EGYPTIAN ART
SPECIAL EXHIBITION
In addition to interpreting and caring for the collection, the staff of the Department of Egyptian Art also organizes temporary exhibitions throughout the year. While many of these are small thematic presentations composed of objects from the Museum's collection, the department also organizes loan exhibitions drawn from collections throughout the world.
THE TOMB OF PERNEB
RECUMBENT LION
The entrance to The Lila Acheson Wallace Galleries of Egyptian Art provides a floor plan and brief description of the Egyptian art galleries. The space is dominated by the tomb of the courtier Perneb. Originally built around 2381–2323
B.C. at Saqqara, the cemetery of Egypt's ancient capital Memphis, this monument was acquired from the Egyptian government in 1913. A granite lion and a stela (tombstone) of the second-dynasty pharaoh Raneb also introduce the visitor to the monumentality of ancient Egypt's art and architecture.
LISHT SOUTH, PYRAMIC COMPLEX OF KING SENWORSRET I
Four of the original one hundred relief panels excavated by the Museum from the magnificent enclosure wall in the pyramid complex of Senwosret I (ca. 1961–1917
B.C.), the second pharaoh of the twelfth dynasty, have been reconstructed for display in this gallery. Reliefs from buildings attached to the king's pyramid are also included, as well as statues of dignitaries whose tombs were located around the king's pyramid.
ART UNDER PTOLEMIES 1 AND 2
This gallery displays two mummies, funerary equipment, and a number of sculptures from the period of the long-lasting dynasty (332–30
B.C.) established by Ptolemy, one of the generals of Alexander the Great. Do not miss the delightful small head of Arsinoe II, sister and wife of Ptolemy II, and a long papyrus roll inscribed with the "book of the dead."
SCULPTURE OF THE FEMALE PHARAOH HATSHEPHSUT
Sometime after the death of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut (ca. 1479–1458
B.C.), her erstwhile co-regent and successor Thutmose III (ca. 1479–1425
B.C.) ordered the destruction of all her images. Thousands of fragments of smashed sculptures were excavated by the Museum at her temple in Deir el-Bahri in the late 1920s and reassembled. Twelve of the reassembled works are exhibited here, re-creating the splendor of temple statuary that was destroyed three and a half millennia ago.
PREDYNASTIC AND EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD
Objects in this room span from the beginnings of human presence in the Nile valley (around three hundred thousand years ago) to the introduction of writing and a unified state around 3000 B.C. Most of the objects were found in burials; their good preservation is largely due to the arid climate along the desert fringes where cemeteries were located. Decorated vessels, stone palettes, and ivory carvings introduce themes that survived throughout the three thousand years of ancient Egyptian history.
EGYPT UNDER ROMAN RULE, FIRST CENTURY A.D.
This gallery displays objects from the period after the battle of Actium and the death of Cleopatra VII (30
B.C.), when Egypt became part of the Roman empire. During this period, people continued the custom of mummification but in certain regions the old idealized image over the face of the mummy was replaced by a panel painting in Greek style (encaustic). On display are a mummy with such a panel painting, as well as painted plaster masks and jewelry.
EGYPT UNDER ROMAN RULE, SECOND TO FOURTH CENTURY A.D.
The last Egyptian temple was closed around
A.D. 400 and the Museum's most recent mummy—exhibited in this room—dates to around
A.D. 280. Also seen here are some fine examples of panel portrait painting for mummies, as well as objects that show a typical mixture of Greco-Roman and Egyptian forms.
THE TEMPLE OF DENDUR IN THE SACKLER WING
The Temple of Dendur, a 1968 gift from Egypt to the United States in recognition of support given to save Egyptian monuments threatened by the rising waters of the Nile, was built around 15
B.C. when the Roman emperor Augustus ruled Egypt. Although small in comparison with the famous temples in Egypt, and built in Lower Nubia, south of Egypt's ancient border, this is a graceful example of a typical pharaonic temple.
GREEK AND ROMAN ART
ROMAN SCULPTURE COURT
The Leon Levy and Shelby White Court evokes the grandeur that was Rome and provides a suitable setting for the sculptures that were created under Roman patronage, inspired by models from both Classical Greece and the Hellenistic kingdoms.
The arts of South Italy and Ptolemaic Egypt provide the opulent background for the development of Roman taste and luxury. Funerary monuments and grave gifts give a poignant insight into personal lives that draw a different picture of Rome as a place of monumental architecture, sumptuously decorated with marble and decked out with an array of statuary. The statues, in bronze and marble, represented gods, personifications, historical figures, and real people. Roman copies and adaptations of earlier lost Greek works survived to stimulate the classical revival that arose throughout Europe in the eighteenth century.
GREEK ART : SIXTH-FOURTH CENTURY B.C.
The grand, barrel-vaulted Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery displays large-scale sculpture and other monumental works of the sixth, fifth, and fourth centuries
B.C.
