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Fragmentary colossal marble head of a youth Greek, Hellenistic period, 2nd century B.C. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

Although this extraordinary head has long been known, its function and importance have only recently been understood.  The youth, with long curling locks and a brooding expression, was originally part of a draped bust set into a marble roundel almost four feet in diameter.  It is probably among the earliest known sculptures of this type (imagines clipeatae) in marble and over life-size in scale.  It would have been one of several that adorned the walls of a particular grand space in the gymnasium of ancient Pergamon.  He may represent a young god or possibly Alexander the Great.  Even in its damaged condition, the head exemplifies the combination of sensitivity and presence characteristic of the finest Hellenistic Pergamene sculpture.

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Inkstand with A Madman Distilling His Brains

Italian, probably Urbino, ca. 1600 Tin-glazed earthenware The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

In this whimsical maiolica sculpture, a well-dressed man leans forward in his seat with his head in a covered pot set above a fiery hearth.  The vessel beside the hearth almost certainly held ink.  The man’s actions are explained by an inscription on the chair: “I distill my brain and am totally happy.”  Thus the task of the writer is equated with distillation— the process through which a liquid is purified by heating and cooling, extracting its essence.

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Bronze portrait of Alexander the Great

Greek or Roman, Late Hellenistic to Hadrianic ca. 150 B.C —138 A.D. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

Alexander the Great cultivated a visual image that projected his forceful character and leadership.  Since there are no surviving fourth-century B.C. portraits attributed to his official court sculptor, Lysippos, later sculptures such as this monumental bronze provide an idea of his appearance.  His portrait became the most famous in history and has been emulated by countless leaders from Hellenistic times to the present.

Divine cult centered around Alexander the Great arose during his lifetime and continued after his death in 323 B.C.  He was worshipped in Greek cities, frequently in association with his successors, the Hellenistic kings who divided and ruled the vast kingdom he had created.  The cult of Alexander continued during Roman times particularly in Macedonia, his homeland, and in Asia Minor, where cities traced their foundations to his rule.  This posthumous portrait with long “leonine” hair recalling Alexander’s divine association with the hero Herakles, was probably from a cult statue.

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Shears Perhaps 2nd century A.D. Said to be from Trabzon, northeastern Turkey (ancient Trebizond) Bronze inlaid with silver and black copper(?) Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

This piece is remarkable for its rich inlays.  Both sides of each blade are decorated with three registers of figures.  Whoever created the design clearly had a sense of humor; when the shears are closed, the top register brings a dog face-to-face with a cat on one side and a lion on the other.

The combination of vague iconography, attenuated drawing, and dour expressions marks the shears as in an “Egyptianizing” rather than actual Egyptian style.

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Terracotta bell-krater

Greek, Attic, red-figure, ca. 450 B.C. Attributed to the Methyse Painter Obverse and reverse, Dionysos, the god of wine, with his followers, satyrs and maenads Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

Belonging to the group around the Villa Giulia Painter, the Methyse Painter takes his name from the lyre-playing maenad in front of Dionysos (methyse means “drunk”).  The figures’ incipient inebriation is subtly suggested.  The key is Dionysos— slow-moving with downcast, introverted expression and stabilized by a young satyr who wraps his arms around the gods middle.  The satyrs and maenads on the reverse are more active.  One maenad holds her thyrsos (fennel stalk) ready to parry an assault.  The figures under each handle are engaged in an eternal pursuit.

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Column with Hathor Emblem Capital and Names of Nectanebo I on the Shaft Late Period, Dynasty 30, Reign of Nectanebo I (380-362 BC) Limestone Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

Hathor columns were associated with temples connected with goddesses, or with mammisi-temples (”birth houses”) devoted to the birth of the divine son of a goddess.  Smaller versions of this one must have been used in connection with small kiosks, or other small structures, or may have even served as cult emblems themselves.

This column was elaborately decorated: the goddess’ eyes were originally inlaid, and extensive traces of paint remain.  Cleaning, examination, and scientific analysis have revealed that the entire column was first covered with a ground and then painted yellow (yellow ochre), with a palette of blue (Egyptian blue) , dark blue (Egyptian blue mixed with carbon black), green (Egyptian green), red (red ochre), and black (carbon black) used for details.

