The Hermitage guide

The few examples of Roman mosaic represent a variety of techniques and subject matter. Hylas and the Nymphs, a multifigure composition on a mythological theme, is associated not only thematically but also stylistically with the tradition of Hellenistic painting, while Allegory of June is a typical example of a Roman allegorical composition. Both works date from the third century and characterize two trends in the development of mosaic art.

The finest items of the Hermitage collections presented in this book give an idea of the value of the art of antiquity and its contribution to world culture.

X. Gorbunova, I. Saverkina

24

Figured vessel: sphinx

Clay. Greece, Attica. 4th century B.C.

25

Athlete

Bronze. Greece, Locris. 460—450 B.C.

26

Red-figure pelike with a swallow

Clay. Greece. Attica. C. 510 B.C.

27

Jug

Clay. Asia Minor. 7th century B.C.

28

Amphora with revellers (komasts)

Clay. Greece, Samos. 550—540 B.C.

29

Detail of a horse-harness with a head of Medusa

Silver. Eastern Mediterranean coast area. 1st century B.C.

30

The Syrian Woman

Marble. Rome. 2nd century

31

The Resting Satyr

Marble. Homan copy of Praxiteles’ original. 4th century B.C.

32

Venus of Tauris

Marble. Roman copy from a Greek original. 3rd century B.C.

33

Lid of a bronze cinerary urn

Bronze. Etruria. Early 4th century B.C.

34

The tombstone of Philostrata

Marble. Greece, Attica. 5th century B.C.

35

Kylix with Helios riding in a chariot

Silver. Greece (?). First half of the 3rd century B.C.

36

Portrait of Gaius Caesar

Marble. Rome. 1st century

37

Portrait of Balbinus

Marble. Rome. 3rd century

38

Herakles Slaying the Lion of Nemea

Marble. Roman copy of Lysippos’ original. 4th century B.C.

39

Portrait oj Lucias Verus

Marble. Rome. 2nd century

40

Portrait of Emperor Philip the Arabian

Marble. Rome. 3rd century

41

Portrait of an Unknown Roman

Bronze. Rome. 1st century B.C.

42

Bust of a silenus

Detail of a bronze decoration of a chariot. Thrace. Late 2nd — early 3rd century

43

Bronze statuette Kithared.

Roman copy of a Greek original. 470—460 B.C.

44

Portrait of Dynamis

Bronze. 1st century

45

The Zeus Cameo

Sardonyx. Egypt, Alexandria. 3rd century B.C.

46

The Gonzaga Cameo with a representation of Ptolemy Philadelphus and his wife Arsinoë

Sardonyx. Egypt, Alexandria. 3rd century B.C.

47

Temple pendants with a head of Athena

Gold. Greece. 4th century B.C.

48

Bracelet

Gold. Eastern Mediterranean coast area. 3rd century

49

Terra-cotta statuette: standing girl

Greece, Tanagra. 3rd century B.C.

50

Terra-cotta statuette: two girl friends

Greece, Corinth. Second half of the 4th century B.C.

51

Mirror-stand with Aphrodite and erotes

Bronze. 5th century B.C.

52

Figured vessel

Clay. Greece, Attica. Made by Charin. C. 510 B.C.

53

Amphora

Glass. Syria. Made by Ennion. 1st century

54

Vessel

Glass. Rome. 1st century

The Department of the Art and Culture of the Peoples of the East

The Department of the Art and Culture of the Peoples of the East was organized in 1920, after the October Revolution of 1917, with the active participation of three outstanding Russian Orientalists Nikolai Marr, Sergei Oldenburg and Vasily Barthold. Their pupil Iosif Orbeli became the first Head of the Department. Today the Department has one of the world’s most important collections of Oriental art.

Interest in Eastern artefacts arose in Russia long ago; the first Russian museum, Peter the Great’s Kunstkammer (Cabinet of Curios), housed a large number of Oriental coins, and a series of prominent works of art from Graeco-Bactria, Syria and Achaemenid Persia. Catherine II had a collection of glyptics that included engraved gems from Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Parthia, Sassanian Iran, Byzantium, and China. Apparently in the 1770s, Admiral Grigory Spiridov brought from the Archipelago a Byzantine marble slab depicting circus scenes, and some relics of classical antiquity. Also around this time Sassanian and Byzantine silver vessels were found at Sludka, a village in Perm province. All these items later formed the basis of the Hermitage Oriental collections.

Interest in Egyptology was aroused in Russia, as in many other European countries, at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1826—27 the Academy of Sciences acquired the collection of the Milan merchant Francisco Castiglione (Egyptian sculptures, wooden sarcophagi and objects of the applied arts). The granite sarcophagi of Queen Nechtbasteteru and her son Aahmes, a military chief; the group sculpture of Amenemheb, the governor of Thebes, with his wife and mother; and the statue of the goddess Sekhmet, were also acquired at this time.