Antiquities Exhibits

Bucchero ware, distinguished by its glossy black surface, was produced by the Etruscans in central Italy between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE. The first appearance of a ceramic type that can clearly be classified as bucchero occurred around 675 BCE at the coastal community of Caere (the modern-day Cerveteri), with somewhat later centers of production to be found at Veii and Tarquinia, both cities, like Caere, located in the southern part of the Etruscan heartland. Although the shapes of Villanovan pots provided the basics for the Etruscan potters, they added new types and forms largely inspired through intensified trade with the more advanced cultures at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, in particular the areas of Cyprus, Syria, and Phoenicia, as well as Egypt. Many of the new, exotic shapes were in imitation of the metalwares imported from these cultures. The potters of Etruria were able to offer their customers a locally produced and less-expensive ceramic equivalent to the desi...

Refuting "Noble Savages": Reflections of Nature in Ancient Mesoamerican Artifacts through September 13, 2019 at the Fine Arts Gallery of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. "The heat of sunrise and the growing rumble of jungle life signals morning. It is harvest time, and the smell of corn stalks being cut and removed from the chinampas is refreshing. Women chatter as they begin dyeing large bundles of agave fiber deep  red, using the cochineal beetle, while men begin practicing in the nearby ball field, surrounded by the jungle on one side and market stalls on the other. Children run past, throwing a rubber ball to friends, their varied skull shapes signaling their varied progress in achieving the conical definition as a tribute to the corn goddess. This—the sounds, sights, and smells—is just a small glimpse into the daily life in Mesoamerica." The artifacts on view in this exhibit come from different areas in Mexico and Central America and elucid...

Ancient Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia. VMFA’s collection of ancient Mediterranean art is one of the largest on the East Coast, spanning more than 5,000 years of human history, from Pre-Dynastic Egypt in the 4th millennium BC through the fall of the Byzantine Empire in AD 1453. The collection includes objects from Egypt, the Near East, the Aegean, Greece, Etruria, the Roman Empire, and Byzantium. Image: Votive offering depicting Ulysses (Odysseus) bound to the mast of his ship Byzantine 5th-6th century CE Bronze with traces of gilding. Image courtesy of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.