Everyone should read this! Museum staff, not antiquities dealers, arrested for theft of artifacts!

Everyone should read this! Museum staff, not antiquities dealers, arrested for theft of artifacts! - http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/macedonian-police-arrest-8-for-big-museum-theft/2014/02/27/c8a13ebe-9fdc-11e3-878c-65222df220eb_story.html

Scholars Discover New Poems from Ancient Greek Poetess Sappho

Link to this story - http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/28/scholars-discover-new-poems-from-ancient-greek-poetess-sappho.html

Well, this is going to cause a stir...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2522067/Chinas-Terracotta-Army-inspired-ancient-GREEK-art-claims-expert.html

Books for Pleasure & Research, Antiquarian Books & Prints, Catalogs, Periodicals & More…

One of the resources we offer visitors to our website is a selection of books for both pleasure & research, antiquarian books & prints, catalogs and periodicals, all dealing with antiquities collecting and auctions, ancient history and ancient art.

Our selection includes some fine examples of professionally mounted and framed art with themes relating to antiquity, such as this 19th Century English print with scenes of classical mythology -

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i368.html

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i390.html

We also offer unframed artwork with antiquarian themes, such as the marvelous 1820 print above illustrating Greek vases from the collection of Sir Henry Englefield.

Antiquarian books are always a favorite, such as this copy of Babylonian Life and History by the famed Biblical archaeologist E. Wallis Budge, printed in 1897 -

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i249.html

For the reader with a more general interest in the ancient world, we offer selections of popular books, such as this group of 3 books dealing with Late Antiquity -

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i335.html

And for the antiquities collector we always have a substantial number of antiquities auction catalogs from the London and New York auction houses. These are difficult to find once the auction has ended and expensive to purchase in advance. As many antiquities circulate through the market over the years, serious collectors are keen to acquire these groups of catalogs. In addition to being fully illustrated, these catalogs help to establish provenance for the objects included. Here is an example of one set of catalogs for sale on our site -

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i432.html

View all our offerings in our Books, Publications and Art section here: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c25_p1.html

Megarian Ware: Transition and Continuity from the Hellenistic to Roman Worlds

Two closely related pottery bowls on our website typify a type of pottery marking the all important transition from the later Hellenistic period to the time of Roman dominance, even before the formal establishment of Rome’s empire, of the broader Mediterranean world. Both bowls are examples of what is generally termed Megarian Ware, a type of pottery produced mainly in Greece and Asia Minor but also with imitative production centers in Italy. Megarian Ware, the name of which comes from 19th Century finds of this pottery near Megara in Greece, offers important insights into the transition from the ubiquitous red figure “painted” pottery of the classical era to the red slip pottery that would come to dominate the Mediterranean world for centuries to come.

LINK: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i202.html

LINK: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i203.html

Both are thin walled bowls and made from fine hard pink clay. One is covered in a deep orange-red slip, the other in a chocolate brown slip. But the most important distinguishing characteristic of both, and of most Megarian Ware, is that they are mold-made, resulting in an all-over pattern of rosettes, laurel leaves and repeating geometric shapes in high relief.

Megarian Wares were distributed over a very wide swath of the Mediterranean and beyond. An example in the British Museum was probably made in Cyprus but was found at Salamanca in Spain: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=392743&partId=1&searchText=Megarian+Ware+Bowl&images=true&page=1

The different color slips used on these bowls is an important factor in understanding the role of pottery in the Hellenistic to Roman Imperial transition. Establishment of a relatively uniform Hellenistic material culture across a great geographic expanse, from South Italy and Sicily in the west to Syria and Mesopotamia in the east, led to the decline of the classical red figure pottery tradition. Potters turned to the mass production technique of stamping out vessels in molds. Some of these featured complex mythological scenes, such as this example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York: http://metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/254263. Dark brown and black slips on Megarian vessels offered a smooth transition from the attractive black slip wares of the later Classical era. A great deal of black to dark brown slip Megarian Ware pottery has been found in Republic level excavations in Rome and its colonies. The orange-red slip examples eventually came to dominate the market and provided the immediate inspiration, at least in color and fabric, for the fine, hard Roman red wares developed in Gaul and Northern Italy in the late Republic. These would “spin off” countless imitations at workshops all over the Mediterranean world, finally concluding with the red ware of Roman North Africa in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Centuries.

Here is an example formerly with our Trust for Ancient Art, gifted in 2010 to the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, CA, produced in Asia Minor in the 2nd half of the 1st Century AD:

And here is a 3rd Century example currently on our website of later North African red ware:

                                       LINK:http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i204.html

Ancient Classical Coins: Beauty and Diversity

Over the years Clio Ancient Art has sold a great many ancient coins.

While our focus has always been ancient artifacts and art of the Roman, Greek, Byzantine, Cypriot, Egyptian, Near Eastern civilizations, ancient coins are always popular with our customers.

In this Blog entry, which is admittedly as much for pure visual pleasure as for educational value, we offer a very small sample of images of coins we’ve sold in the past couple of years, including Greek, Roman Republic, Roman Imperial and Byzantine coins in silver and bronze, and a few from related cultures.

It may surprise some readers to learn that many ancient coins like those shown here may be purchased for under $100 or even under $50.

