Elegant in shape and all too delicate in construction, this perfume bottle (unguentarium) shows boudoir scenes executed in cameo glass – the exceptionally fancy technique thought to date to the Augustan period. Here the festoons, bedding, and two amorous pairs of different flavours (the homoerotic one is shown here) are crisply carved into a milky
This fellow was found in a pit, during 1958 archaeological investigations in the Sanctuary of Hera at Samos. He is fairly small (just over 14 cm tall) but the ivory is beautifully preserved in the island’s boggy soil, preserving beguiling traces that are not terribly easy to pinpoint on any one culture. The style seems
During the century after the death of Alexander the Great, the Seleucid dynasty dominated most of Near East from Asia Minor to Pakistan. Their royal courts also became booming artistic centers, and adept at transforming the vast wealth suddenly available to them into exceptionally fine tableware. These three cups (I’ve shown the profile of one
I’ve been thinking a bit about two forms of Roman block buster entertainment: gladiatorial matches (munera) and chariot races (ludi circenses). Their popularity relied on suspense and the frisson of potential bodily harm – a very good time for the throngs of frenzied fans in the audience. And this is a pretty terrific object –
Victory wings in here, her peplos pressed against her body with skirts fluttering in the wind. She is only 7.3 centimeters tall, but the amount of detail rendered in that hard, shiny chalcedony is staggering – a Roman inheritance in miniature of earlier monumental Nikai in Olympia, Samothrace and beyond. Chalcedony (and other hard, shiny
Is there any profile more lovely than that of Antinöos, that beautiful rustic beloved by Hadrian? I think not, and of the all the surviving portraits of him, this one in slightly translucent black chalcedony is by far my favorite. Born in Bithynia (the northern Black Sea coastline of Asia Minor), the comely youth caught
The tortured love affair between Eros and Psyche was explored with gusto in the Hellenistic world and into the Roman. Particularly popular were vignettes where Psyche was shown as a butterfly, helpless in the hands of Aphrodite’s precocious, capricious (sociopathic?) sidekick who is occasionally shown holding over a flame by the wings… This composition has
Diabolically difficult to quarry and carve and imported at great expense from Egypt’s Eastern desert, by the 2nd century A.D. porphyry was inextricably linked with imperial grandeur with that purplish color becoming synonymous with royalty. So much so that when Septimius Severus died on campaign in Britain his cremated remains were allegedly brought home in
This exuberant glass pavement (approximately 30 x 30 square centimeters) is a psychedelic hodgepodge of glass inlays in a variety of techniques. It’s a rare survival of the ‘opus sectile‘ (coming from Latin ‘to cut’) method entirely of glass. Set within a greenish glass-paste matrix, a number of inquisitive birds perch and nibble, their vibrant
Wonder about your neck? Well women of the early Ptolemaic dynasty evidently did and those distinctive fleshy folds ringing the neck were characteristic of their portraits – anatomical flair that does not necessarily translate into modern sensibilities. These ‘Venus-rings’ were a symbol of feminine beauty (and likely prosperity), and were all the rage in the
The most exciting treasure in the lavish Treasury of Aachen’s Cathedral is certainly the so-called Cross of Lothair. In the treasury museum, the Ottonian processional cross is most peculiarly displayed with the colorful principle side facing the wall (a nod to how the cross was oriented when carried into the church or more modern Germanic
Unusually large for surviving glass works (just over 30 cm tall), and in the most luxurious mode possible, this pointed amphora in cameo glass is a wonder to behold (and best beheld with a strong light to illuminate its dark blue body). The lavish decoration is appropriate for a vessel shape intended to store wine:
This ivory statuette is both far out of my comfort zone (Classical art) and very much part of the Mediterranean story. She is a Buddhist yakshini (previously erroneously identified as Lakshmi), measuring just under twenty-five centimeters, certainly Indian in origin but found in Pompeii, evidently reaching that fabled city before its destruction in 79 A.D.
With a smattering of exceptions, the names of ancient artists are largely lost to us and likely most toiled in relative obscurity in their own times. Particularly so, the producers of ‘minor’ arts…which brings me to this lovely blue cup. Because the cup bears an inscription, “Ennion made me”, within a prominently placed tabula ansata
With deftly modelled fingertips and slightly dimpled flesh, these nearly clasping female hands in Taranto exude an undeniable sensuality. These are not the chapped and nicked hands of a washerwoman (or former toiling archaeologist…sigh), but rather those of the moneyed leisured class, which the pair of gilt coiled-snake bracelets make abundantly clear. But they are
Fancy encountering this fearsome beauty at the bottom of your wine cup? Skylla’s lovely nude torso projects from this small disk as she prepares to over-head-hurl a boulder at an unsuspecting sailor while a decidedly complicated lower body roils in the waves beneath her. Fishtails flail and dog-heads snap, these last giving the monstrous sea-hybrid
A decade after the Met’s acquisition of the famous Euphronios krater for a cool 1.2 million dollars (and presumably in part as a reaction to the soaring prices of Attic pottery) a most intriguing, ingenious, and inflammatory (depending on who you ask) theory was floated…. In a series of studies, Michael Vickers (and later jointly
After weeks of relentless gray rain, it seemed appropriate to start off this Monday with a stunner of a vessel as radiant and round as the sun. This is the exterior of an omphalos phiale (omphalos being Greek for belly-button / navel), named for that central circular indentation poking up into the vase’s interior. The
This is a deeply weird object in every way possible. And as mysterious as it may be, the two core lessons are: don’t antagonise Dionysos and don’t forget the power of light. In a previous post, I discussed the Trivulzio cup, a gorgeous, more straightforward cage cup with translucent and blue glass with an inscribed
Magnificent in every way, this centaur is full of exquisite mid-Hellenistic craftsmanship. When Alexander’s successors came westward to roost, they brought back precious metals and some most peculiar Persian aristocratic modes of drinking. Just look at this fellow, full of pathos and glower (face shown better in the second photo). His festive gilded wreath places
These are three of the seven masks found during Heinrich Schliemann’s famous late 19th century excavations of Mycenae. They were found over the faces of men (and a boy child) in shaft graves within the grave circles in that wondrously fortified citadel, and clearly marked out the individuals buried with them as men of significant
I begin to sing of Demeter, the holy goddess with the beautiful hair […] she of the golden double-axe, she who glories in the harvest.’ So begins Hesiod in his Hymn to Demeter, and I cannot seem to put it out of my mind when faced with this spectacle: a life-sized (30 cm tall, in
‘Sandwich glass’ always strikes me as a slightly hilarious way to describe the most luxurious and refined type of ancient glass. But it’s actually a great description of a hugely sophisticated technique that was perfected in the Hellenistic period. Shallow and cups, seem to have especially sought after but only available to the fabulously wealthy.
