Cypriot Art

Ancient Cypriot Art is a fascinating example of cultural amalgamation in antiquity. It combines creatively elements deriving from local, Greek, Egyptian and Near Eastern traditions, and exemplifies the intense level of interaction among ancient Mediterranean cultures.

The MCA collection of Ancient Cypriot Art (one of the largest outside Cyprus) comprises unique prehistoric figurines, Archaic and Classical sculptures, inscriptions, bronzes, coins, exquisite gold jewellery, impressive glasswork, and a wide array of ceramics ranging in date from the 4th millennium BC to Medieaval times.

The most important pieces of the collection are presented on the 3rd floor of the museum in a highly interactive exhibition.

The Thanos N. Zintilis Collection of Cypriot Antiquities, one of world’s most important, was added to the permanent collections of the Museum of Cycladic Art in 2002 on a long-term loan and presented to the public for the first time in 2004.

Completed in 2012 and based on a new museographical study, the display showcases 550 (previously 400) objects dating from the Chalcolithic to the Byzantine, Medieval, and Modern periods, grouped according to time period and category. The new display uses contemporary museological approach (in design, colour, lighting, and presentation of the exhibits on relevant illustrated surfaces) to highlight the rich in style, decoration, and imaginative shapes Cypriot pottery (utilitarian, storage, and table wares) of the prehistoric and historic periods, which represent the collection’s core.

The pottery is presented in ten cases, covering a wide spectrum from the mid-third Millennium BC to Late Antiquity. Separate cases corresponding to different thematic units complete the pottery display: religion, weaving, perfume making, funerary rites, writing, metalworking, coins, seal stones, and foreign relations. The peripheral display also includes glass vases and jewelry displayed by chronology and category.

The development of the human form in figurines and sculpture from Chalcolithic to Roman times is shown in prominent cases in the centre of the gallery. This allows the visitor to understand specific types in the long development from the first Chalcolithic figurines and pendants of the fourth millennium BC, made of native Cypriot picrolite, to the acme of terracotta and sculptural art in limestone – and, rarely, marble – of the Iron Age. The exhibit is accompanied by comprehensive texts for each case, introductory and thematic texts, maps and a chronological chart, as well as multimedia applications on touch screens with texts, figures, and drawings that contain further information on Cypriot copper, the commodity that brought wealth and well-being to the island, the history of writing and coinage.

1/5 Photo. Irene Miari © Museum of Cycladic Art

2/5 Photo. Irene Miari © Museum of Cycladic Art

3/5 Photo. Irene Miari © Museum of Cycladic Art

4/5 Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art

5/5 Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art

Online Tickets

1/5 Twin-necked jug // Early Cypriot I period (2500-2300 BC) // H. 59.5 cm // Th.N. Zintilis Collection, no. 56

2/5 Twin-necked jug // Early Cypriot I period (2500-2300 BC) // H. 66 cm // Th.N. Zintilis Collection, no. 55

3/5 Figurine of a rider // Cypro-Geometric II-III period (1000-700 BC) // H. 19 cm // Th.N. Zintilis Collection, no. 606

4/5 Plank figurine // Early Cypriot III - Middle Cypriot I period (2000-1800 BC) // H. 81 cm // Th.N. Zintilis Collection, no. 576

5/5 Cruciform figurine-pendant // Chalcolithic period (3900-2500 BC) // H. 3.9 cm // Th.N. Zintilis Collection, no. 668

Browse the Cypriot Art Collection

Geography

History

Copper & Trade

The Script

The Art

Ancient Cypriote Art The Thanos N. Zintilis Collection S. Lubsen - Admiraal
Athens, 2004

Aegean-Cyprus. Timeline 3200 BC - AD 400 Edited by: Nikolas Papadimitriou
Athens, 2005

