The technology of Akragantine figurines
III.7. c Step 4: Aspects of the shaping process and related items
III.7.c.i Making the front of the figurine
Moulded figurines, as opposed to hand-modelled objects, are recognisable by some features. First, they have smooth surfaces and soft edges, caused by moist clay paste taking the shape of the mould. Secondly, a seam marks the assemblage of the front and rear. This is a weaker part, see, for example, 53, and was often smoothed away afterwards. An advantage of this mechanical method is the ease of producing finely detailed figurines. The method is comparatively quick and results in uniformity. An important factor is also that less skill is necessary compared to hand-modelling. The method of moulding creates figurines as a replica but still gives the coroplast some space to alter the model. The result of the imprint is first visible after unloading the object from the mould. In this phase of production, when the clay is in a soft- leather condition, certain changes and corrections can still be applied.
III.7.c.ii Making the back of the figurine
Instead of filling the hollow figurine with cloths and ropes, as done in the experiment, originally a less expensive material could have been used. It is possible that an animal bladder functioning as a balloon, supported the slab of clay in the back, temporarily. One reason to assume this sort of filling is the more or less regular convex shapes of the back of some figurines, and the almost perfectly oval opening formed by the front and rear base: 136,
171, 173, 174. The evenly roundish shape of an air-filled bladder would ensure more evenness and symmetry than propped up material. By inflating or deflating the bladder, different parts could be made more convex or concave. This technique is applied only for a small number of figurines. The thin body and flat back of 115, for example, shows no indication of this technique, while 173 and 171
have comparable iconographic characteristics but a much more rounded back.
The Akragantine figurines are usually left open at the base in order to enable air circulation. There are a few instances of round openings in the middle of the back, which are too large to interpret as suspension holes. In the case of Akragas, these are believed to have facilitated assemblage.
III.7.c.iii Making an extra rim
When the clay is pressed into the mould, the clay that overlaps at the front could be handled in two different ways. It could be cut off to create the impression of a side or could be used to form an additional rim as if it were a plaque. When pressing the two parts together, some left-over clay could be cut off. This is the most common treatment. The removed piece of clay could have been applied on the inside to join the two parts and strengthen the seam between the two halves.
Several variants of these treatments within the same type are known from Selinous with different sorts of rims or without a rim.698 On some Akragantine figurines, a group of objects from the same moulding genealogy has a rim worked out in different ways: 142-151. The wide rim around the body might have strengthened the weak parts, such as the neck. Besides this functional perspective, the outline that was thus made around the head and upper part of the body connected with the bench creates a strong image, because it increases the figurine’s size and places it in a sort of frame. The rim was retouched straight or with round edges. The inspiration to vary in this way might have come from Selinous.
III.7.c.iv Drying and deformation
Drying clay objects in the open air, exposed to direct sunlight and drafts, causes uneven evaporation and warps the clay. The drying of moulds is extra complicated in this respect because the wall is thicker in order to ensure its strength and to absorb moisture from the fill. Another reason that the drying takes longer lies in the character of the clay. The pure Macalube di Aragona clay was used in the experiment to create a sharp imprint. The clay is very fine in its pure form but lacks the openness of tempered clay. For the figurines, silt and/or ground Scala dei Turchi clay was added. As a result, the Macalube clay tends to warp when dried unevenly.
Uneven clay shrinkage caused by drying the mould turned out to be problematic. The sides tended to bend inwards, narrowing the space. This became clear when the mould was used to make a figurine. The narrow space was not wide enough to remove the head in a straight line, which caused damage to the sides of the head and the nose. At 143 a flattened nose and chin are visible
from the side, which similarly might have been caused by a narrow derivative mould (fig. 4). Some cracks in the neck also indicate difficulties unloading. The head became immovable in the mould. A possible solution is to bend the sides slightly outwards preventively and to dry the mould with its open side downwards.
Both the mould and the figurine should dry slowly and horizontally. If a tall figurine dries in a standing position, it tends to bend slightly. Because the head is rather heavy and the body is relatively thin and flexible, the figurine ends up looking downwards. Coroplasts certainly had to deal with comparable situations. The final drying may take a rather long time, up to a couple of days. A longer drying time also minimises the risk of cracks caused by a steam explosion.
III.7.c.v The derivative mould
As it dries, the clay turns from flexible to fragile. As a consequence, ceramic objects are hard but breakable. Breaking a mould would have been costly for the coroplast.699 Extra time was necessary to make a new mould in order to continue production. If the coroplast had not kept the patrix, he could opt for a derivative mould made from one of the first generation figurines.700 This
solution, however, had some consequences. One of them is a considerable reduction in size compared to the broken mould, due to clay shrinkage of the figurine and the mould itself. In addition to shrinkage, malformation could also be caused by uneven drying. Because the thinner sides of the mould dry faster, there is an increased amount of vertical shrinkage relative to the horizontal. Specifically, the narrowness of the neck and face proved to be problematic when removing the figurine from the mould.
