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Wall text panel written for the Italic Cultures exhibit case of the Greek and Roman Galleries of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art.
The first coins, made of a mixture of gold and silver called electrum, were minted in Lydia, in modern day Turkey. Though standardized weights of metal had been used for centuries as forms of payment before the first coin was minted, issues with the ratio of different elements in electrum led to the advent of coinage. The metal was stamped to lend authenticity and accountability to the value of the coin. To make ancient coins, craftsmen melted metal in small bank disc molds called flans. These flans were then placed between two engraved molds, or dies. Finally, the dies were struck with a hammer, imprinting the coin with images.
Greek coins were designed and crafted by die-engravers, master artists whose coins came to rival statuary and paintings in their prestige and craftsmanship. There were several types of images that were displayed on coins. The most common were depictions of patron deities, puns on city names, and local products. Analyses of the images on coins reveal many varying political aspirations, religious ideals, and local civic pride. Coins conveyed information about their makers in both their imagery and their location. They traveled across the Mediterranean, Europe, and Africa, and their provenances have informed much of the known history of the ancient world.
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A flyer detailing the disaster response services of an alliance of preservation institutions.
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Wall text panel written for the Greek Gods and Goddesses exhibit case of the Greek and Roman Galleries of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art.
The ancient Greeks worshipped many deities, each possessing their own unique traits and colorful personalities. There were deities devoted to abstract ideas like love (Aphrodite), war (Ares), and commerce (Hermes). There were deities associated with natural phenomena such as the sea (Poseidon) and thunder (Zeus). The Greeks also worshipped many local gods, whether they were patron deities of cities or deified heroes. Images of these gods appeared not solely in temples, but also on many objects of daily life, from sculpture and vessels in metal and ceramic to mirrors, cosmetic cases, and coins. The divinities represented in this case include Apollo, god of the sun and music; his twin Artemis, goddess of the moon and hunting; Hera, goddess of marriage and family; Hermes, the messenger god; Nike, the victory goddess; and Dionysus, god of revelry.
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The program handed to guests at the 2017 Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts' Annual Open House
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Wall text panel written for the Gifts for the Gods exhibit case of the Greek and Roman Galleries of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art.
Greek religion was a relationship of exchange between mortals and gods. The common phrase “do ut des,” which means “I give so that you give,” illustrates this reciprocal nature. Worshippers made offerings to the gods and in return, the gods complied with their requests. Offerings were made in the form of prayers, votives (often small, symbolic objects), libations, and animal sacrifices. The nature of an offering was often dependent on the nature of the god. Gods who were conceptualized as being chthonic, or earthly, would most often receive liquid libations, offerings poured into the ground. Gods who were ouranic, associated with the sky, would receive sacrifices of oxen, sheep, and goats. Parts of these animals would be eaten by the Greeks, while the other parts were burned, the smoke rising into the skies for the heavenly gods to receive. Votive offerings were also left in temples or shrines, and prayers and hymns were sung to all the gods. This case contains objects that represented the varied offerings that the Greeks made to their gods.
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Wall text panel written for the Death and Burial exhibit case of the Greek and Roman Galleries of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art.
Many extant ancient objects were originally deposited as grave goods in tombs, where they were protected from theft or destruction. Grave gifts often included items that belonged to the deceased, such as mirrors, toys, and even weapons, as well as ceramics. Much of the tableware in this case would have held food and wine offerings to nourish the spirit of the deceased.
Without a proper funeral, a shade, the part of a person left behind after death, could not enter the underworld. Greek funerals began with the prothesis, during which the body was laid out for mourners to visit and pay their respects. Then the body was brought to the cemetery in an ekphora, or funeral procession. The final stage in the funeral was the actual interment. Tombs, statues, and gravemarkers (stelai) marked the sites where visitors could remember and make offerings to the dead.
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Wall text panel written for the Aegean Civilizations exhibit case of the Greek and Roman Galleries of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art.
The civilizations of the Greek Bronze Age witnessed major social, economic, and artistic advances that transformed the major geographical regions of Greece into important centers of cultural and commercial activity. These civilizations initially developed as distinct cultures in isolated regions: the Mycenaeans on the mainland, the Cycladic people on the islands of the Aegean, the Minoans on the island of Crete, and the Cypriotes in Cyprus. Warfare, expanded trading routes, and migration, however, led to a cultural exchange that influenced the artistic works and commercial goods produced within each civilization. Ceramic and stone products, with their highly decorative and often functional values, were both primary art forms and economic exports of the Aegean world. This collection of vessels and figures highlights the unique artistic style of each civilization.
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A flyer illustrating the funding the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts recently received from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Wall text panel written for the Symposium exhibit case of the Greek and Roman Galleries of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art.
The objects in this case would have been used during a symposium, a social gathering where aristocratic Greek men drank and conversed. At the conclusion of an evening meal, the wives and daughters of the host and his guests left and the men remained. Libations to deities were poured, a hymn was sung, and the convivial symposium commenced. The men drank a mixture of wine and water as they reclined on couches. Participants recited poetry, sank drinking songs, played games, and shared riddles and stories. Some symposia, like those attended by Socrates and Aristotle and recorded by Plato, included highly philosophical discourse. Others were more frivolous, such as those that included hired female companions called hetairai. No matter how they were conducted, successful symposia liberated participants from the everyday restrains of Greek life within a carefully regulated environment.
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A flyer illustrating the funding the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts recently received from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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Wall text panel written for the Italic Cultures exhibit case of the Greek and Roman Galleries of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art.
The geography of Italy, with its mountain ranges, hills, and river-lined plains, created natural divisions among its many peoples. Though they interacted, the different Italic cultures developed independently and created their own unique artistic traditions. These traditions were influenced to a greater and lesser extent by the Etruscans of central Italy, the most powerful and best known of the pre-Roman Italic cultures, and by the Greek colonists in Southern Italy and Sicily.
The geography and cultural remains of the Villanovans show them to be the precursors to the Etruscan civilization. The Umbrians lived in an area of shifting boundaries east of Rome, and, according to the historian Pliny, never had more than a tenuous grasp on their independence. Praenestine cultural was rich in religious architecture and musical art. The Faliscans were the nearest neighbors of the Etruscans. Gathered together in this case are examples of work created by these Italic cultures: Villanovan bronze equipment, bronze figures from Sardinia and Umbria, Faliscan ceramics, and bronze containers from Bologna, Praeneste, and Campania.
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A flyer advertising the services of the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts.
