Ancient ArtThe art and history of the ancient world comes alive in one of the Walters Art Museum’s best-loved collections, which comprises amazing treasures from ancient Egypt, Nubia, Greece, Rome, Etruria, and the Near East. The Walters’ collection is one of the largest and finest assemblages of ancient art in the United States. Statuary, reliefs, stelae, funerary objects, jewelry, and objects from daily life, dating from prehistoric to Roman Egypt (5th millennium BC– 4th century AD ), can be found in the museum's collection of ancient Egyptian art. Among the most impressive pieces are two monumental 3,000-pound statues of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet, sarcophagi, an intact mummy still in its elaborate wrappings, as well as images of private individuals and kings and impressive jewelry. The ancient Near Eastern collection represents the art of ancient Mesopotamia, Persia, the Levant, Syria, and Anatolia and covers a period of 2,500 years, beginning around 3000 BC with the rise of Mesopotamian civilization. Among the outstanding works in the collection are the 9th-century BC alabaster reliefs from the palace of Ashurnasirpal II. The outstanding collection of ancient Greek art illustrates the history and culture of Greece from the Cycladic to the Hellenistic period (ca. 3rd millennium–1st century BC). It ranges from engraved gemstones to exceptional vases and marble statues. Among the dazzling jewelry in the ancient treasury are the extraordinary Olbia bracelets, which are encrusted with multicolored gemstones. |
