Worlds gone by

Have an hour to spare and want to immerse yourself in art? The Yale University Art Gallery — America’s oldest college art museum — makes it easy to have an experience so wondrous that when you walk back out to Chapel Street you are new with knowledge and narrative. Such was the case, recently, when Lisa Brody, associate curator of Ancient Art, opened the giant glass doors to the Sculpture Hall to share seven must-see marvels that she finds magnificent no matter how often she meets them.

Human-headed genie watering sacred tree” (left) and “Human attendant carrying a bow, arrows, and a mace”

Tassel detail and tracery on the sleeve of “Human Attendant Carrying a Bow, Arrows, and a Mace""

“One of my favorite features is just this space,” said Brody as she took a right into the Sculpture Hall and stopped in front of two seven-foot-tall alabaster reliefs. Standing there speechless, you feel small in stature, a mere mortal in the majestic presence of two representatives of a king’s court — “Human-headed genie watering sacred tree” (left) and “Human attendant carrying a bow, arrows, and a mace”. Colorfully painted in antiquity, these artifacts once decorated the palace built by the Assyrian king Assurnasirpal II at ancient Kalhu, circa 883 – 859 B.C.E. The cuneiform writing across the middle of the sculpture praises the military, administrative, and religious glories of the king.

This lion relief from the ancient city of Babylon is circa 605–562 B.C.E.

Detail of lion relief.

Imagine 120 brick reliefs sporting similar lions and other real and mythological animals lining the Processional Way through the Ishtar Gate to the heart of the ancient city of Babylon. Impervious to light damage like most of the objects in the Sculpture Hall, this colorful colossus is not painted, but composed of kiln-fired glazed bricks. Brody noted that Babylon was excavated between 1899 and 1917 largely by the Germans who recreated the Ishtar Gate in Berlin. “But they didn't have room to reconstruct the entire gate,” said Brody, “so they sold off pieces, and Yale received one as did the Metropolitan Museum of Art and many other museums worldwide.”

Black-Figure Amphora; Birth of Athena; 560-540 B.C.E.

This detail shows the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus.

One day, Zeus, the king of gods, had an excruciating headache that would not cease. He called on Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths and craftsmen, who brought his tools and split open Zeus's head. To the amazement of all, the goddess Athena sprang from Zeus’s head fully grown and clad in armor. This story is featured on the Greek vase above, one of two in the gallery’s large collection that Brody selected because it shows a whole mythological scene. “It is also a great example of the ‘black figure’ painting technique,” said Brody, “where the artist used a ‘slip’ or mixture of clay and water to cover the Athenian red clay surface except for the area where he was to paint the scene."

Nolan Amphora showing Athena (facing) and Hermes, ca. 480 B.C.E.

“This is one of my absolute favorites,” said Brody referring to the amphora with Athena on one side and Hermes on the other. Crafted in the more advanced “red-figure” technique and later in time, the vase is attributed to an artist called the Berlin Painter who is acknowledged by scholars as one of the most talented Greek painters of the fifth century. “What the painter did,” added Brody, “was spread the slip everywhere, excluding his laid-out figures and designs, and then added the details in black before it was fired.” What Brody also finds special is that the vase is unbroken, not restored from fragments, and likely stored in a grave or tomb from where it was unearthed.

This floor mosaic was likely in the nave of a Byzantine church where it resided so all who approached the altar could admire its beauty.

This detail shows mosaic, a picture or pattern produced by arranging small colored pieces of stone or tile together.

This mosaic was excavated by Yale at Gerasa in modern-day Jordan and dates to the Byzantine period. It was the floor of a large church and “features iconography that blends pagan antiquity with Christian art,” said Brody. Inscriptions identify the ancient cities of Alexandria and Memphis, and images glorify the Nile’s fertile abundance of plants and fruit-bearing trees. What you see on the wall today is a marvel of Yale conservation teams. They used advanced techniques to remove the original concrete backing and iron frame, and then replaced them with a lightweight, rigid foam and fiberglass backing supported by an aluminum frame. “It's one of the most extraordinary objects in our collection,” added Brody.

Mid-second century Roman sculpture of a youth.

Detail of curls.

You want to reach out and touch the curly locks on this mid-second century Roman sculpture of a youth who appears to be a victorious athlete: note the laurel wreath in his hair. The unknown sculptor’s creation of the curls features intricate drill work, not chiseling. The smooth skin surface contrasts sharply with the textured hair. “Imagine him with brown hair and brown eyes,” said Brody, “because he would have been painted in antiquity.” She also noted the dramatic turn of the head, which adds an “energetic and dynamic quality” to the piece, originally part of a bust and not a full statue.

Marble figure of a woman.

Detail of marble figure of a woman.

When Yale acquired this Roman woman in marble from Sotheby’s, it arrived in New Haven covered with algae from the Parisian garden where it stood for decades. Nicknamed “The Green Lady” and hailed for its survival as a full figure by Gallery staff, the sculpture underwent significant cleaning. “Once we revealed the original surface,” said Brody of the first object she helped acquire, “we could see that the artist did not take any shortcuts, creating realistic shadows and intricate details.” The fringe on her dress and her closed shoes, not sandals, indicate that she was a high-class, high-fashion, metropolitan citizen and not a deity.