Plate with a Fisherman (reel) A.D. 500 - 600

David M · Post by **David M** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:23 am

I followed one of Dr. Todd's Twitter feeds over to Clark's Classic Fly Rod Forum the other day and read a very intriguing story by a fellow that goes by the name of "The Old Collector". His detailed story revolves around a A.D. 500 - 600(?) art object he noticed at the J. Paul Getty Museum that depicts a fisherman holding a rod with what looks like a REEL attached, even though the reel's only in relief form. Big news? I should say so, if authentic! This 23 5/8 in. Eastern Mediterranean plate would predate the reel depicted in 'Angler on a Wintry Lake' by Ma Yuan from 1195. Anyway, I've been eagerly awaiting The Old Collector's photos, and as of the time of this writing none have been posted. But me, not being the patient sort to sit around and wait, I set out on a search of my own. I figured the Getty Museum must have a photo of this thing in their archives, and sure enough they did. I'm sure I'll get flamed for trying to steal The Old Collectors thunder, but that's not my intentions at all. I'm not posting any links or photos over on Clark's, and hope the poster gets his own photos uploaded soon. My devotion is with ORCA, and I wanted to make sure that we had our own access to this possible Holy Grail like reel image for our own research. After all, it's been on-line for the whole world to see anyway, so lets hope that there will be more details to arise about this antiquity in the future.

Link to The Getty Museum; Plate with a Fisherman A.D. 500 - 600 w/description
http://orcaonline.org/images/pixel.gif ... tobj=12551

Link to The Old Collector's; The Fifteen Hundred year-old Fly Reel story
http://classicflyrodforum.com/forum/ ... -Reel.html

A photo from Flickr by Mharrsch, with free rights to copy, distribute, and transmit the work.
Plus a couple that I cropped, and digitally enhanced.

David

fishbugman · Post by **fishbugman** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:13 am

Very interesting...looks like a built-in reel/rod combo. Maybe a Hun Supercaster. By the amount of fish laying around, my guess is that guy was very wealthy and/or was in charge of feeding Atilla's army.

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 1:26 pm

Neat! By the way, the Old Collector is none other than A.J. Campbell, author of a big book on fly rods...

-- Dr. Todd

David M · Post by **David M** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 6:29 pm

Thank you Dr. Todd for the info. I don't get over to Clark's as much as I should I guess; goodness knows I've got enough cane stashed here and there. Regarding the Clark's posting though, I only saw the initials A.J., and didn't put two and two together. I did however read Mr. Campbell's book for collectors over ten years ago, and as you know, it's still one of the most informative books on the subject out there.

David

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 10:46 am

Question 2 here (http://www.antiquefishingreels.info/FAQgeneral.htm) has been online for well over a decade. Mr. Buller deserves all the credit for the discovery.

David M · Post by **David M** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 1:11 pm

Good to know Steve, that's good detective work. I will let them know over at Clark's. Just for the record, I never wanted, or asked for any credit. Anyway, some good did come out of this. We all got to see actual photos, and that always helps in our education.

David

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 3:09 pm

No detective work required, David. I just read Buller's article in 1997. (F. Buller, The American Fly Fisher, Vol. 23, pg. 14, 1997) AMFF published it, and it was a helluva lot more than just a "small photo of a stannum platter in the Getty Collection." Fascinating article, but what feedback would OC have expected? BTW, Buller provided alternative interpretations of the "reel."
Looks like we're rediscovering the rediscovering of the reel.

Jim Schottenham · Post by **Jim Schottenham** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 10:49 am

Great...another side-mount I'll have to hunt for!

David M · Post by **David M** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 3:08 am

Here's a couple of twenty year old studies, from the many that have been done regarding the fisherman plate. The full stories are not present with these links, but you can still get the gist of them. I had a feeling that putting a question mark after the date in my story was going to be a good idea.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/4166598

http://www.jstor.org/pss/4166599

The last thing I want to do is speculate, or dream-up details that can't be seen clearly. But, since this cropped image is fairly clear and detailed, what do guy's think about the possibility of this being a landing net or bait seine, and not a bait horn or pipe. It didn't dawn on me until I zoomed in a bit, and bumped up the contrast. You can see a possible handle pointing up to the 11 o'clock position, with the possible net going up and over the handle. The gold on the inside is stippled resembling net holes; that method's not used anywhere else on the plate. Also, there are indications of what could be evenly spaced knots around the opening. Just a thought.

The small gold object directly behind the angler in the reel(?) close-up could possibly be the bait container, it looks to be more indicative of capped horn vessels depicted in paintings and drawings from the era. As a side note, I try to stay away from using the word "IS" (as in stating a fact) regarding any aspect of this object, that I believe would be foolish, and totally irresponsible.

David