When I was travelling through Sardinia earlier this month, I picked up a fascinating book entitled the People of Bronze (il Popolo di bronzo in Italian), which describes to minute detail the styles and fashion of the Nuraghic men, who lived more than 4,000 years ago.In a previous article, Nuraghic Men Rocked the Styles!, I posted a design and gleaned much information from the book, which deeply impressed me. I am amazed at the author’s keen insights into the styles of her Sardinian ancestors and, in turn, I was equally struck by their sense of fashion.
The author, Angela Demontis, is an artist and designer, who for many years contributed to the Naturalistic Museum Sa Corono Arruba as scientific designer. Angela has been fascinated with the bronze statuettes called bronzetti, which she describes to great length in her book.
For the next several articles, I have obtained permission from the author to post the English translation of three designs, which represent the Nuraghic fashion scene. The following article is entitled A Man with a Bag from Aidomaggiore:
This bronzetto, unfortunately very destroyed, represents a man who is carrying some very important objects on his shoulder. On his head rests a simple cap and he has short hair.
It seems that he is wearing a tunic with one flap crossing the other, as seen with models no. 70, 72, 80; but they could also be a Cossack and a skirt, which is tied at the sides. The shoulders are covered with a rectangle mantle, not very long, with a turned-up collar, which is closed with double latches and a button.
This person from Aidomaggiore holds in his fist a double rod, which, resting on his shoulder is bent probably due to the weight of the objects at both extremities. In front, exactly under the hand, we see an object, which, although difficult to interpret, I have rendered as seen in the design.
Extreme corrosion and particularly the fact that it was not kept in a museum make the analysis of the object difficult. Hanging from the rod in the back, we see a cylindrical object whose surface is divided into six sections.
Although corroded, one can see clearly the little handles, strap, and hinges of the symmetrical enclosures placed at both ends of the container. It consists of a handbag with two caps (in the design at the bottom), which probably served as a case for musical instruments like the benas and launeddas (‘triple flutes of cane’).Containers like this are still used by the “old” maestros exactly for carrying such cane instruments. One cannot exclude other uses, too, such as for carrying various tools and other.
Photos & text Copyright Angela Demontis 2005, used with permission.