Supervision-Coordination
Professor Nicholas Chr. Stampolidis, Director MCA

Exhibition Curator
Maria Dhoga-Toli, Curator MCA
in collaboration with
Mimika Giannopoulou, Curator MCA

Multimedia Documentation
Mimika Giannopoulou, Curator MCA
Contribution
Nikos Papadimitriou, Curator MCΑ

Museographic study - Exhibition texts
Maria Dhoga-Toli, Curator MCA

Design & Production
GPD Exhibitions & Museums
Project Manager
Alexander Manresa

Multimedia Applications
Radiant Technologies, Ltd
Tasos Bellas

Maria Tolis
Archaeologist

Nicholas Papadimitriou
Curator MCA

Anna Lekka
Archaeologist, Hellenic Ministry of Culture

| Balthazar J.W. 1990: Copper and Bronze Working in Early through Middle Bronze Age Cyprus, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology and Literature Pocketbook 84 (Jonsered)

Ancient Cypriot Art in the Pierides Foundation.http://www.cobb.msstate.edu/dig/pierides/

| Baurain Cl. – Bonnet C. – Krings V. (επιμ.) 1991: Phoenikeia Grammata: Lire et écrire en Méditerranée (Namur)

| Branigan K. 1968: Copper and Bronze Working in Early Bronze Age Cyprus, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 19 (Lund)

| Catling H. 1964: Cypriot Bronzework in the Mycenaean World (Oxford)

| Chadwick J. 1987: Linear B and Related Scripts (London)

| Connelly J.B. 1988: Votive Sculpture of Hellenistic Cyprus (New York)

| Fejfer J. 2003: “Sculpture in Roman Cyprus,” Apollo July 2003, 15-22

| Gaber-Saletan P. 1986: Regional Styles in Cypriote Sculpture: The Sculpture from Idalion (New York)

| Gimbutas M. 1982: The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe. Myths and Cult Images (Berkeley/Los Angeles)

| Godart L. 1968: “ku-pi-ri-jo dans les texts mycéniens”, Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 5, 64-70

| Hadjisavvas S. (επιμ.) 2003: From Ishtar to Aphrodite. 3200 Years of Cypriot Hellenism. Treasures from the Museums of Cyprus (New York)

| Hermary A. 1989: Les Antiquités de Chypre: Sculptures (Paris)

| Hermary A. 1991: “Sculptures `chypro-ioniennes’ du Musée de L’Ermitage à Leningrad,” Reports of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus 1991, 173-177

| Karageorghis V. – Masson E. (επιμ.) 1988: The History of the Greek Language in Cyprus. Proceedings of an International Symposium Sponsored by the Pierides Foundation, Larnaka September 8-13, 1986 (Nicosia)

| Karageorghis V. – Vassilika E. – Wilson P. 1999: The Art of Ancient Cyprus in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Nicosia)

| Karageorghis V. 1991: The Coroplastic Art of Ancient Cyprus I. Chalcolithic – Late Cypriote I (Nicosia)

| Karageorghis V. 1993: The Coroplastic Art of Ancient Cyprus II. Late Cypriote II – Cypro-Geometric III (Nicosia)

| Karageorghis V. 1993: The Coroplastic Art of Ancient Cyprus III. The Cypro-Archaic Period: Large and Medium Size Sculpture (Nicosia)

| Karageorghis V. 1995: The Coroplastic Art of Ancient Cyprus IV: the Cypro-Archaic period small male figurines (Nicosia)

| Karageorghis V. 1996: The Coroplastic Art of Ancient Cyprus VI: the Cypro-Archaic period monsters, animals and miscellanea (Nicosia)

| Karageorghis V. 1998: The Coroplastic Art of Ancient Cyprus V: the Cypro-Archaic period small female figurines (Nicosia)

| Karageorghis V. 2002: Early Cyprus. Crossroads of the Mediterranean (Athens)

| Karageorghis V. et al. 2000: Ancient Art from Cyprus. The Cesnola Collection (New York)