Works of the sixth century include examples from the Museum's distinguished collection of Panathenaic amphorae amid other works related to ancient Greek athletics. In the center of the gallery are displayed large-scale marble copies—made during the Roman period—of bronze statues that were created in Greece during the fifth and fourth centuries but were lost or melted down over time. Original marble statues of the fourth century
B.C. are shown by the crowning sculptures of tall Athenian grave monuments.
GREEK ART: SIXTH CENTURY B.C.
The Judy and Michael H. Steinhardt Gallery is unique in the Western Hemisphere in its display of the three major types of Greek freestanding marble sculpture of the sixth century
B.C.: the
kouros and
kore, which served as funerary monuments or dedications, and the pillar-like grave stele. This is also the period when Athens supplanted Corinth as the center of pottery production, exemplified by several works attributed to the Amasis Painter, one of the most skillful and innovative of the black-figure artists.
ART OF IMPERIAL ROME: SECOND CENTURY A.D.
Gallery 168 displays fine examples of material culture from the second century
A.D., when the Roman empire was at the height of its power and prosperity and when people in Rome, throughout Italy, and in many of the provinces enjoyed a standard of living and a way of life that were unequaled both in antiquity and in more recent times.
Objects associated with activities that either ensured or benefited from imperial protection (the Roman army, the state religion, the
games, and the baths) are also on view.
GREEK AND ROMAN STUDY COLLECTION: FIFTH MILLENNIUM B.C.-A.D. 313
This long gallery, within the Leon Levy and Shelby White Galleries, features a large display with sixty cases of study material, comprising some four thousand works in all media and covering the entire cultural and chronological span of the department's collection, from the art of prehistoric Greece through late Roman art.
Among the noteworthy works in this area are a collection of geometric Greek vases given to the Metropolitan in 1930 by the Greek government and a Roman transport amphora given by the oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. Computer screens located throughout the study collection allow visitors to access electronic labels for the objects.
HELLENISTIC AND ROMAN ART FROMCYORUS: c.a. 480 c.a.310 B.C.
This gallery features works of Cypriot art from the periods of Hellenistic and Roman rule. Artistic production followed the prevailing styles of the Hellenistic world, although regional traditions continued—as represented, for example, by the sculptures of "temple boys." The art of Roman Cyprus is particularly well illustrated by glass and jewelry as well as sculpture.
SPECIAL EXBIHITION
GRREK ART : FIFTH CENTURY B.C.
The Carolyn, Kate, Elizabeth, Thomas, and Jonathan Wiener Gallery presents a fine collection of marble grave markers from Athens dating from the mid-fifth century
B.C. through the early fourth century
B.C.
In the fifth century
B.C., the Greeks reached levels of excellence in art, literature, and philosophical thought that have served as models and formed the foundation for much of Western European culture. Despite wars—first against the Persians and then against Sparta, its major Greek rival—Athens became the political, economic, and cultural leader of Greece, producing works of art and literature of the highest quality.
GREEK ART: FOURTH CENTURYB.C.
Most of the works of art in the Spyros and Eurydice Costopoulos Gallery are funerary monuments, including large-scale marble vases that were used as grave markers.
In addition, terracotta statuettes of fashionable women or girls, prized today for their naturalness, vitality, and charm, are displayed here. The jewelry in this gallery presents the wealth of the Classical Greek world on the eve of the Hellenistic period that flourished after the death of Alexander the Great in 323
B.C.
GREEK ART: FIFTH -EARLY FOURTH B.C.
The works of art displayed in the Stavros and Danaë Costopoulos Gallery reflect the artistic accomplishments of Athens at its height, as well as the influence that the Parthenon (built between 447 and 432
B.C.) had on objects in other media.
Prominent also are funerary vases covered with a white slip and decorated in a range of colors not previously used in Greek ceramics.
HELLENISTIC SCULPTURE AND ARCHITECTURE THIRD-FIRST CENTURY B.C.
The Leon Levy and Shelby White Gallery features Hellenistic portraits of marble and bronze, monumental painted terracotta vases from Southern Italy, and architectural fragments from the Temple of Artemis at Sardis, including the massive marble Ionic column and elements of the doorway, porch, and roof.
Sardis was the ancient capital of Lydia, in southwestern Turkey, and its temple to Artemis ranks among the seven largest of all Greek temples.
SOUTH ITALIAN ART: FOURTH-FIRST CENTURY B.C.
Greek emigrants founded colonies in Southern Italy and Sicily as early as the mid-eighth century
B.C. They flourished in their own right and profoundly influenced the artistic production of the indigenous populations. This interplay is particularly evident in the South Italian vases of the fourth century
B.C., produced especially for funerary use. Furthermore, it appears in the predilection for subjects derived from Greek drama. Owing to a dearth of fine marble, terracotta was also a primary medium for sculpture.
HELLENISTIC TREASURY: THIRD-FIRST CENTURY B.C.
