Arranged thematically rather than chronologically, The Oxford Handbook of Roman Sculpture is an ambitious — and generally successful — compilation of summaries covering current trends and methods in the evaluation, production, display and empire-wide distribution of sculpture in the Roman world. This hefty collection of forty-one essays by some of the leading authorities on Roman sculpture is divided into six topics preceded by the editors' introductory chapter. The first section, ‘Collecting, Conservation, and Display’, begins with a review of the contemporary motivations behind European collecting from the late fourteenth to late nineteenth centuries with a focus on infamous antiquarians such as the Farnese family and the subsequent competitiveness amongst neo-classical collectors (Bartman). Another informative essay examines past and current restoration practices as both physical and interpretive activities, as well as the transition from restoration to conservation (Podany). Two studies explore sculptures and modern museums: the first reviews collecting practices in America from the mid-eighteenth to nineteenth centuries and the abandonment of cast collections of sculptures in favour of ‘authentic’ artifacts (Gleason); the second essay examines the relationships of current academic approaches to understanding sculpture as counterbalanced by institutional mission statements and pedagogical priorities (Power). This thematic section concludes with a technical summary of advances in three-dimensional modelling (3DDM) and its potential uses for education, analysis and experimentation (Frisher).

The second topic, ‘Production and Distribution’, includes essays on (1) marble identification through scientific analyses (including a useful map of white marble quarry locations), quarrying processes, and the Roman administration of Mediterranean quarries (Pensabene and Gasprini); (2) the archaeological, literary and epigraphic evidence for marble carving, tools, joining techniques, copying mechanisms, artists' signatures and workshop industries (Claridge); and (3) the techniques and ideological reasons for recycling male and female portraits with an emphasis on the high to late imperial periods (Varner). Studies of specific media follow: the literary, stylistic and technical evidence for bronze sculptures, including drawings to illustrate the indirect lost-wax process (Mattusch), is paired with a review of terracotta sculptures and the major centres of coroplastic production in Italy and the provinces (Erlich). An essay on polychromy and its aesthetic principles, cultural reception and decorative techniques (Abbe) is followed by a summary of the mobility of craftsmen, sea and land transport, and marble distribution with emphasis on the sarcophagus trade (Russell).

Readers will find the third section, ‘Styles and Genres’, especially useful for its scope and detail. Fullerton summarizes major theories of styles in Roman sculpture (dualism, pluralism, semantics and semiotics) while offering cautionary reminders on the limits of stylistic analysis for both assessing and dating pieces. De Grummond provides a quick review of major types of Etruscan sculpture and reinforces the close and well-known connections between Etruscan practices and Roman adaptations. Anguissola explores the technologies of imitation and the cultural value of multiples, variations and replications. Wood examines Roman portraiture with an emphasis on display contexts, while Sobocinski and Thill tackle the formidable topic of Roman relief sculpture, summarizing nomenclature issues as well as chronological frameworks and current methods for assessing this unique and influential category of public and private art. Touchette examines the retrospective style of Archaism and its relationship to eclecticism and workshops, while Swetnam-Burland explores the variety of Egyptianizing trends as well as Egyptian imports in Italy. The section concludes with Witschel's summary of the productions, genres, uses and recarvings of sculpture in the late antique period.

The fourth section, ‘Spatial and Social Contexts’, opens with Longfellow's brief examination of statues in Roman and provincial architectural contexts. A discussion of religious dedications and votive offerings with emphasis on replicated types and ritual (McCarty) is followed by an interesting summary of the historiography, problems and principles of display in domestic settings ranging from Campanian homes to late antique houses (Gazda). Ewald explores the reliefs, altars, urns, sarcophagi and kline monuments of Roman funerary art with an eye to the motivations of patrons, followed by Tuck's review of the relationships between epigraphy and sculptures with a focus on patronage. The sixth essay in this section examines the ideologies and responses to imperial and local patronage (Kellum), complemented by an assessment of non-élite patronage as related to altars, stele and public monuments (Petersen). D'Ambra and Tronchin conclude this section with an exploration of status, sexuality and gender, with a fascinating discussion of children's sculpted toy ‘action figures’.

The fifth section (‘Regions and Provinces’) covers the challenging and broad topic of sculptures produced and displayed throughout the Roman Empire: Northern Gaul, Germany and Britain (Cassibry), Hispaniae and Narbonensis (Jiménez and Rodà), North Africa (Baratte and de Chaisemartin), Greece (Sturgeon), Asia Minor (Ng), Egypt (Riggs) and the Near East (Weber). Despite the fact that each chapter is frustratingly short, the up-to-date bibliographies provided with each essay are highly useful. The final section of this handbook, ‘Viewing and Reception’, presents essays covering more immediate scholarly trends in the assessment of Roman sculpture. Squire examines the problems of aesthetics with a focus on the conceptualization of sculpture in its Roman context, especially as testified by specific literary sources (Cicero, Pliny, Quintilian). Trimble's excellent essay on reception theory reviews different approaches to viewing and reception as well as where the field currently stands methodologically, pointing out the tension between contextual/historical approaches and aesthetic/interpretative ways of analysing the material. Shaya explores the difficult topic of ancient museums and summarizes the principles of acquisition, display and antiquarianism in the Roman world with an informative review of the Templum Pacis in Rome. Moormann discusses the representation of statues in various, often two-dimensional media (frescoes, mosaics, coins, tableware etc.), demonstrating the propensity to illustrate statues freely and often as elements within quasi-fantastic architectural frameworks. Perry examines human interactions with sculpture, such as ritual bathing, processional displays, ‘talking statues’, ceremonial meals and the intersections of portraits with political agendas. Finally, Kristensen summarizes the difficult topic of iconoclasm with an emphasis on the visceral importance of sculptures as related to individual and collective memory both in their original Roman contexts and subsequent post-pagan eras.

While some essays are understandably brief and others rich in detail with didactic charts and images, The Oxford Handbook of Roman Sculpture is a useful and comprehensive reference volume that scholars and students alike will want within reach.