There is a fab new book out about the 2022 polychromy exhibition at the Met. It underscores 38 scholars who are the 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 experts in polychromy today. Coming out of polychromy retirement to review _Chroma: Sculpture in Color from Antiquity to Today_ for @hyperallergic.com (edited by Natalie Haddad).

Two ancient 20-sided polyhedra inscribed with letters of the Greek alphabet. Now known as 'divination dice', they were used for cleromancy, a form of divination where casting lots determined divine will, sometimes in conjunction with an oracle. 🏺 1/ #ancientbluesky #MetMuseum 📸 me

This yellow jasper fragment of a queen's face never ceases to take my breath away. Carved like a jewel, it would have been attached to a body, perhaps of Egyptian alabaster, and a headdress of dark stone. An Amarna queen, perhaps Nefertiti. 🏺 1/ Egyptian, New Kingdom, ca. 1390-1336 BCE. 📸 me

The Birth of Pegasus 🔥🐴🩸

This weird and wonderful Greek amphoriskos (flask) depicts a bird-man, but the explanation is astonishing. It almost certainly relates to Aristophanes' famous comedy 'The Birds' (first produced 415/414 BCE) and may represent a costume worn by members of the chorus. 🏺 #ancientbluesky #MetMuseum 📸 me

And to those who say it never rains in Southern California, well, we have a 'weather crisis' occurring here at the moment. I've never seen such a volume of rain outside of the monsoon season in Southeast Asia. 😳 #LARain

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: 'The Future Was Then: The Changing Face of Fascist Italy,' at Poster House, New York. Featuring 75 pieces from the Fondazione Massimo e Sonia Cirulli in Bologna, the exhibition chronicles Mussolini’s regime, focusing on the blurred line between propaganda and art. 📸 me (see ALT)

Just in time for #caturday, I noticed something very interesting on this ancient Greek pelike (jar) featuring Poseidon and Amymone. A very rare representation of a cat. It doesn't seem to be very impressed by the presence of the gods. Perhaps this is a scene from a play ... 🏺 1/ #MetMuseum 📸 me

This is an extremely rare and the best example of Roman glassware with wavy sides, a type known as a ‘handkerchief‘ bowl - so named because the design mimics the folded, drooping appearance of a cloth handkerchief. 🏺 #ancientbluesky 1/ 3rd-4th c. CE. #MetMuseum 📸 me

Yesterday's vivid discussion on Hippo's and #FrescoFriday brought me to this charming artist's painting of a hippopotamus made on ostracon. It might be it acted as a template, a practice piece or simply was a result of a creative impulse 😀 1479–1425 BCE 🌍 #Egypt 📸 @metmuseum.org ▶️ h7.cl/1oOFi

How are these even real?? Yes, that’s me squeeing! 😍 🏺

A little blue hippo made by an Egyptian artisan around 4,000 years ago! 🦛 ❤️ Decorated with river plants and lotus flowers, blue faience hippos are associated with the life-giving Nile and rebirth. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. 📷 by me #Archaeology

This #Egyptian faience hippo statuette is painted with lotus flowers and buds, found in its marshy environment. The lotus flowers - closing every night and reopening again in the morning - also represented regeneration and rebirth. 🏺 1/ @alisonfisk.bsky.social 1938-1539 BCE. #BrooklynMuseum 📸 me

This superbly crafted gilt-silver roundel depicts a bearded, mature Herakles wearing his lion skin. It once formed part of the decoration of an elaborate horse's bridle. 🏺 #ancientbluesky 1/ Greek, #Hellenistic, ca. 3rd-1st c. BCE. #MetMuseum 📸 me

#ArtDD2026 Roman scent bottle From the Met Museum, photographed by @alisonfisk.bsky.social with thanks. @saocousins.bsky.social @holnicotenh.bsky.social @stevecobbin.bsky.social @andykaitken.bsky.social @indikon.bsky.social @mayfieldbirder.bsky.social

#NewYork, folks - gotta love it! 🥶 😭

For some reason as I glance at the news headlines today, I am thinking of the Greek goddess of retribution, Nemesis. Bonus fact: sometimes she takes on the form of a goose (which is just another reason to be cautious around geese) 🪿

A little bear figurine carved out of amber some 6,000 years ago 🐻❤️ A hole runs through the bear’s torso suggesting it was threaded on a cord, perhaps worn or carried as a protective charm. Found in a peat bog near Słupsk, Poland, in 1887. 📷 National Museum in Szczecin #FindsFriday #Archaeology

First night in #NYC, and it’s crazy that this is the view from my room, 22 stories above the city. Tomorrow, the #MetMuseum.

