TRA ARS, NATURA E ARTIFICIO IL VETRO-CAMMEO CON CROSTACEI E MOLLUSCHI DALLA GROTTA DELL’ARSENALE A CAPRI

Abstract

In 1879, during an excavation carried out in the Arsenale grotto on Capri, Ignazio Cerio found the
fragment of a “patera made of opaque blue glass with fish exquisitely embossed in white enamel”. It
is possible to identify the ‘patera’ with a fragment of glass-cameo now in the Metropolitan Museum
in New York, referable to a circular disc, which must have been over a metre in diameter. The disc
was thought to be an exceptional serving dish or centrepiece, appropriate for a sumptuous imperial
banquet. However, I am convinced, along with Frank Sear – who, however, relied only on the data
offered by Cerio – that the piece was not a serving dish, but a decorative element of the vault of the
grotto datable to the Tiberian period. One must, by way of hypothesis, imagine that the Arsenale
grotto, like some of the thermal baths, appeared as if sunk into the sea, with fake glass portholes
from which astonished guests could admire the various species of fish. Wisely modified in such a way
as to drastically reduce their natural effect, the Tiberian grottoes, of which the Arsenale grotto is an
example, were spaces intended for literary gatherings and banquets, during which, with the help of
suitable scenographic decoration, obtained with sculptures inserted into the caverns with masterly
spectacularity, with the application of stuccoes and semi-precious stones, as well as with the staging
of specific artistic and theatrical performances, a Hellenic world of pure fantasy was reconstructed.
The real environment was therefore manipulated in such a way that the spectator confused nature
and artifice, reality and appearance.

Keywords: Capri; Arsenale Grotto; decorative element; vault; glass-cameo; Tiberian age.