Figure umane con animali nella collezione Gargiulo al Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli

Abstract

The statuettes with human figures with animals presented here belong to the Gargiulo’s
collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Raffaele Gargiulo
was one of the main protagonists of the European antiques market in the first half
of the nineteenth century and, probably, the most important dealer in antiquity in
the Neapolitan context since the 1820s, famous creator of vases and also restorer
of antique objects, ceramics and bronzes. One of the most numerous series among
the funerary terracottas in the collection, well documented both from a quantitative
and qualitative point of view, is that of the human figures with animals. This type of
terracottas, depicting children on animals, such as a lion, a dolphin, a goat, a ram, a
rooster, a pig, a dog, a swan, a goose, or on a horse or donkey, were very popular in
the hellenistic age throughout the Mediterranean basin, perhaps representing one of
the most numerous series of funerary terracottas.
Keywords: National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Gargiulo’s Collection, Terracottas,
Human figures with animals, Hellenistic Age