*Day 2 - British Museum

British Museum


Red-Figured Hydria (water jar) showing a seated woman and three companions. Made in Athens around 450BC From Kimissalla, Rhodes. The Woman seated is reading from a book scroll. Paint on pottery.




Black-Figured amphora (Storage jar) showing a boxing contest. Greek, made in Athens about 550-540 BC, and signed by the potter Nikosthenes from Agrigento, sicily. On the body of the amphora, the boxers wearing humantes (leather thong bound on the fist) are about to punch each other. the boxer on the left has a noses bleed. On the neck of the jar wrestlers with instructors or judges.


Pebble Mosaic of The wine god Dionysos dancing with his panther.  Roman, 4th Century AD. From a nearby room in the same villa at Halicarnassus, south west Asia Minor, as the mosaics of Meleager and Atalanta. The name of the god is inscribed in the greek in the panel.










Jewellery From LachishIron age II (10th-6th century BC) Jewellery continued to be popular throughout the iron age, much of i t continuing traditions established in the middle and late bronze ages. From excavations of Sir Flinders Petrie







 The Great Torc SnettishamBuried around 100 BcThis torc is one of the most elaborate golden objects from the ancient world. it is made from gold mixed with silver and weighs over 1kg. Torcs are made from complex threads of metal, grouped into ropes and twisted around each other. the ends of the torc were cast in moulds and welded onto the metal ropes. they are also worn around the neck. Torcs were common across britain and Europe during the iron age. some were very heavy and others needed to e flexed so that they could be placed around the neck. torcs are worn with the terminals pointing forward and would be uncomfortable to wear for long periods. they may only have been used on special occasions. 











African Mask

Artist like Pablo Picasso was inspired by the bold abstract designs that they discovered in African tribal masks. They used these works of art to influence their own style. In effect, they used African culture to refresh the tired tradition of figure painting in European art.