifying the successful results of labor, particularly agriculture, but also other human activities. He was depicted as a male figure holding a cup and a spray of wheat or grain and was associated with general success and good omens, appearing on coins from emperors like Vespasian and Septimius Severus. The naked god holds a sheaf of wheat in his right hand, down by his leg, and holds out a cup in his left hand. Nicolo is an intaglio carved in banded onyx (such as this one), agate or glass in such a way that the depiction, engraved on the pale top layer, reveals the dark color underneath. Anglo-Saxon gold ring, 6th century CE; Roman nicolo intaglio, ca. 1st-5th century CE. Found at Snape, Suffolk, England. British Museum, London (1950,1206.1)
January 26, 2026 at 5:13 PM
Reposted by Chapps
lindsaypowell.bsky.social
"A copper-alloy ornament of a panther resting its paws on a severed head dates from AD43-200 ... [is] a "striking example of a Romano-British design", fusing pre-conquest Iron Age geometric patterns with Roman imagery."
#AncientBluesky
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Why is the discovery of Roman carriage fitting in Essex important?
A Romana-British metal artwork of a panther is believed to show the severed head of a barbarian.
www.bbc.com
January 24, 2026 at 8:52 PM
chapps.bsky.social
Almost unimaginable parade armor - a helmet and cuirass - made from the skin of a crocodile. Roman soldiers were particularly attracted to the crocodile cult in Egypt, and this armor was probably used in cult processions. 🐊 🏺 1/

Manfalout, Egypt, 3rd-4th c. CE. #BritishMuseum #ancientbluesky 📸 me
Suit of armor - helmet and cuirass (body armor) - made from a single crocodile skin. The cuirass has the spiky belly of the crocodile, and the helmet clearly comes from the head of the beast. The scaly armor is very dark brown, with some lighter brown highlights.
January 24, 2026 at 6:01 PM
chapps.bsky.social
How about a little candy to celebrate the end of the work week? Actually, this is a #Roman cornelian sealstone with a profile portrait of a young man with *great* sideburns and an incipient beard. Set into a modern (?) swivel ring. Looks like a lollipop. 🍭 😋 🏺 1/

200-225 CE. #BritishMuseum
📸 me
This intense candy red oval sealstone is engraved with the profile portrait of a young man - facing left - sporting almost heroic sideburns and a very short starter beard. Set in a modern (?) gold swivel ring. Cornelian (carnelian) and sard are the stones most often used in classical seal engraving. They are frequently hard to distinguish: sard tends to be brown or yellowish in color; cornelian is redder. British Museum, London (1865,0507.544)
January 23, 2026 at 5:03 AM
Reposted by Chapps
drnwillburger.bsky.social
A life without #dogs is possible but pointless!

A tiny yet marvellous figurine of a dog (height 1.6 cm) made of blue glass and decorated with yellow and white threads. The unique figurine was found in a Celtic burial at Wallertheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, dating 2nd c. BC.

📷 Landesmuseum Mainz
A small glass figurine of a dog, crafted in deep blue with white stripes and yellow decorative details around its legs, ears, and tail.
January 22, 2026 at 7:57 AM
chapps.bsky.social
Some of my favorite works of art from the ancient world depict humble craftspeople plying their trade. In this red-figure kylix, we see a cobbler cutting leather, using a crescent knife. To his left are strips for the sole and upper part of a boot, and above a boot, sandal and knife. 🏺 1/

📸 me
Inside of a wide black kylix (drinking cup) is a red-figure tondo decoration depicting a balding cobbler sitting at a table, cutting leather. His torso is bare and muscular, and he has a black beard and a fringe of black hair, but is bald on the top of his head. He leans over and uses a crescent knife to cut the leather on the cutting board. A basket at his feet has a pale yellow inscription, 'KALOS' ('beautiful', 'good', 'handsome'). Hanging behind him are two cut pieces of leather, one for the sole, the other for the upper part of a boot. Above him hangs a hammer, a completed boot, completed sandal, and another crescent knife. The tondo is bordered by a 'Greek key' meander.
January 22, 2026 at 4:13 PM