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Mosaic of Zeus and Ganymede Roman, mid-Imperial, 2nd century A.D. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

Ganymede offering a drink to Zeus, who is in the guise of an eagle, is one of the most popular mythological scenes in classical art, especially in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.  Here it is rendered in a polychrome floor panel of a stone and glass tesserae created by a mosaicist called Neikias, who signed his work at the bottom.  Equally impressive is the ornate floral scroll surrounding the panel, highlighted against a black background.  The clever use of shading imparts a sense of realism to the tendrils and flowers, further enlivened by assorted insects, reptiles, and birds that inhabit the scroll.  The painterly quality of the imagery attests to Neikias’ skill as a master craftsman.  Mosaic floors of this quality would have been laid only in the luxurious houses of the very rich.  Given the Greek inscription and comparable examples at Antioch in Syria, this mosaic is probably from the eastern half of the Roman Empire.

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Lattes of New York

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Marble head of Epikouros

Roman, Imperial period, 2nd century A.D. Copy of a Greek statue of the 1st half of the 3rd century B.C. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

Born on the island of Samos in 341 B.C., Epikouros spent most of his life in Athens, where he founded the Kepos (Garden), one of the most influential philosophical schools of the Hellenistic age, and where he lived until his death in 271 B.C.  Epikouros must have been honoured by a portrait statue made late in his lifetime or soon after his death.  The esteem in which his teachings were held is shown by the numerous Roman copies, including a bust and a herm still bearing the inscriptions identifying him, that produce the same original.  From other copies, we know that the original statue, which was probably first set up in the Kepos to honor Epikouros, represented him seated calmly and classically composed on an elaborate chair.

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Marble portrait bust of the emperor Gaius, known as Caligula

Roman, Julio-Claudian period, 37—41 A.D. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

The portrait style created for Augustus was adopted by his family and immediate successors in order to stress the unity and continuity of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.  This fine bust of Caligula (r. 37—41 A.D.) has regular features but carefully designed locks of hair similar to those in portraits of Augustus.  Here, however, the artists has also conveyed something of Caligula’s vanity and cruelty in the proud turn of the head and the thin, pursed lips.

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Cat Bracelets or Armlets

Dynasty 18, reign of Thutmose III (ca. 1479 - 1425 B.C.) Gold, carnelian, lapis lazuli, turquoise From the tomb of the three minor wives of Thutmose III in the Wady Gabbanat el-Qurud, Thebes The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

The cats with their crossed paws are similar to elements of royal jewelry dating to the beginning of Dynasty 18.  The cat was by now fully domesticated.  The animal was sacred to the goddess Bastet, the benign counterpart of Sakhmet who incorporated the fierceness of lions.

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Armor Steel; 57lb. 10oz (26.15kg) German, Nuremburg, about 1520 and later Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

At the turn of the sixteenth century, German armorers abandoned the slender lines of the late Gothic style and adopted the fuller, more rounded forms favoured in Italy.  In the new style, the shallow parallel channels that covered almost the entire armor were not only decorative but actually strengthened the metal.  This is often referred to as “Maximilian style” because it was introduces during the time of Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519).  Fluted armor appears to have been a specialty of Nuremberg.

On the armor displayed here the two-piece construction of the breastplate and its pierced decoration, while standard on German Gothic armors, is highly unusual for this period.  The waistplates and tassets (upper thigh defenses) are of a later date.  The breastplate is stamped with the maker’s mark: in a shield, a gold lion or a bear above the letters L.B.

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Mirror with a draped woman handle

Greek, mid-5th century B.C. Bronze The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

The ancient Greeks used mirrors that were held in the hand or stood independently.  This free-standing example of a well established type consists of a base, a supporting figure, and the mirror disk embellished with additional figures around its periphery.  The woman, who is probably mortal, wears a woollen garment, a peplos.  Above her fly two personifications of love, erotes; originally hours and hares could have coursed around the disk and a sphinx or siren would have perched on top.  The variety of component parts are integrated into a whole that is both balanced and dynamic.

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Gold Arm Ring Viking, made 900-950 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

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Matteo di Giovanni di Bartolo 1430-1497 Madonna and Child with Saints Jerome and Mary Magdalen