To view our current selection of ancient coins go to: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c18_p1.html

 Greek Cities, Kallatis, Silver Octobol, 3rd Century BC

Kingdom of Macedon, Bronze of Philip II, 356-339 BC

                             Roman Republic Silver Denarius of M. Lucillius Rufusus, 101 BC

 Roman Empire, Silver Denarius of Vespasian

 Roman Empire, Silver Denarius of Julia Doman

 

Roman Empire, Silver Denarius of Severus Alexander, AD 222-235

Roman Empire, Silver Antoninianus of Gallienus

Constantine I (The Great) AE3, AD 307-337 

Judean Kingdom Bronze Pruttah of Alexander Jannaeus

Byzantine Empire, bronze Follis of Justinian I

  

 Parthian Kingdom, Silver Drachm of Orodes I, AD 80-90

A Few Thoughts About Ancient Coins on Our Website

Although Clio Ancient Art deals primarily in antiquities and ancient art - bronze sculptures and utilitarian objects, glass vessels & objects, ceramic vessels, oil lamps, even textiles - we do try to carry a variety of ancient coins.

Our selection of ancient coins is, admittedly, rather atypical. While many ancient coin dealers focus on strictly "Classical" coins, that is, Greek and Roman coins, we try to offer both these and a wide variety of coins influenced in some way by classical antiquity. These include coins from the Byzantine Empire, the Islamic world, the Indian subcontinent, the European Middle Ages and cultures tangential to the broader Greco-Roman world.

Here are a few samples of both Classical and other ancient and Medieval coins on our website; enjoy  --

*  Roman Empire, Bronze Follis of Maximinus II, AD 310-311: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i275.html

* Roman Provincial, Bronze 4.5 Assaria of Gordion III & Tranquillina: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i427.html

*  Himyarite Kingdom. Amdin Bayyan. Silver Hemiobol. circa AD 100: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i266.html

*  Islamic, Samanid Dynasty, Bronze Fals of Mansur I, AD 961-976: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i425.html

*  India, Western Satraps, Silver Drachm of Rudrasimha II, AD 305-313: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i424.html

Tiny, Rare and Noteworthy: A Group of Byzantine Buttons on Our Website

Overlooked by collectors and museums visiting our website to acquire higher profile antiquities, such as Greek vases, Egyptian burial items or Roman sculptures, is a group of 3 tiny buttons in various materials, dating to the middle Byzantine era. These are exceptionally rare and deserve to be highlighted here. Link: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i205.html

The history of buttons is rather hazy, with button-like objects of uncertain use appearing in the archaeological record as far back as 2000 BCE. The first functional buttons, appearing in the Roman Imperial age, were limited in their use to elite members of society and were intended as much for decoration as practicality. But with the infusion of migratory cultures from the Eurasian steppe into Western Europe and the Balkans at the end of Antiquity and during the early Middle Ages, functional buttons became widespread. There is conjecture that the use of buttons in place of other fasteners (brooches and pins) resulted as much from colder climate conditions beginning around the same time as the fall of the western provinces Roman Empire, as much as from new cultural influences. In any case, Byzantine society adopted the use of buttons quickly.

The 3 buttons in our group are each made from different materials: bone, rock crystal and what appears to be steatite (soap stone). The simple steatite example is relatively common, with other examples in a variety of common stones known from excavations. By contrast, the bone example is quite elaborately worked with multiple fields of decoration involving both incision and infilling the incised decoration with a resistant material, possibly pitch. Very similar examples have been found in Byzantine layers at Corinth. This belonged to an elite individual whose clothing must certainly have reflected their status. Although its function is obvious, the small rock crystal example may be unique; we have not yet found documentation of another excavated and dated example in rock crystal, which was highly valued. Such a button would also have come from the garments of a high status individual.

Tiny as these objects are, they do offer just a glimpse into Byzantine society in its middle phase, the 9th to 13th Centuries. Their survival is, as with so many antiquities, a minor miracle.

To see more Byzantine antiquities on our website, visit these pages:
http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c26_p1.html   and   http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c21_p1.html

Just Added to our Website - Superb Greek South Italian Red Figure Lekanis

Here's the link: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i430.html

Our "Links" Page: Another Useful Resource

The "Links" Page on our website -- http://www.clioancientart.com/id15.html -- offers a wealth of resources relating to antiquities, ancient art and ancient cultures. There are links to general online resources about antiquities collecting, links to academic and museum collections online, links to antiquities trade associations and to both print and online publications, and much more. Here's that link again --

http://www.clioancientart.com/id15.html

Enjoy!

A Useful Tool: Our “Sold Antiquities” Page

http://www.clioancientart.com/id18.html

This is the link to our “Sold Antiquities” page, which includes images and brief descriptions of objects we’ve sold over the last couple of years. By virtue of the great number of items it displays, it is a very useful tool both for researching antiquities in general, and specifically for tracking antiquities we’ve sold. So often, antiquities with perfectly legitimate provenance pass from a dealer to a private collector, then perhaps to another collector or dealer, and loose their provenance information in the process. Using this page, items we’ve sold may be traced back to Clio Ancient Art and their long term provenance established.

Here’s the link again: http://www.clioancientart.com/id18.html

Enjoy!

Additions to our Website

Earlier this week we uploaded a few really fine antiquities to our website. One has already sold. These all have great provenance. Here are images and links to these objects –

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i401.html 

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c14_p1.html

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i399.html

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i398.html