Mary Danisi, Cornell University
Harnessed by scholars seeking to understand stylistic development in terms of both increasing naturalism (Brückner; Homolle) and as a purely internal formal development (Riegl; Hauglid), acanthus ornament occupies an unstable position in Greek art. Unlike geometric patterns such as meanders and saltire squares, which lack a clear referent in nature, acanthus ornament, characterized by serrated edges, is readily recognized as the distinct plant found throughout the Mediterranean. At the same time, its placement crowning funerary stelai contradicted any impression of naturalistic growth out of the ground. Several white-ground lekythoi depicting funerary stelai juxtapose acanthus plants which occupy the position of carved ornament crowning stone stelai with formally identical acanthus plants which grow out of the ground around the base of the depicted stele, highlighting acanthus ornament’s connection with real plants. Acanthus plants carved in stone and painted on lekythoi stood somewhere between mimetic representation and ornamental abstraction.
Rather than focus on how the stelai and floral ornament depicted on white-ground lekythoi relate to real stone monuments (Oakley), I argue that the juxtaposition of three different kinds of acanthus plant – carved stone, painted clay, and organic life – augment the liminality of the cemetery, a place of contact between nature and culture. Numerous depictions of visits to the grave take place in an imaginary space, with domestic accoutrements like hanging mirrors, depicted in the ostensibly natural, outdoor setting of the stele. As a result, the depicted setting interiorizes the graveside visits, offering the visitors solace in the face of the loss of an individual who once formed an integral part of the oikos (Arrington). At the same time, by juxtaposing acanthus plants crowning depicted stelai and growing out of the ground, white-ground lekythoi draw attention to the connection between carved acanthus plants and the real plants growing throughout the cemetery. In doing so, the lekythoi suggest a continuum between manmade stone monuments and natural surroundings: just as the stele is removed from the world of the living and incorporated into nature, so too the body of the deceased departs the world of the living and is incorporated into nature through the act of burial and its subsequent decomposition. Turning to the actual stone monuments, however, the form of the stele, which towered over its surroundings in a rigidly erect, quadrilinear form, highlights its own artificiality and stands in direct opposition to the natural forms in its vicinity. Unlike the everchanging natural landscape, the stele with its floral ornament was a permanent fixture with which visitors could ritually interact and seek comfort from (Estrin). In contrast to the real plants growing from the ground, which whither and bloom, the carved plants remained unchanging. While their form indicates a connection with nature which the lekythoi exploit, the materiality of the carved acanthus indicates their status as artificial ornament. Rather than a purely mimetic or a purely stylized form, acanthus ornament at the grave functioned as a point of contact between nature and facture, between absence and presence, and between outside and inside.