International Round Table on Polychromy in Ancient Sculpture and Architecture

"Chroma. Sculpture in Color from Antiquity to Today"

Edited by Seán Hemingway, Sarah Lepinski and Vinzenz Brinkmann

Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press

This volume features new research by more than thirty international experts in polychromy, including art historians, conservators, scientists, and photographers. Identified through advanced technologies, scientific analyses, and in-depth research, their discoveries of surviving traces of color span the globe and vary in material, including an Archaic Greek marble sphinx, an ancient Phoenician cloisonné furniture plaque, Mexica (Aztec) lime-stone sculptures, and medieval and Renaissance European marbles and bronzes.

More details (including table of contents) here.

Published - 29/07/2025.

"Colour & Space. Interfaces of Ancient Architecture and Sculpture.

Proceedings of the 10th International Round Table on Polychromy in Ancient

Sculpture and Architecture"

Frederik Grosser and Stephan Zink (Editors)

Published by Deutsche Archäologische Institut (DAI)

Tagungen und Kongresse Bd. 4 2025. 4°. Hc.,

The compilation of papers from the "10th International Round Table on Polychromy in Ancient Architecture and Sculpture" (Berlin 2020) focuses on the phenomenology of colour in both architectural and sculptural contexts. Featuring both case and comprehensive studies from Greco-Roman Antiquity to the Medieval period, it primarily explores the impact of polychromy within spatial settings. Additionally, it examines how colour enhances form and alters meanings and investigates artistic and technological practices. Overall, the volume advocates for a cross-disciplinary perspective on colour and surface treatments.

Coming soon!

"Colour Schemes in Roman Architecture. Aesthetics, Semantics, and Regional Appropriation"

Johannes Lipps and Matthias Grawehr (Editors)

Published by Reichert Verlag

Roman architecture was characterised by a rich palette of colours, achieved through the use of natural coloured stones and painting. This conference volume is the first book entirely dedicated to the polychromy of architectural orders in the Roman provinces. Its objectives are to present new data, to explore the visual effects for which colour was used on architectural elements, and to collate observations on the functional, chronological and regional variation. The volume brings together the contributions of twenty-five archaeologists, ancient historians, art historians and chemists, encompassing a wide chronological frame from the 2nd century BC to the 3rd century AD and covering a geographical range from modern Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria to Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, and Libya.

More details here.

Published - 2025.

"Blue by Fire: A Marker of the Technical History of Glass and Ceramics"

Howell G. M. Edwards and Philippe Colomban

Published by Springer Nature

This book addresses the application of elemental and molecular spectroscopic analytical techniques to a range of diverse problems which arise for decorated ceramics, glass and enamels and related artefacts: a history of techniques, provenance and authentication.

Includes a chapter on Blue Pigments in Antiquity.

More details here.

Published - 28/01/2025.

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