“Excellent Reproductions of Ancient Ivory Carvings”. The Fictile Ivories from the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga

Abstract

Reproductions of artistic objects in plaster, electrotype or photography were considered as fundamental instruments in the museology of the second half of the 19th century, more specifically in the context of the museums of ornamental arts and in their role in collect, display and education. The Academia Real de Belas-Artes de Lisboa (ARBAL) will form collections of this nature, whether for academic teaching or museological purposes. In this paper we will focus on an inedited collection of thirty-two plaster casts that reproduce carved ivory plaques – the designated fi ctile ivories –, currently in Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (MNAA) collection, and that result from an important offer of the South Kensington Museum, in London, in 1866, to the Academia Real de Belas-Artes de Lisboa. We will analyze the phenomenon of the international importance of reproductions, the offer made by the London museum, the specificity of fictile ivories in this context and, considering the ongoing research, we will briefly characterize this collection.