· After arriving at the museum this morning, I started finalizing the pairs for the exhibit. The purpose of presenting pieces paired together is to demonstrate how globalization has occurred throughout history as cultures interact and influence each other through trade. This means, for example, pairing two rhyta (plural of rhyton, or drinking horns) together, even though they are separated by about 500 years, one was made in Persia out of silver in the shape of a zebu (a wild, hump-backed bull), and the other has distinctly Greek style reminiscent of the terra cotta and black slip amphora you might have scene in the Ancient Gallery at TMA. This proves that cultural homogenization occurs through trade in a very visual manner, seeing two pieces that are entirely similar in shape and style yet each with their own regional flair.
After writing two labels, I went to meet up with Adam who was showing around some people from Christie's, an art business and auction house, who had come to review a few pieces the museum is thinking of deaccessioning. After chasing after them to meet up in the galleries, Adam introduced me and then we went down to the vaults where the art in storage is kept. After passing through two tightly locked doors, we arrived in a room with panel after sliding panel of paintings, practically another museum kept in the basement, and after wending our way through found the statues that we had come to look at. At this point, I also met the Director of the museum, Brian, for the first time. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to make the evaluations public, though I don't see any problem with it, so I shan't, but suffice it to say the expertise and attention to detail everyone in the room displayed was highly impressive, and I left with a better idea of how art is evaluated through my own observations.
My little adventure over, I returned to my desk, ate lunch (first time at the museum's cafe, and it was lovely), and then continued reading doc files and writing labels. I am a little bit suspicious of the progress I've made since it is much more rapid than Adam predicted, seeing as I finished rough drafts of six labels today, but unless I'm missing a drastic step, I think I'm on track. Hopefully Monday I'll be able to find out whether Adam's estimation was off, or I'm a little dense and missed more than a few nuances or processes.
Below, I've included the notes I took on and the label I wrote for the zebu rhyton pictured above, so enjoy and if it turns out I'm doing this terribly wrong, please just assume that by Monday it will be fixed and I shall update you on the progress then, so bear with me on this learning curve.
Questions:
• What is the purpose of this piece?
• What animal is on the front?
• What is its origin?
• Why is it significant?
Label:
At ancient banquets, revelers passed around horns named “rhyta” (from Greek “to flow”) full of wine until the vessels emptied. Following the death of Alexander the Great, the Persian Seleucid court tried to follow his lavish lifestyle and that of conquered Persian kings, resulting in this rhyton that presents a fusion of Persian and Greek styles, with the hump-backed wild bull (called a zebu) and shape reflecting Persian influence, while the foliage adorning the horn is Greek in origin.
The two rhyta I was speaking of (Courtesy of Toledo Museum of Art).
After writing two labels, I went to meet up with Adam who was showing around some people from Christie's, an art business and auction house, who had come to review a few pieces the museum is thinking of deaccessioning. After chasing after them to meet up in the galleries, Adam introduced me and then we went down to the vaults where the art in storage is kept. After passing through two tightly locked doors, we arrived in a room with panel after sliding panel of paintings, practically another museum kept in the basement, and after wending our way through found the statues that we had come to look at. At this point, I also met the Director of the museum, Brian, for the first time. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to make the evaluations public, though I don't see any problem with it, so I shan't, but suffice it to say the expertise and attention to detail everyone in the room displayed was highly impressive, and I left with a better idea of how art is evaluated through my own observations.
My little adventure over, I returned to my desk, ate lunch (first time at the museum's cafe, and it was lovely), and then continued reading doc files and writing labels. I am a little bit suspicious of the progress I've made since it is much more rapid than Adam predicted, seeing as I finished rough drafts of six labels today, but unless I'm missing a drastic step, I think I'm on track. Hopefully Monday I'll be able to find out whether Adam's estimation was off, or I'm a little dense and missed more than a few nuances or processes.
Below, I've included the notes I took on and the label I wrote for the zebu rhyton pictured above, so enjoy and if it turns out I'm doing this terribly wrong, please just assume that by Monday it will be fixed and I shall update you on the progress then, so bear with me on this learning curve.
- Gallery 2 1988.23 Rhyton with the Forepart of a Zebu: Seleucid from Persia. 200-100 BCE, Ancient Greek, Etruscan, and Roman, used at ancient banquets for wine, which streams from the spout at front and is passed along until empty. The zebu is a hump backed wild bull that reflects Persian influence, the foliage depicted is Greek, reflects Alexander the Great’s conquest of the near east.
- Larger, richly decorated, front half Persian back half more Greek, very refined workmanship. Made in Persia, new than the other Rhyton, which would suggest that Alexander’s conquest brought it and shows the homogenization of cultures through gloablization.
Questions:
• What is the purpose of this piece?
• What animal is on the front?
• What is its origin?
• Why is it significant?
Label:
At ancient banquets, revelers passed around horns named “rhyta” (from Greek “to flow”) full of wine until the vessels emptied. Following the death of Alexander the Great, the Persian Seleucid court tried to follow his lavish lifestyle and that of conquered Persian kings, resulting in this rhyton that presents a fusion of Persian and Greek styles, with the hump-backed wild bull (called a zebu) and shape reflecting Persian influence, while the foliage adorning the horn is Greek in origin.
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