A Corinthian delight: three examples of ancient caricatures. The pyxis at the top shows a child-like Herakles drawing water from a fountain. On the lower left, a kylix depicting a woman playing the usually all-male drinking game kottabos. On the lower right, Artemis and her curious dog. 🏺 1/ 📸 me

One of the best examples of ancient #polychromy that I know of is this terracotta thymiaterion - incense burner - in the form of a group of colorfully dressed women sitting around a wellhead. The iconography reflects a local cult, perhaps of Demeter and Kore. 🏺 1/ 4th c. CE. #MetMuseum 📸 me

Heading to NYC on Wednesday, and giving up my 80º weather for … 20ºF?? I’m going to die. 🥶 Just a few days, though. Going to hit up the #MetMuseum, and the #BrooklynMuseum, of course, but is there anything I shouldn’t miss (besides theater)?

for, um, almost no reason at all, here is Margaret Talbot's 2018 article on how we got the myth of whiteness in classical statuary, with references to @sarahebond.bsky.social: www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...

A true rarity, this bronze goose was discovered in the ruins of Constantinople’s famed luxurious hippodrome. It has a pipe in its beak, so it was probably part of a fountain, providing water to the 100,000 spectators who could fit into the circus stands. 🏺 1/ Roman, 4th c. CE. #BritishMuseum 📸 me

Nooooo! My heart just fell out of my body. RIP to Catherine O’Hara, one of the greats. 😭 deadline.com/2026/01/cath...

Have you ever wondered what Romans used as a monetary X system before the introduction of coins? Feast your eyes on these two early Republic aes signatum bronze currency bars, one with the image of a bull, the other an elephant. Not marked with value, a somewhat confusing system. 🏺 1/ 📸 me

As I lay here dying of food poisoning (I threw up in my dog’s food bowl!😭), let’s have a peek at this Roman sard sealstone depicting two sows with a male pig … well, makin’ bacon. 🥓 Probably meant to be a symbol of fertility, a charm for good luck and prosperousness. 🏺 #BritishMuseum 📸 me

It’s amazing how changing the display of an antiquity in a museum affects how you see it. The lighting - natural or artificial - and the ability to see an item in the round or restricted to a frontal view. La Dama Fonseca, below, in two different settings. 🏺

Fascinating world of ancient #glass: One of my favourite #Roman objects made of glass is this little basket (height 6.5cm). It is not clear what it was used for, possibly to hold cosmetics. From Syria, dating 3rd century AD. On display at British Museum 📷 me 🏺#archaeology

This little #Roman silver statuette of a shepherd is displayed incorrectly at the #BritishMuseum (1st pic). Because when he's turned, you can see that he's carrying an adorable smiling lamb in a skin bag slung over his shoulder. 😍 🏺 1/ Probably 1st c. CE. 📸 me #ancientbluesky

Weekend timeline cleanse! A #Greek rhyton in the shape of a #dog's head. 🐕🐶 Vessels such as this were used in drinking parties. Since they didn't have a base, their contents had to be consumed before the vessel could be put down Dating ca. 475 BC. 📷 Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia 🏺

I’ve loved #StarTrek since childhood, so of course I’m watching the new ‘Starfleet Academy’ series. But what brought tears to my eyes was the arrival of the ship to my hometown of San Francisco, with a version of my old friend Scott McKenzie’s song playing over the scene…. 🖖 1/

The article below adds some fascinating detail to the rule of the #Thracian king Seuthes III, whose bronze portrait head, greaves and helmet I've photographed, below. He straddled multiple cultures, as the treasures from his tomb attest. 🏺 📸 me #ancientbluesky flic.kr/s/aHBqjBSifK

The ring below is a historical mashup. It's a chunky Anglo-Saxon gold filigree finger ring set with an ancient Roman intaglio featuring the god Bonus Eventus, aka "good outcome." He personifies the successful results of labor, particularly agriculture. 🏺 1/ 6th c. CE ring, 1st-5th c. intaglio. 📸 me

"A copper-alloy ornament of a panther resting its paws on a severed head dates from AD43-200 ... [is] a "striking example of a Romano-British design", fusing pre-conquest Iron Age geometric patterns with Roman imagery." #AncientBluesky www.bbc.com/news/article...

