Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 102-103. (Budapest, 2005)
ANNUAL REPORT 2005 - A 2005. ÉV - MARIANNA DÁGI: Highlighted Works of Art: Chamber Exhibition Organised by the Collection of Classical Antiquities
During the Autumn Show (13 September -27 November), the public had the chance to view a veritable rarity. The Collection of Antiquities, striving to represent the artistic production of the non-classical cultures of Antiquity, came into the possession of three alabaster sculptures from South Arabia in recent years. The excavations in today's Yemen, commenced only in the 1950s, unearthed the ancient culture of Arabia, the province regarded by the Greeks as a fabulously rich one. For the peoples inhabiting the Mediterranean, the area they called Arabia Felix was of utmost importance. For this area was the only source of such luxury objects as frankincense, myrrh and cinnamon, and at the same time this was the region that mediated between the treasures of Africa and India. An important branch of its art was the production of alabaster sculptures, the golden age of which was between fourth century B.C. - first century A.D. This is the period that produced the three pieces shown at the exhibition: the seated female figure, the portrait of a man and the sculpture of a rock goat (fig. 80). On these sculptures, one can observe the block-like character, the frontal positioning, the attraction to Cubistic forms and the disregard for naturalistic details, the most typical attributes of South Arabian art. The rock goat (ibex) in this culture was considered a sacred animal; it is very likely that the Budapest piece was designed to be a votive object to a sanctuary. The rough surface of the back of the male face, as well as the lack of elaborateness on the top of the head refer to the fact that the piece was embedded into a burial stele. The second year of the exhibition series concluded with the display of clay pots originating from the Southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea (13 December - 26 February). The three jars in the shape of human heads and the one with a human face painted on it were made in the late Roman Imperial period, between 150 - 300 A.D., in North Africa and Asia Minor. The so-called head-jars again became fashionable, after a pause of two centuries, in the second century, mainly in Asia Minor and in the province of Africa of the Roman Empire. Outstanding among the exhibited pieces is the jar shaping the head of a young man, rendered unique and valuable by the signet of the master on the neck of the jar. The jars in the shape of human heads can be associated with Bacchus, the god who enjoyed extraordinary popularity in North Africa; they could express the consolation offered by wine in the sadness over death, and at the same time —through the mysteries attached to the god —the hope of rebirth of the dead, as well.
