Zum aktuellen Stand der «raetischen Statuettenwerkstatt»

Robert Fleischer was the first, in 1963, to attribute a common workshop to a group of seven bronze statuettes of the late 2nd/early 3rd centuries AD, the majority of which had been found in the provinces of Raetia and Noricum, more exactly in the area of the Limes forts situated along the Danube (Straubing, Regensburg, Enns) and in their hinterland. What makes these statuettes so distinctive are their stylistic features characterised by a lack of artistic imagination and variation which results in a very schematic modelling of bodies and garments. This uniformity is due to the fact that the wax models were built up by using the same partial negative moulds. Meanwhile the number of bronzes to be attributed to this workshop has increased considerably; today we know of twenty-three statuettes and five single bases. As new types of deities Diana and Vulcan have been added. According to their findspots the statuettes were in demand primarily by civilians living in vici or villas in the densely populated area south of the Limes but there is evidence, too, for their use within military forts.