Prized for its luminous, warm glow, amber was something special in the ancient world. Rather than the flinty shine of polished gems, it appeared lit from within. What exactly amber was and where it came from was the subject of considerable consternation in the ancient world, ranging from fanciful (e.g. the tears of Apollo) to
When this little beauty caught my eye (as many shiny things do) in a showcase full of Etruscan gold, I did a double take. The head is only about 2 centimeters tall, representing the wild and woolly grand-daddy of all river gods Achelaos, known for his bushy beard, horned head, and bull’s body. A distinctive
Glass in antiquity is a funny thing. Unlike imported semi-precious stones, the material had no intrinsic value; instead, it was wholly based on the difficulty of technique used to work it and thus fluctuated based on technology from a luxury good to humdrum table-ware. Shown here is one of the most fabulous and luxurious examples
Semi-precious stone, gold, miniature portraiture, and the incomparable queen Arsinöe II: this head (H. 2.2 cm) in the Walters Art Museum has it all in one tiny package! The stone is amethyst, which is a fun one. Not only did it have royal connotations in Egypt for several thousand years prior to this portrait, the
This is one of the very greatest examples of diadem from the ancient world. Dubbed the ‘Loeb Diadem’ it currently resides in the Munich Antikensammlung, and said to be from the Pantikapaion (modern Kerch) along the Black Sea. The moniker stems from the first (modern) owner, Dr. James Loeb who acquired it in the early
Hard stone polished to a lustrous shine is irresistible (to me, at least, and probably also inquisitive magpies). In Cleveland’s Museum of Art, a relatively large banded agate has been painstakingly carved into a relatively tiny (only 6.5 cm tall), functional pouring vessel. It is also a wonderful example of Greek and Egyptian traditions blending
This perfect little ivory foot at the Met is only 14.3 centimetres long, and exquisitely detailed both anatomically and iconographically. It is carved in exacting detail, replete with cuticles, toe-nails, ankle-bones, and knuckle-creases and on the whole invitingly tactile as far as feet go. The Greek-style sandal too, shows extreme sensitivity – the delicate krepides
Discovered in 1928, the silver hoard from Marengo (Piemonte) is spectacular and worth a trip to Torino. And this is its star: a silver bust of the emperor Lucius Verus, instantly recognisable by his luxuriant curls, simian hairline, slightly forked beard, and narrow jaw. The thin and brittle silver walls were a bit squashed, giving
He’s gorgeous, he’s purple, and he is Alexander’s least favorite orator! But he’s my favorite: Demosthenes you ornery bastard! Roman culturally, and Greek by design, this enormous (1.9 cm) gem shows the glowering visage of Demosthenes. After strengthening his voice and polishing his diction by training with a mouthful of pebbles (have to try this),
Miniature, but delectable! This is a rare survival of chryselephantine (gold and ivory) sculpture from the Hellenistic world, and is a tantalizing glimpse into the level of luxury that was available to the elite. Here, a komos (the tipsy procession after the symposium) is shown. A young satyr leads the trio playing the aulos (a
You might have seen this extraordinary engraved agate before. It was found late in the University of Cincinnati’s 2015 excavation season at Pylos (deep in the Peloponnese) in an intact Mycenaean grave (ca. 1450 B.C.) and the discovery made the front page of the New York Times. And rightly so! The other 1500 or so objects
Damaged but delectable, this famous glass vessel – known as the Portland vase – is a truly a “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma…” (and I am sure Churchill would agree). The thick pearlescent layer overlaying the dark cobalt blue body is painstakingly carved down as if it were a multilayered sardonyx or
Even though worship of Dionysos seems to have been as old as the rest of the Greek pantheon, he was traditionally regarded as a recent addition – an insolent young pup hailing from the exotic East, exuberantly making his way to Mt. Olympus. Tasked by his wily stepmother Hera with conquering India, Dionysos did so
In an impressive feat of artistry and imagination, this little ivory appliqué grafts a delightfully human, puckish expression onto the hairy caprid face of Pan.