THE MEDIA GO CRAZY over this kind of story. A farmer plowing his field unearths a vast, priceless store of ancient treasures.

It’s something of a trope – since it happens, well, if not all the time … then at least both rarely enough to be newsworthy and frequently enough to invoke a familiar, even folkloric format for the narrative.   

I’ve been indulging myself delightedly in the outcome of one such discovery, which was excitingly newsworthy in its time. That time was 1830, in Northern France – but the treasure unearthed then is splendidly timeless … and we can feast our senses on it right now in New York City.

We’re luckier than we might know – the farmer in question, an aptly-named Prosper Taurin, nearly had it all melted down for the silver’s cash-value, like all too many of his fellow treasure-finders over time. That is, until more public-spirited counsel prevailed with him. It came from his wife, says local legend, rather pleasingly. So, perhaps thanks to Madame Taurin, everything ended up in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France – in the Library’s Department of Coins, Medals and Antiquities.

But now this Roman-Gallic silverwork, most strikingly from the First Century CE, but including later works from up to the Third, has been brought here to be the heart of a new exhibit at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. That venue – a satellite entity of New York University – is an under-sung treasure in itself, and I’ve had frequent occasion to highlight the cultural sharpness of its exhibitions and their remarkable capacity to surprise.

Under the guidance of an energetic new Gallery Curator and Associate Director for Exhibitions, Clare Fitzgerald (right), that capacity has been reaffirmed for me. “Decadence and Devotion” is an assemblage of 160 precious pieces from that nineteen-century find in the fields of Berthouville, Normandy, which reveal in depth the interplay between Gallic and Roman cultures.

‘Decadence’ in the show-title derives from the outright opulence and richness of the items – extraordinary examples of detailed workmanship in precious metal, by both expert craftsmen from Rome, it’s believed, and local Gallic artists. Oh, and there’s much sheer luxury and indulgence in the ‘messaging’ of the pieces, too. Like the large drinking-bowl of both silver and gold that would reveal – as a drinker consumed its contents – an intricately-etched image of the mythological Queen Omphale, curled up in a fetal (and implicitly inebriated) position.   

‘Devotion’ refers to the dedication of so many of these items to the Roman god Mercury – who is seen syncretically linked with the Celtic god Lugus, also known as Visucius (in each culture’s case the deity took care of communications and commerce) – as an expression of gratitude and piety. The objects’ original home would likely have been in a vast fanum (or temple), of which there were many spread across the Celtic northeastern stretches of the Roman Empire. The fanum at Berthouville, a cross-roads of Roman trading routes, was excavated a half-century after the silver hoard was found, and learned to be dedicated to Mercury Canetonensis (Canetonum was the Roman name for Berthouville).

THE RICH INDIVIDUALS who presented these votive gifts to the temple, including a certain Quintus Domitius Tutus whose name crops up repeatedly, were eager to have their identity and their piety emblazoned on them. The inscriptions were often prominently and indelibly scored – with sharply-pitted dots tracing the letters of their names. (I couldn’t help but think: some big donor behavior changes little over the centuries.)

Mercury himself inevitably has pride of place in the show. There are two representations in silver, one of which (left) is, at almost two feet high, one of the largest statuettes made of precious metal to survive from antiquity.
 In portraying a naked muscular youth in a classical pose, the piece mimics Ancient Greek statues from five centuries before, a style greatly favored during this apex of Roman imperial rule over Europe. Mercury was a focus for the hybridizing of culture and worship that took place under that rule. As well as his association with Lugus (or Visucius), he was also often portrayed in company with the Gallo-Roman fertility goddess Rosmerta.

Berthouville’s diverse donor-inscriptions also indicate that the temple was a place where both Roman citizens and Gauls worshipped. Gallic names, both male and female, are much in evidence, like Combaromarus and Camulognata, as well as the likes of our afore-mentioned Quintus Domitius Tutus, so evidently a Roman citizen.

Many objects carry stories, which would function as conversations pieces, we might suppose, to stimulate talk among the smart set of Canetonum. A silver and gold pitcher intricately illustrates episodes from Aeschylus, showing how the Trojan prince Hector, who has killed Patroclus, the beloved comrade of Achilles the Greek, is in turn killed by a rageful Achilles himself in single combat.

Achilles refuses to give up the body to the Trojan side, even if offered a ransom – “not even the body’s weight in gold”, Achilles snarls. The back of the pitcher even depicts Hector’s supine corpse being weighed on a set of scales, with a load of gold filling the other balancing pan (above right  – click on image to enlarge). On the pitcher’s side (left – click on image to enlarge), what happened instead of a ransom is horrifically captured: the desecration of Hector’s body, dragged around Troy’s city walls by Achilles’ chariot, with ropes threaded through holes Achilles had drilled in the dead man’s heels. Viciousness in a war of vengeance, powerfully conveyed through ornate fashioning of precious metal.

The exhibition’s items have been the subject of an intense conservation project carried out by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, CA and were first shown together there – to be followed by appearances in San Francisco, Kansas and Houston. This recently opened ISAW exhibition – an awe-inspiring amalgam of beauty and learning – is our last chance to see Berthouville’s exquisite offerings … before they go back home to France.

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IN FULLER DETAIL:

Items shown, from top

Cup with Centaurs and Cupids (Roman, 1–100 CE)
Findspot: Berthouville, France
Silver and gold – H 11.7 cm; W. 26.8 cm; D. 17.4 cm
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris: Inv. 56.7
Inscription: “MERCVRIO AVGVSTO Q DOMITIVS TVTVS EX VOTO”
(To Augustan Mercury, Quintus Domitius Tutus in fulfillment of a vow)
Photo: Tahnee Cracchiola © Getty-BnF

Pitcher with Scenes from the Trojan War of Achilles with Eight Greek Warriors
Weeping over the Body of Patroclus and Priam’s Embassy to Ransom Hector’s Body; Episodes from the Life of Achilles (Roman, 1–100 CE)
Findspot: Berthouville, France
Silver and gold – H. 29.9 cm; W. 14.5; Circumference. 42 cm
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris: inv. 56.4
Inscription: MERCVRIO AVGVSTO Q DOMITIVS TVTVS EX VOTO
(To Augustan Mercury, Quintus Domitius Tutus in fulfillment of a vow)
Photo: Tahnee Cracchiola © Getty-BnF

Pitcher with Scenes from the Trojan War of Achilles’s Dragging Hector’s Corpse and the Death of Achilles in Battle – (Roman, 1–100 CE)
Findspot: Berthouville, France
Silver and gold – H. 31.5 cm; Circumference 44 cm
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris: inv. 56.5
Inscription: MERCVRIO AVGVSTO Q DOMITIVS TVTVS EX VOTO
(To Augustan Mercury, Quintus Domitius Tutus in fulfillment of a vow)
Photo: Tahnee Cracchiola © Getty-BnF