Love can take on many forms and guises. However, the mythological character of Cupid perhaps best personifies all that we know love to be: youthful and innocent, conniving  More »

Love can take on many forms and guises. However, the mythological character of Cupid perhaps best personifies all that we know love to be: youthful and innocent, conniving and mischievous, swift and fleeting. True to our emotions, with the gentle prick of his arrows, Cupid can cause us to love, hate, or lust all the same. Love and reason are incompatible. The myth of Cupid reveals that our own amorous tendencies are beyond any rational control or explanation. Love conquers all. Hard to believe a winged infant could be so powerful. Here we see Cupid, frisky and vibrant. Who can guess what malicious ideas he has in his head? Why the dolphin? Perhaps this aquatic creature represents the god of the sea Poseidon, or maybe it relates to Venus, Cupid’s mother, who was washed ashore on an oyster shell followed by dolphins. This relationship between the God and the mammal is ambiguous, like love. It might not be practical, but we do not need it to be. For love, like this sculpture, is a thing of beauty. So let us sit back and immerse ourselves in the splendor that radiates about. - (PF.5604)   « Less

This gorgeous vessel is a splendid example of Early Mannerist Attic vase painting. The Early Mannerists were a group of artists working together in a workshop founded by  More »

This gorgeous vessel is a splendid example of Early Mannerist Attic vase painting. The Early Mannerists were a group of artists working together in a workshop founded by Myson in the beginning of the 5th Century B.C. They are united by their stylistic innovations that broke away from archaic traditions including elongated figures with small head, a heightened sense of movement and exaggerated gestures, stiff drapery with pleats repetitively stacked together, and their fondness for the column krater form. This attractive red-figure column krater depicts on the front a dancing party. Standing in the middle and facing right is a musician in the midst of playing a double flute. On either side of her are figures of dancing girls, dressed in thin garments, swaying to the music with their arms elegantly raised. On the back of the krater are three youths engaged in conversation. Below the vase's splayed rim is a frieze of stylized animals executed in black-figure. The vase is very well preserved with one area of restoration on the rim and neck. Similar vessels were believed to be used as cinerary urns, and surely this piece would have made a splendid memorial if that was the case. However, the themes of the subject matter have a distinct air of revelry, of dancing and music that might indicate that this krater was intended to celebrate life and not to memorialize death. - (X.0041)   « Less

Terra sigillata wares were the classic fine wares of the Roman period. The roots of the industry go back to Italy during the 1st Century B.C. Building on the foundations of a  More »

Terra sigillata wares were the classic fine wares of the Roman period. The roots of the industry go back to Italy during the 1st Century B.C. Building on the foundations of a pre-existing industry dedicated to black-slipped ware, the glossy red-slipped terra sigillata wares were first produced at Arezzo, in northern Tuscany. The industry expanded, and factories producing Italian-type sigillata were founded across the Mediterranean world, notably southern France and northern Spain. By the 3rd-4th Century A.D., the center of terra sigillata production had shifted south, to the shores of Roman North Africa. From the great port of Carthage, these wares were exported throughout the Mediterranean world and representative examples have been found from Israel to England.Characterized by a red-orange to red-brown clay and a slip of a more refined version of the same clay, these glossy household vessels were decorated by relief figures and stamped designs. Frequently, separately applied clay figures were cast in molds and added to the vessels as decoration. This vessel is a fine example of the very wares that were produced in North Africa. Immediately obvious is the glossy red slip that made these wares extremely durable and gave them their name. This particular work features two handles and a small round foot. The body has been divided into two sections framed by four applied palm leaves. Each section is decorated by a molded reclining lion. Hundreds of years ago, this vessel was created in Roman North Africa, shipped out of Carthage, and landed on the table of a household somewhere across the vast empire. The history of this work is truly fascinating and is surmounted only by its beauty. - (X.0052)   « Less

The Greek colonies of southern Italy (known in antiquity as Magna Grecia) were marked by their initial allegiance to the ceramic styles of the Attic mainland. However, over  More »

The Greek colonies of southern Italy (known in antiquity as Magna Grecia) were marked by their initial allegiance to the ceramic styles of the Attic mainland. However, over the years, native traditions and innovations heavily influenced the works of Magna Grecian potters. Unorthodox forms and painting-styles were seamlessly merged with the standard Greek style, creating distinctive works of art unique to the Hellenistic world. This Apulian red-figure patera features serpentine handles decorated with applied rosette patterns to facilitate transportation of this piece. A patera was a type of large platter used for presenting and serving food to guests during elegant diner parties. The dish rests on a low foot-ring and features painted details added in white and brown wash. While the focus would have been on the interior of the patera, the exterior has received most of the attention for the decorative scheme. Painted on one side of the exterior, a seated nude youth holds a shield and a spear, his sword resting at his side. He is flanked on the left by a youth holding spears and a woman holding a phiale (a type cup used for offering libations) and on the right by a youth carrying spears and a helmet. Two windows have been added to the otherwise black background space, suggesting that this scene takes place indoors, or perhaps directly outside of a structure. The other side of the patera shows a thyrsos-bearing youth holding a phiale. A standing youth and a girl flank him on either side. Palmette motifs so typical of Magna Grecian art fill the space around the handles, leaving almost no space on the exterior of the patera unadorned. The scholar A.D. Trendall attributed this patera to the Painter of Athens 1714 in his book on Apulian Vases.   « Less

This column krater is attributed to the artist known as the Boreas Painter, column kraters being the earliest form of the krater first imported from Corinth in the 6th  More »

