Horses in classical art exhbit opens in Bloomington, Indiana

Horses in classical art: "From the hippodrome to home, horses dominated important decorative arts, appearing on painted vases, furniture, jewelry and coinage and at the crossroads of human lives in wedding and funerary sculpture. Unlike much of the mundane equine art from this century and the last, this art shows how the ancient world held the horse as a dynamic comrade rather than a luxury consumer item or lottery-ticket surrogate. Achilles' prophetic chariot horse, Xanthus, for instance, could speak and weep. It is this intimate admiration of the horse as an equal that makes the period so compelling.

Elegant stallions used in hunting, war and chariot racing were revered by mortal and god alike and appear prominently in vase painting. Calinescu has divided the works into two categories: 'Horses in Life' and 'Horses in Myth.' And, because the exhibit is primarily composed of items meant for individual handling, the show has a strong immediacy.

A fine-boned horse captured in bronze for a chair-back invites you to complete the picture with a sprawling reveler. A well-bred mule wearing a celebratory garland forms a bronze saucepan handle, raising images of ancient haute cuisine. A charming clay horse and rider ? ancient Greek folk art, if you will ? carries boisterous black stripes over a white slip and likely was either a toy or votive offering. A spectacular gold finger ring with carved carnelian shows a rider on a magnificent stallion. It is from IU's celebrated Burton Y. Berry Collection. (Burton, an IU alumnus, was a career diplomat in the 1930s and '40s.)

Perhaps the most astonishing part of the exhibition is the wealth of vase paintings. That is part of the legacy of former art museum director Thomas Solley, said Calinescu. Much of the strength of the ancient material at Bloomington is due to his prescience, she said.

Among the treasures is a black-figure band cup by an unknown painter called The Bloomington Painter after this vessel. The work has a frieze of 69 delectably crisp figures of all ages, types and sexes with four chariots and 16 spirited stallions.

Two amphorae by The Phineus Painter are equally spectacular. One of the two-handled jars includes the image of a horse so swift it outruns a bird, a bit of exclamatory art that still carries a punch after 15 centuries. Nike drives to victory around the turning pole in a hippodrome with four divine stallions in a scene on a wine bucket. Hades drives Persephone to the underworld with a chariot team borrowed from his brother, Zeus, in a jug painting. In other works, Amazons, centaurs, satyrs, sphinxes, lions, griffins, panthers, dogs, sea nymphs, donkeys, birds and an intertwined wealth of real and mythic figures play background to the horse.

Another intriguing amphora is decorated with a plunging horse with a luxuriant, almost foaming mane. This and the presence of a dolphin on the vase suggest to Calinescu, who is an expert in vase-painting interpretation, that the images refer to Poseidon, god of the sea and earthquakes. His connection to the horse is primal, she said. Myth says Poseidon created the horse when he struck a rock with his trident, and it was Poseidon in the guise of a stallion who seduced Medusa to father Pegasus."

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900-year-old tombs discovered in Inner Mongolia

Xinhua, China View: "Archaeologists have discovered an unprecedented large group of 900-year-old tombs in Horinger Countyin north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The tombs, dating back to the Liao Dynasty (916-1125), were excavated in the ancient city of Tuchengzi, said Li Qiang, head ofthe archeology team.

He said it was the largest group of Liao tombs ever discovered at the southern foot of the Yinshan Mountains running west-east through Inner Mongolia.

A vase and a kettle made of brown vitreous enamel were among 14ornate porcelain and six ceramic items found at the site, said Li.

He said 18 of the 21 tombs excavated were made of brick and therest were earthen.

'The tombs are placed in order and decorated with frescos, indicating that members of an upper-class family were buried here.' said Li, adding the discovery might provide insights into life in Tuchengzi during the Liao period.

The ancient city is believed to have been established during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C." If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!

Greek minister to meet Getty Museum head over suspect artifacts

Middle East Times: Greece said on Wednesday that the director of the Getty Museum had requested a meeting with the country's culture minister, only hours after the announcement that a new stash of ancient artifacts had been seized at a villa belonging to a former museum curator.

Michael Brand, director of the famed museum in Los Angeles, will visit Athens on May 16 for talks with culture minister George Voulgarakis, the ministry said.

In a letter to Voulgarakis, Brand requested the meeting "to establish a productive dialogue", it said.

Earlier on Wednesday police said that 12 ancient artifacts had been seized at an island villa that a police source said belonged to former Getty curator Marion True, who faces trial in Italy on charges of conspiring to traffic in stolen antiquities.

A raid a month ago on the same villa, located on the Greek Cycladic island of Paros, yielded 17 antiquities from the Hellenistic and Roman eras.

The police said that the items were "illegally held" in violation of Greek antiquity laws, which require that all artifact collections be declared to the authorities.

An official police statement said that among the new items confiscated in the search on Tuesday, conducted in the presence of an archaeologist, were two marble sarcophagi and a marble olive press slab. " If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!