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Cast of ornament from the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae, Greece
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Cast of ornament from the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae, Greece
1350BC-1250BC (original)
Plaster cast
Museum number: M881
On display: Dome Area
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house.
For tours https://www.soane.org/your-visit
Curatorial note
Soane never visited Greece but knew the Treasury of Atreus from publications, from the travels of others and from fragments in the British Museum which acquired a number of pieces of the spiral decoration on the facade of the Treasury in 1816 from Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin (Lord Elgin). Soane's casts may well have been made from fragments in their collection and have a distinctive frame and surface finish. This fragment features not just spiral decoration but a small palmette and part of a thin decorated column/staff(?).
Soane collections online is being continually updated. If you wish to find out more or if you have any further information about this object please contact us: worksofart@soane.org.uk