The San Antonio Museum of Art houses one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of ancient Egyptian, Near Eastern, Greek and Roman art in the southern United States.
The Egyptian collection represents nearly 4,000 years of civilization, from the Predynastic through Roman periods. A colossal statue of the goddess Sekhmet greets visitors to the Egyptian galleries. Other highlights of the collection include a remarkable Fourth Dynasty portrait of a woman carved of diorite and a group of twenty-eight relief sculptures from Amarna, the capital city of the Eighteenth Dynasty king Akhenaten. Among important works representing later phases of Egyptian history is a large, exquisitely preserved bronze votive statuette depicting a lion-headed goddess. Intricately carved cylinder seals and a silver bowl from Achaemenid Persia are highlights of the collection of ancient Near Eastern art.
The centerpiece of the museum’s holdings of Greek art is a substantial collection representing the major developments in Greek vase-painting, with particular concentrations in Attic black- and red-figure and south Italian vessels. The museum's Roman sculpture collection, displayed in the breathtaking Denman Gallery, encompasses portraits, funerary sculpture, and mythological subjects. Especially noteworthy are several statues formerly in the collections of British nobility, including four from the celebrated Lansdowne collection (portraits of the emperors Trajan and Marcus Aurelius, a bust of a woman, and a Cupid and Psyche) and the sleeping Ariadne from Wilton House. Another strength of the collection is a large group of Greek and Roman glass vessels from the eastern Mediterranean.
Olpe (Pitcher) with Animal FriezesGreek, Corinthian, circa 650–625 BC Terracottah. 10 1/2 in. (26.4 cm); diam. 5 1/4 in. (13.5...
Amphora (Jar) with Herakles and the Nemean Lion Attributed to Group EGreek, Athenian, circa 550–540 BCTerracottah. 14 in. (35.4 cm);...
Three Perfume or Cosmetic BottlesGreek, Eastern Mediterranean, late 6th–5th century BCDark blue, yellow, and turquoise glassleft: h. 2 3/4 in....
Oinochoe (Pitcher) with a Young Man and a WomanAttributed to the Berlin PainterGreek, Athenian, circa 490–480 BCTerracottah. 11 1/2 in....
Stamnos (jar) with a Cult Image of Dionysos and Two Women Attributed to the Chicago Painter Greek, Athenian, circa 450...
Grave Stele of KallistrateGreek, Athenian, circa 420–400 BCMarbleh. 33 1/4 (84.7 cm); w. 13 1/2 (34.0 cm); d. 4 in....
Calyx-krater (Mixing Bowl) with Telephos and OrestesSigned by Asteas South Italian, Paestan, circa 340 BC Terracotta h. 22 1/4 in....
Mourning WomanSouth Italian, Canosan, 3rd century BCPainted terracottah. 35 1/2 in. (90.5 cm); w. 13 in. (33.0 cm); d. 11...