Catalogue of the Sculpture in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection from the Ptolemaic Period to the Renaissance

by Gary Vikan

Overview

This catalogue highlights the fifty-two sculptures in the Byzantine Collection at Dumbarton Oaks. The objects range from the third-century BC miniature portrait head of a Ptolemaic emperor to the sixteenth-century lindenwood “Queen of Heaven” by Tilmann Riemenschneider.

These sculptures are not representative of any one culture or period, but rather are characteristic of the Blisses’ wide-ranging tastes and extraordinary connoisseurship. About a quarter of the objects are Greco-Roman in date, and nearly two-thirds of the remainder are Late Antique, predominantly limestone carvings from Early Byzantine Egypt. Sculpture from the Middle Byzantine period is very rare, making the four pieces in this collection especially significant.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780884022121
Publisher:	Harvard
Publication date:	01/01/1995
Series:	Dumbarton Oaks Collection Series , #11
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 12.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Gary Vikan is Director of the Walters Art Museum.

Editorial Reviews

This catalogue highlights the fifty-two sculptures in the Byzantine Collection at Dumbarton Oaks. The objects range from the third-century BC miniature portrait head of a Ptolemaic emperor to the sixteenth-century lindenwood.

Queen of Heaven by Tilmann Riemenschneider