Cast of a Fragment of the Elgin Marbles

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Cast of a Fragment Elgin Marbles. Cast plaster (gypsum or calcium) from a Greek original. Under 1/3 reduction in scale of 5th Century Greek original. The cast originally from the collection of the Dime Museum, Baltimore, Maryland. Sold at auction in February, 2007 after the financial failure of the museum. Along with casts of original cracks, damage and reassembly of the contemporary plaster artifact is apparent.

The Elgin, or Parthenon Marbles are part of a large collection of marble sculptures removed from Athens to Britain in 1906 by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799 to 1803. The originals were cut into smaller pieces to effect their removal. A highly destructive cleaning in the 1930’s resulted in the officials removal from British Museum employment. Some scholars, notably Richard Payne Knight, insisted that the marbles dated from the period of the Roman Empire, but most accepted that they were authentic works from the studio of Phidias. They were eventually purchased by Great Britain’s Parliament in 1816 and deposited in the British Museum, where they were displayed in the Elgin Saloon (constructed in 1832), until the Duveen Gallery was completed in 1939.