tailieunhanh - LATE ANTIQUE SCULPTURE IN EGYPT: ORIGINALS AND FORGERIES

The transparency of the body beneath the drapery is a clear reference point to the female reclining figures from the Parthenon pediment sculptures. This is obvious in Albert Moore’s Beads (1875), which depicts two young women reclining asleep in different positions on a soft fabric bench with their legs, breasts, nipples and small folds of their stomachs clearly visible beneath their white diaphanous Greek clothes. Robyn Asleson points out that “the snaking movement of the drapery exaggerates the curves of the anatomy which is clearly seen beneath the transparent gauze fabric” (133). Similarly G. F. Watts’ Ariadne in. | AJA ONLINE PUBLICATIONS MUSEUM REVIEW Late Antique Sculpture in Egypt Originals and Forgeries By Alexander V. Kruglov Issue April 2010 American Journal of Archaeology Online Museum Review Copyright 2010 by the Archaeological Institute of America Unearthing the Truth Egypt s Pagan and Coptic Sculpture Brooklyn Museum 13 February-10 May 2009 curated by Edna R. Russmann. Unearthing the Truth Egypt s Pagan and Coptic Sculpture by Edna R. Russmann. Pp. 91 color figs. 44. Brooklyn Museum New York 2009. . ISBN 978-0-87273162-2 cloth . The Brooklyn Museum which houses one of the most extensive Coptic art collections in the United States has a long-established tradition of presenting Egypt s pagan and Coptic art to the public. Some of Brooklyn s Coptic sculptures that had at first been acclaimed and published later proved not to be authentic including several of the most famous pieces. Thus the question of authenticity is a special emphasis of the exhibition Unearthing the Truth which displays Egyptian works from the third to the eighth centuries . The turn of the millennium was marked by special interest in the history of Christianity and a range of exhibitions were dedicated to Byzantine art some included Coptic objects others were devoted exclusively to Coptic art the Christian art of Late Antique Egypt. Christians and pagans lived side by side in the complex ethnic society of Egypt at this time. Since the Egyptian culture of these early centuries . had absorbed the legacies of ancient I would like to dedicate this review to the memory of my father whose death delayed its completion. Special thanks go to Museum Review Editor Beth Cohen for her suggestions and her help with the revision Edna R. Russmann for visiting the exhibition Egyptians Hellenistic Greeks and Romans many pagan images and ideas were inherited by Christian patrons and artists. In addition several of the icongraphic schemes and types of reliefs employed were similar to or even borrowed .