The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West

Milleker, Elizabeth J., Christopher Lightfoot, Melanie Holcomb, Marsha Hill, Jean Evans, Joan Aruz, Denise Patry Leidy, and Julie Jones (2000)

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Description

Two thousand years ago, artworks of astonishing variety were being created in far-flung regions of the world. Although some of the cultures flourishing in the Year One, such as that of Rome, are well known, others may be less familiar. In Europe, Celtic peoples excelled in intricate metalwork, and in Egypt a fascinating hybrid combining Greco-Roman and age-old Egyptian styles predominated. East of the Mediterranean, such wealthy centers of trade as Palmyra, Petra, the kingdoms of southern Arabia, and the mighty Parthian Empire produced a wide range of sculpture, ceramics, and precious objects that served both religious and luxury purposes as well as everyday uses. Continuing eastward from Parthia to what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northern India, a traveler in the Year One would have discovered the eclectic arts of the Kushan Empire, where a distinctive early Buddhist art sometimes incorporated influences from Greece and Rome.

In East Asia, China's great empire under the Han dynasty was home to sophisticated arts in every medium; semi-nomadic peoples in northern China made metalwork ornaments, often to adorn the gear for their horses; and characteristic arts had begun to develop in Korea and Japan. The elegant bronzework produced in Southeast Asia testifies to a fertile artistic interchange in that region. Finally, in cultures across the Pacific Ocean in South America and Mesoamerica, powerful and expressive objects were made of stone, ceramic, and gold.

More than 150 works of art that exemplify all these societies at the Year One are illustrated in color and fully explained in this volume. Historical summaries accompanied by maps briefly describe the nature of each culture and the flow of power and peoples during the period centering around the Year One. An introductory essay offers both an overview and an account of the startling degree to which the ancient world was an interconnected one, crisscrossed by intrepid traders and adventurers who journeyed both east and west to bring back coveted goods and tantalizing scraps of information about exotic lands.

The works of art included here are almost all in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the book's authors are members of the museum's curatorial staff representing seven different departments. The catalogue is published to accompany the exhibition "The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West," held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from October 3, 2000, to January 14, 2001.

Table of contents

Director's Foreword
Acknowledgments
Authors and Their Contributions
Note to the Reader

The Year One: Empires and Trade Routes across the Ancient World

The Mediterranean World: The Roman Empire
Map
Rome
Gaul, Britain, and Pannonia
Roman Egypt

West and Central Asia
Map
South Arabia
The Nabataeans
Palmyra
The Parthian Empire

Asia
Map
South Asia: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan
East Asia: China, Korea, Japan
Southeast Asia: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia

The Americas
Map

Checklist of Works Illustrated
Sources and Selected Bibliography
Index
Photograph Credits

Press reviews

Library Journal

"... Recommended ..."

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Joan Aruz

Jean Evans

Marsha Hill

Melanie Holcomb

Julie Jones

Denise Patry Leidy

Christopher Lightfoot

Elizabeth Johnston Milleker

Related Content

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (31)

Essays (8)

Antique Engraved Gems and Renaissance Collectors

Art of the Roman Provinces, 1–500 A.D.

Kushan Empire (ca. 2nd century B.C.–3rd century A.D.)

Life of Jesus of Nazareth

The Parthian Empire (247 B.C.–224 A.D.)

The Roman Empire (27 B.C.–393 A.D.)

Trade between the Romans and the Empires of Asia

The Year One

Timelines (23)

Anatolia and the Caucasus (Asia Minor), 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Ancient Greece, 1–500 A.D.

Ancient Greece, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Arabian Peninsula, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Asia Minor (Anatolia and the Caucasus), 1–500 A.D.

China, 1–500 A.D.

China, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

The Eastern Mediterranean and Syria, 1–500 A.D.

The Eastern Mediterranean and Syria, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Iran, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Italian Peninsula, 1–500 A.D.

Italian Peninsula, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Maya Area, 1–500 A.D.

Maya Area, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Mesopotamia, 1–500 A.D.

Mesopotamia, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Mexico, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

South Asia, 1–500 A.D.

South Asia, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Southeast Asia, 1–500 A.D.

Southeast Asia, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Western and Central Europe, 1–500 A.D.

Western and Central Europe, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Exhibition

The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West

As part of its celebration of the new millennium, the Metropolitan Museum is presenting approximately 150 masterpieces from the permanent collections that were produced some two thousand years ago in the period just before and after the Year One. Spanning seven curatorial departments, these works range from Roman portraits to Celtic metalwork, from Egyptian sculpture to Han dynasty terracotta figurines, from Vietnamese Dongson drums to Calima face masks of hammered gold. Together, they reveal the rich diversity of—and intriguing interconnections among—the cultures that produced them.

The exhibition highlights the interconnections that existed between widely separated parts of the world. Some relationships were established through the extension of Roman power under the rule of Augustus, the first Roman emperor (27 B.C.–A.D. 14). Others evolved through the overland and maritime trade routes that provided the East and West with tantalizing glimpses of each other and that also linked many Asian cultures in an unprecedented fashion. Artistic traditions and religious beliefs were exchanged along these global networks, as were luxury goods such as Roman glass, Chinese silk, and East Indian pepper. While the works from each culture are shown together, the exhibition is organized to give a sense of the geographical and cultural proximity of different regions.

Plan Ahead

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