Head of an "Ethiopian" depicted in Hellenistic mode

Head of an "Ethiopian" depicted in Hellenistic mode

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Black Africans were considered distant and exotic and were termed 'Ethiopians' by the ancient Greeks when Greek artists formulated a distinct iconography for these peoples. This was well before the cosmopolitan Hellenistic period, when regular interaction with African realms like Egypt and Nubia had become the norm. (See the Timeline of Art History essay Africans in Ancient Greek Art) This beautiful head of an "Ethiopian" was created as an attachment for some luxurious object suited to a Hellenistic Greek milieu like that of Alexandria. A gold plug remains in the top of the head, and on the back twin loops were broken away. Possibly the head was part of a richly ornamented serving dish: for example, a head with a loop and ring decorates the rim next to the handle on one elaborate dish from Pompeii.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Head of an "Ethiopian" depicted in Hellenistic modeHead of an "Ethiopian" depicted in Hellenistic modeHead of an "Ethiopian" depicted in Hellenistic modeHead of an "Ethiopian" depicted in Hellenistic modeHead of an "Ethiopian" depicted in Hellenistic mode

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.