Kantharos cups in Sâncrăieni-hoard: restoration and manufacturing issues

Abstract

The technological and stylistic differences of the kantharos cups elements in Sâncrăieni allow us to identify several distinct artisans: (1) the artisan of the engraved bowls (the bowls of cups no. 4-8); (2) the artisan of the imported cup no. 1; (3) the artisan of cups no. 2 and 3, probably of the 3rd type of stems as well and (4) the artisan of the 2nd type of stems. Artisans 1, 3 and 4 are local, whereas the 2nd one is Greco-Roman. One can also assume that there is a chronological gap between craftsman no. 1, on the one hand, and the 3rd and 4th, on the other – it’s probably a matter of one generation. In any case, the less than harmonious collaboration of a number of craftsmen with different manners of ornamentation, led to a lack of unity in style of the elements constituting the kantharos cups that were produced in a “barbaric” environment (cups no. 2-8). This lack of stylistic unity, as well as the disassembling of the cups in Sâncrăieni prior to their burial brought forth dilemmas that proved insurmountable to modern restoration. It would have been preferable, therefore, to avoid interventions of an irreversible nature and to preserve the separate elements of the kantharos cups in the state in which they had been discovered.