Ancient Art

A New Emphasis on Textiles

A number of the museums’ textiles from early Byzantine Egypt have recently undergone conservation and analysis, thanks to support from the Hagop Kevorkian Fund. The newly treated textiles can now be seen in a series of gallery installations. 

Ancient Secrets Uncovered

Theresa Huntsman, an archaeologist and the publications data manager for the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, recently led an examination of Cinerary Urn with Relief Battle Scene, a shoebox-size terracotta vessel from Chiusi, Italy, that likely dates from the second century BCE. The urn contain...

Reassembly—and More—Required

Tony Sigel, a conservator of objects and sculpture in the Harvard Art Museums’ Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, recently completed extensive conservation work on a 5th-century BCE kylix (drinking cup) depicting satyrs, maenads, and the wine god Dionysos.

Exciting Pigments

Ancient warfare is brought to life when scientists from Harvard Art Museums’ Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies identify the presence of Egyptian blue pigment on an Etruscan cinerary urn.

A Coin Is Worth a Thousand Words

Eurydice Georganteli, well-known Byzantine scholar at the University of Birmingham, UK, and current Marie Curie Senior Research Fellow in Harvard’s History of Art and Architecture department, recently delivered the Ilse and Leo Mildenberg Memorial Lecture titled Byzantine Money: The Politics and Aes...