| Karageorghis V. et al. 2004: Ancient Cypriote Art in the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva (Athens)

| Laffineur R. – Vandenabeele F. (επιμ.) 1994: Cypriote Stone Sculpture (Brussels-Liege)

| Lewe Β. 1975: Studien zur Archaischen Kyprischen Plastik (Dortmund)

| Lubsen-Admiraal S. – Crouwel J. 1989: Cyprus and Aphrodite (Amsterdam)

| Lubsen-Admiraal S. 2004: Αρχαία Κυπριακή Τέχνη. Η Συλλογή Θάνου Ν. Ζιντίλη (Αθήνα)

| Masson E. 1971: Studies in Cypro-Minoan Scripts. Part 1. Études de vingt-six boules d'argile inscrites trouvées à Enkomi et Hala Sultan Tekke, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 31 :1 (Göteborg)

| Masson E. 1983: Les inscriptions chypriotes syllabiques: recueil, critique e commenté (Paris)

| Mittford T.B. 1971: The Inscriptions of Kourion (Philadelphia)

| Mittford T.B. – Nicolaou I. 1974: The Greek and Latin Inscriptions from Salamis (Nicosia)

| Mogelonsky M.K. 1988: Early and Middle Cypriote Terracotta Figurines (PhD dissertation, Cornell University)

| Muhly J.D. – Maddin R. – Karageorghis V. (επιμ.) 1982: Acta of the International Archaeological Symposium: “Early Metallurgy in Cyprus, 4000-500 BC" (Nicosia)

| Muhly J.D. 1973: Copper and Tin. The Distribution of Mineral Resources and the Nature of the Metals Trade in the Bronze Age, Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Art 43, 155-535

| Nicolaou I. 1971: Cypriot Inscribed Stones (Nicosia)

| Nicolaou I. 1991: “Inscriptions from the necropolis of Amathus”, στο Karageorghis V. – Picard O. – Tytgat Chr. (επιμ.), La necropole d’Amathonte: Tombs 110-385 (Nicosia)

| Orphanides A.G. 1983: Bronze Age Anthropomorphic Figurines in the Cesnola Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology Pocketbook 20 (Göteborg)

| Pogiatzi E. 2003: Die Grabreliefs auf Zypern von der archaischen bis zur römischen Zeit (Mannheim)

| Vagnetti, L. 1991: “Stone sculpture in Chalcolithic Cyprus”, στο Chalcolithic Cyprus (BASOR 282/3)

| Vandenabeele F. – Laffineur R. (επιμ.) 1991: Cypriote Terracottas. Proceedings of the First International Conference of Cypriote Studies, Brussels-Liège-Amsterdam, 29 May – 1 June 1989 (Brussels/Liège)

| Yon M. 1974: Salamine de Chypre V: Un dépot de sculptures archaïques (Paris)

Ancient Cypriot Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/cypriot/cypriot_m...

Ancient Cypriot Art in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
http://www.ashmolean.museum/departments/antiquitie...

Ancient Cypriot Art from the Cesnola Collection in the Semitic Museum at Harvard University.
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~semitic/

A web-site dedicated to the study of ancient Cypriot sculpture.
http://www.uwm.edu/~dbc/

The official web-site of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, with useful resources for both visitors and archaeologists, including information about the current excavation projects.
http://www.mcw.gov.cy/mcw/da/da.nsf/DMLindex_gr/DM...

A portal dedicated to research and education, offering useful information about the archaeology of Europe, Asia and other areas, as well as links to museums, archives, education and research institutes around the world.
http://www.intute.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/archaeol...

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Cypriot Art

THE EXHIBITION

Permanent Exhibition

ONLINE TICKET

OBJECTS

EXPLORE THE COLLECTION

Cypriot Themes

COLLECTION EDITIONS

CONTRIBUTORS

AUTHORS

BIBLIOGRAPHY - LINKS

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