Detail View: ADJUNCT MODULE B: ITALIAN ART: Ithyphallic Street Sellers of Buns

Collection: 
ADJUNCT MODULE B: ITALIAN ART
Preferred Title: 
Ithyphallic Street Sellers of Buns
Image View: 
Overall view of three figurines
Creator: 
unknown (Roman (ancient))
Location: 
repository: Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Naples, Campania, Italy) 143758-143761
Location Note: 
Piazza Museo 19; Secret Cabinet (Gabbinete or Gabinetto Segreto)
GPS: 
+40.853378+14.250486
Date: 
before 79 CE (creation)
Cultural Context: 
Roman (ancient)
Style Period: 
Imperial (Roman)
Work Type 1: 
figurine
Classification: 
Sculpture and Installations
Material: 
bronze
Technique: 
casting (process)
Subjects: 
mythology (Classical)
Description: 
The Secret Cabinet (Gabbinete) or Secret Room is the name of the Bourbon Monarchy gave the private rooms in which they held their fairly extensive collection of erotic or sexual items, mostly deriving from excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Limiting viewership and censorship have always been part of the history of the collection. These scupltures have also been identified as ithyphallic bronze Mercuries holding out trays for bread; phallic imagery like this was an apotropaic device for protection, and so was common both publicly and privately. Sometimes caricature was used because provoking laughter was also thought to ward away an evil force. (Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)
Collection: 
Adjunct Module B: Italian Art
Identifier: 
7A3-R-NAM-XC-SS-A01
Rights: 
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.