Almost unimaginable parade armor - a helmet and cuirass - made from the skin of a crocodile. Roman soldiers were particularly attracted to the crocodile cult in Egypt, and this armor was probably used in cult processions. 🐊 🏺 1/ Manfalout, Egypt, 3rd-4th c. CE. #BritishMuseum #ancientbluesky 📸 me

How about a little candy to celebrate the end of the work week? Actually, this is a #Roman cornelian sealstone with a profile portrait of a young man with *great* sideburns and an incipient beard. Set into a modern (?) swivel ring. Looks like a lollipop. 🍭 😋 🏺 1/ 200-225 CE. #BritishMuseum 📸 me

A life without #dogs is possible but pointless! A tiny yet marvellous figurine of a dog (height 1.6 cm) made of blue glass and decorated with yellow and white threads. The unique figurine was found in a Celtic burial at Wallertheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, dating 2nd c. BC. 📷 Landesmuseum Mainz

Some of my favorite works of art from the ancient world depict humble craftspeople plying their trade. In this red-figure kylix, we see a cobbler cutting leather, using a crescent knife. To his left are strips for the sole and upper part of a boot, and above a boot, sandal and knife. 🏺 1/ 📸 me

This type of relief - frequently depicting Dionysian themes - stood on pillars and decorated the courtyards of Roman villas or their gardens. Here, two disembodied heads wear theatrical masks, perhaps Jupiter (with scepter) and Apollo (with lyre). Traces of pigments remain. 🏺 1/ 1st c. CE. 📸 me

I absolutely love these animal-face terracotta rhyta (drinking horns). When you slug down your wine, you look like you’re wearing an animal mask, which seems hilarious to your fellow drunk revelers. 🐏🍷🏺 #ancientbluesky

The detail here is almost beyond belief, particularly when you know what this is. The image is of a warrior wearing a Chalcidian-type helmet with rams'-head cheekguards. Zoom in and see his mustache hairs. The eyes are ivory and amber. Have you guessed its function? 🏺 1/ Greek, c. 480 BCE. 📸 me

Found in France, this rare set of two bronze portraits of male youths are wearing a hairstyle popular during the reign of Nero. In fact they may have been attendants in a youth organization called the Iuventus, held in special favor under that emperor. 🏺 1/ Gallo-Roman, ca. 60-70 CE. 📸 me

~70% of PHerc. 172 is now digitally unwrapped scrollprize.substack.com/p/70-of-pher...

A charming #Greek terracotta aryballos in the shape of a hedgehog 🦔. The vessel was used to hold oil. Dating 6th century BC. On display at Antikensammlung München.

The delicious orange-red color of this #Mycenaean sealstone almost distracts from its incredible engraved bull-leaping scene. The bull is realistically rendered, but the body of the leaper is elongated, shown in motion as he lets go of the bull's horns and prepares to land. 🏺 1/ 1630-1440 BCE. 📸 me

This engraved Romano-Egyptian magical gem (green jasper) depicts the Egyptian god and psychopomp Anubis holding an ointment jar and standing over a lion-shaped bier. The mummified body of Osiris lies on top. 💀🏺 #ancientbluesky 1/ 100-125 CE. #GettyVilla 📸 me

Dionysos has gone California blonde! 🏄‍♂️ Part of a rhyton (drinking horn), he's shown seated and holding a keras (horn) with strangely headless gods. The rim must have broken and been shaved down in antiquity. The yellow hair probably mimics gilded statues of the god. 🏺 1/ Greek, 500-490 BCE. 📸 me

Immediately recognizable as being in the form of a herm, although I’m curious as to the identification of Dionysus.

'To sleep, perchance to dream.' The link between sleep and death is ever present in the ancient world. A popular motif was sleeping Eros, and this remarkably realistic Hellenistic version in bronze is one of the best. #ancientbluesky 🏺 1/ 3rd-2nd c. CE #MetMuseum 📸 me