A rapid decline in quality could be observed through the course of the experiment. Figurines from a derivative mould were noticeably less sharp compared with previous generations. In particular, the detailed areas suffered the most. Facial expressions, for example, became less distinct. Pendants too lost parts of the relief but, nevertheless, remained recognizable. In order to remedy this deterioration, the best option was to replace the entire head or face, as the facial expression was essential and retouching the mould for the face would have been very difficult. 118 is an example of this solution (Van Rooijen 2014). In the new generation, the reduced size caused by clay shrinkage is often compensated with a raised pedestal, 144 for example, or elongated headgear.701
Such a procedure, however, was not very common in
699 See Jastrow 1938, p.5.
700 This was a common solution. For example, at Morgantina, Bell 1981, p.220.
701 Ammerman 1993, p.14.
Akragas.702 There is an example, 136, with her feet above
the ground level. The polos is relatively low, compared with others from the iconographical typology 3a. Another way of compensating in order to enlarge the object as a whole was to make alterations to the seating. The benches, which are sometimes as wide as the length of the total figurine, balance the composition by adding a horizontal element. Figurines without benches appear heightened as the vertical element is emphasized. The sturdy, triangular shape is often created by adding extra ‘ears’ to the chair along with sizeable fibulae, 34. This addition after moulding emphasizes the seated appearance. During the same period, at the end of the 6th century BCE, coroplasts at Paestum used deeper moulds from which a more bent and thus seated figure could be made.703 One technical
indicator that a figurine was printed from a derivative mould is a very thin upper body, as the depth of the mould inevitably decreased over the generations.
Impressions on the figurine of clay residues, straw, or wood pieces left in the mould are not necessarily an indicator of the use of a derivative mould, but rather of quick and careless handling. Figurine 111 has the
impression of a piece of wood on her neck. If such a figurine were used as a patrix, the defect would be passed on to the new generations.
III.7.c.vi Time management and additions
During the experiment, the time required for each step was recorded. The modelling itself, making use of a mould, was quite rapid, and the most time-consuming element was the drying process. If the coroplast worked in a sequence and used all the available time for figurine production, three to four figurines could be worked on at the same time. Filling a mould with clay paste takes about 10 minutes. During the first drying phase, the rough-out remains in the mould. The initial desiccation takes about 40 minutes. For retouching after unloading, the time investment depends very much on additional parts and details. As a consequence, it is clear that differences in the major shapes of the figurine could have technological as well as iconographic causes.
The seated, standing or leaning posture of the figurines is not just a matter of aesthetic preference but linked closely to the technical skills of the coroplast. Because of its size, a broader chair or bench was not an integrated part of the mould but was added later. The making of a bench, which is symmetrically shaped on both sides, takes about 15 to 20 minutes. This estimation depends largely on the coroplast’s skill. On 136, for example, it can be clearly seen that the right half of the bench is positioned
702 In Paestum other means were found to compensate for shrinkage, such as relief or extra rims added in the derivative mould. See Ammerman 1993.
relatively high to the arm. The hand modelling of this addition required creativity, skill, and extra time. It is probably because of this that the large bench from the mould series 118, used in this experiment, was commonly left out by the coroplasts.704 Though most of the benches
are rather straightforward and unevenly shaped, there are also benches with soft curving on the edges and cushions, for example, 139. This upper part of the bench could be made in a mould, to save time and create better symmetry. Large fibulae were probably mould-made and added separately.705 The 5.8cm mould of an earring (201)
could have been an individual object, as its size would otherwise only fit a near life-size figurine.
In summary, it can be assumed that specific additions that were not part of the frontal mould, such as larger chairs or benches, fibulae or other decorations, were moulded separately, for example, the pectoral pendants
of 179. Otherwise, the time taken to model these objects by hand would have been out of proportion for the achieved result.
III.7.c.vii Retouching and tools
An important element of retouching consists of fixing and smoothing the assemblage seam on the inside and outside. This is not only aesthetically important but also technically, as the joint needs to be firmly sealed to prevent splitting. Rolls of clay were pressed firmly onto the inside of the seam with a small stick. In this way, the two sections were slightly thickened. Next, the overlapping parts on the outside were cut away with a sharp, thin knife. Traces left by the coroplast are sometimes clearly visible. The ‘hand of the coroplast’ can often be distinguished from such marks. Despite this, however, the majority of the figurines are made with considerable care and eye for detail. For this reason, carefully retouching the figurines for aesthetic purposes was also part of the experiment. Interruptions of the surface were smoothed with water and a piece of leather or simply by hand. The use of a stick by the coroplast of 117 is clear from the traces of rolling in order to divide equally the clay for the back slab, and also because the stick, probably accidentally, touched her right cheek twice, leaving a clear impression.
The work surface of the coroplast’s table would ideally have been made of smooth stone in order not to leave any impressions on the figurines. However, the thin straight lines visible on the backs of 34 and 139 might be
704 See Van Rooijen et al. 2017, and also АТ 3392 (713) of the Pushkin Museum, Moscow, which has a wide bench. See Catalogue fig. 14. 705 The empty spots on the shoulders of a figurine indicate this. See АТ
3392 (713) of the Pushkin Museum, Moscow. See Catalogue fig. 14.
impressions caused by the use of a wooden surface.706 As
long as the clay paste is in a leather-hard condition, it is susceptible to being imprinted by the working surface. For retouching the figurines, it is probable that wooden tools with differently shaped edges and tips were used. The tool traces mentioned above point to the use of a small knife with a sharp blade, which would have been useful for removing the rim that overlapped the mould. A thin rope or wire would have been used to divide large lumps of clay into smaller parts. Such tools can be identified by the different marks they leave, for example, scraping marks.707