This column krater is attributed to the artist known as the Boreas Painter, column kraters being the earliest form of the krater first imported from Corinth in the 6th Century B.C. A painted departure scene decorates one side of this vessel. Here, a woman wearing a chiton and himation offers a sip from a phiale to a youth wearing a chlamys over his shoulder and holding a staff. These two central figures are flanked on either side by a bearded man. The opposite side of the krater is adorned by a scene depicting three youths, each holding a staff and wearing a long himation. Similar vessels were believed to be used as cinerary urns, and surely this piece would have made a splendid memorial if that was the case. Considering the theme of the two scenes, it appears quite likely that this vessel might have played a funerary role, providing an opportunity for the deceased to continue the festivities of the symposium in the afterlife. - (X.0105)   « Less

Before the modern advents of trains and automobiles, trade between civilizations concentrated around the Mediterranean moved foremost by sea. While many bulk commodities such  More »

Before the modern advents of trains and automobiles, trade between civilizations concentrated around the Mediterranean moved foremost by sea. While many bulk commodities such as timber and stone could be loaded directly aboard a ship with little preparation, other commodities such as spices, wine, and grain needed to be packed in individual containers for transport both at sea and on land and to prolong their life span. Pottery was first created in order to fulfill these practical needs. Over time, the art form evolved from large, unadorned commercial transport vessels to refined, specialized works in elegant shapes used to hold precious substances such as perfume or oils.An entire retinue of terracotta vessels dedicated to the rites of the dinner table began to appear. These pieces were based on the luxurious bronze and silver vessels that could only be afforded by the wealthy elite and were decorated with fanciful natural motifs and painted scenes of everyday life and celebrated myths. These wares were of such beauty that they themselves became prized commodities and were traded throughout the Mediterranean world; perhaps even for the very substances they were created to contain. These works are individually classified by their shapes and their form was inherently linked to their function, be it preparation, dispensation, or consumption.   « Less

This is an Apulian red-figured fish plate attributed to the Ricchioni Painter. The fish plate stands on a tall stemmed foot with moulded edge, depicting a pair of bream and a  More »

This is an Apulian red-figured fish plate attributed to the Ricchioni Painter. The fish plate stands on a tall stemmed foot with moulded edge, depicting a pair of bream and a skate. added white pigment is used to highlight the eyes, underbeliies, fins, and gills on the bream and for the eyes and outline of the skate. The central concave depression and rim bear wave patterns. - (LA.540)   « Less

The history of glass making before the Industrial Revolution can be separated in two stages: in the first, which began in the 3rd millennium BCE and ended in the period from  More »

The history of glass making before the Industrial Revolution can be separated in two stages: in the first, which began in the 3rd millennium BCE and ended in the period from 100 to 50 BCE, craftsmen discovered how to transform raw materials into glass and how to make vessels and other objects either with moulds or by forming a molten glass around a removable core. Both techniques were labour-intensive and were seldom made in big quantities. In the second stage, beginning in the 1st century CE in the Syro-Palestinian region, glass workers found that molten glass could be formed by inflation and manipulation with tools. Glass blowing enabled them to make quickly a wide range of shapes, thus widening its market.However, after the 2nd century CE, glass is generally found in a more confined area. The change appears to have taken place under the Flavian Emperors (69-96 CE), an era that in many ways represents a watershed in the history of glass making. It is from this time onwards that glassblowing in the East and the West developed along independent lines, the only exception being fine tableware decorated with special techniques, which was probably due to the still unifying factor of the Roman Imperial administration.   « Less

This bronze lamp is in the form of a youth with upswept hair, perhaps a satyr, seated on a low circular base and holding the spout with both hands before him. He wears an  More »

This bronze lamp is in the form of a youth with upswept hair, perhaps a satyr, seated on a low circular base and holding the spout with both hands before him. He wears an animal skin tied around his neck, the tuft tail curving out and resting on his back to form the ring-handle, and a Phrygian cap hinged to form the lid for the fitting-hole, the upward-curving tapering spout emerging from a calyx. Cf. Musee Rolin, Bronzes Figures Antiques, no. 96. - (LA.547)   « Less

This fragment depicts the head of a ram, facing left, in high relief. The modeling of the head is consummate and in keeping with the meticulous attention paid to its details.  More »

This fragment depicts the head of a ram, facing left, in high relief. The modeling of the head is consummate and in keeping with the meticulous attention paid to its details. The sculpting of our ram evokes the jewel-like precision associated with the finest cameo carving of the period. Notice in particular the naturalistic treatment of the snout with its clearly articulated nose and mouth, the subtle modeling separating the region of the eye from that of the cheek, and the convincing manner in which the curly tufts of fleece rise up from the forehead from which the curvilinear forms of the horn spring which in turn surround the lanceolate-shaped, horizontally aligned ear.There are ten well-modeled floral forms, originally associated with a now missing garland, which align themselves with the diagonal orientation of our ram’s lower jaw. Each of these elements is naturalistically rendered and sculpted in depth into the surface of the marble. When struck by the bright rays of the Mediterranean sun these forms, together with those of the head of the ram, would reveal an almost baroque orchestration of light and dark forms contributing to the visual interest of the entire object to which this fragment originally belonged.On the basis of parallels, our ram appears to have come from one of the corners of a funerary monument, created during the early Roman Imperial Period, as comparison with the funerary altars of both Amemptus in Paris, the Musée du Louvre, and that of Memmius Ianuarius in Copenhagen’s Ny Carlsberg Glypotek, and a marble relief from the tomb of the Haterii family now in the Latern Museum in Rome reveal.   « Less