Life
Section of a Floor Mosaic Depicting the Four Seasons
Roman (Antioch)
Late second-early third century A.D.
Stone and glass Museum Purchase,
The Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
51.13
This mosaic was once a part of a hallway floor in a house near Antioch, in Roman, Syria. The figures of winged boys represent the seasons: Spring (with a basket of flowers), Summer (with a sheaf of wheat), Autumn (with a basket for fruit), and Winter (cloaked, with a tray of fruit).
Roman (Boscetrecase)
Roman (Boscetrecase)
Third-Style Wall Fresco
1st century AD
Painted plaster
Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
66.35
In antiquity, both public and private buildings were filled with colorful frescoes made by painting wet plaster with naturally occurring pigments such as red and yellow ocher. The fresco tradition extended for centuries and penetrated all regions of the empire, but most surviving frescoes predate the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that buried and preserved Pompeii and its surroundings in AD 79.
This fresco is an example of the Third Pompeian Style in which a picture panel-here a landscape with a building-is painted like a decorative plaque against a solid color. The bird in the upper right is perched on the arm of a candelabrum.
Statuette of Molossian Hound (Primary Title)
2nd–3rd Century
Roman
Bronze
2016.18
Like a Molossian hound or tawny Laconian, the shepherd’s friend, I’ll pursue with ears pricked through deepest snow whatever wild beast runs before me. — Horace (Roman poet, 65–8 BC), Epode 6
The Molossian hound, ancestor of the modern mastiff, was prized as a guard hound and dog of war. This depiction of a Molossian at rest captures the strength of the breed but also evokes literary descriptions of Molossians as obedient and silent hunters. Cast using the lost-wax method, this highly detailed bronze (even the tendons of the paws are depicted) may have adorned—and watched over—a chest or ceremonial chariot.
Wine Funnel with Strainer
Etruscan
6th century BC
Copper alloy
79.90
Ancient wines were not filtered, so strainers were essential kitchen implements. This elegant example Is one of a small group of bronzes produced in the 6th century that combine a colander with a funnel. Here functionality is wed to elegance in such details as the duck’s head handle.
Death
Flame-Palmette Finial for a Funerary Stele
Greek (Attic)
mid-4th century BC
Inscribed: Philoneios of Prosopalta
Marble
Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment
79.148
This style of the palmette became common in Athenian funerary art in the 4th century. The lower part of the stele (pillar) was decorated with a depiction of a loutophoros (a vessel used for water in wedding and funerary rituals), only the top of which survives. The inscription was carved freehand using letter forms typical of the mid-4th century.
Make-Up Palette (?) from a Funerary Set
Greek (South Italian)
3rd century BC
Polychromed terracotta
85.28.20
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