Special Exhibitions
Special exhibitions are organised in the Classics and Archaeology Gallery in the Ian Potter Museum of Art.
Current Exhibition
Text and Textiles
Ian Potter Museum of Art, 18 October 2009 to 18 April 2010
Egyptian hieroglyphs, Mesopotamian clay tablets, ancient Greek papyrus, fragments of woven linen Pharaonic tunics and woollen Coptic shawls feature in this exhibition that explores how texts and textiles were produced and used in antiquity. Highlights include papyrus fragments from a book by Thucydides found at Oxyrhyncus, faience shawabti figurines inscribed with lines of hieroglyphs known as Spell Six of the Book of the Dead and part of a Coptic tunic (or possible wall hanging) made from linen and wool with elaborate embroidered patterns. This exhibition offers a view into the lives of elite as well as average citizens from the great river valleys of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilisations through the texts and textiles that they read and wore.
Past Exhibitions
Greek Vases
Ian Potter Museum of Art, 20 September 2008 to 5 April 2009
Some of the most important pottery producing centres of the Greek world are represented in the University of Melbourne Classics and Archaeology Collection: Athens, Corinth, east Greece and south Italy. This important collection covers the period from the thirteenth to the fourth centuries BCE and is one of the most highly regarded collections of classical antiquities in Australia.
Australian Archaeologists at Pella
Ian Potter Museum of Art, 10 April to 14 September 2008
This exhibition looks at the ancient city of Pella in the North Jordan Valley and tells the story of technology, trade and daily life over many centuries. It also describes the significant discoveries Australian archaeologists have made in Jordan for over fifty years. Excavations have revealed Pella as one of the most important ancient cities in Jordan, with a pattern of continuous human settlement stretching back to Neolithic times (c. 6500 BCE). Objects in the exhibition are drawn from the National Gallery of Australia’s collection, currently on long-term loan to the University of Sydney’s Nicholson Museum, augmented by artefacts held in the University of Melbourne's Classics and Archaeology Collection.
Cypriot Antiquities
Ian Potter Museum of Art, 5 September 2007 to 30 March 2008
The University’s Cypriot Collection is representative of the human history on this strategically important island and includes a wide range of Bronze and Iron Age artefacts that were brought to Australia by the late Professor JR Stewart from the 1930s until the early 1960s. The exhibition was based on and coincided with the publication of a catalogue on Cypriot antiquities by Sally Salter (Pan Macmillan).
A full catalogue of the Cypriot antiquities in the Classics and Archaeology Collection is now available. Written by Sally Salter, a long-time researcher of this important collection, the book is generously illustrated and available from the publisher or the University Bookroom. The objects date from the early Bronze Age (c. 2500 BCE), through middle and late Bronze Age and all phases of the Iron Age and Hellenistic times to the Roman era (c. 200 CE). They are principally pottery items, including some very handsome painted jugs, amphorae and bowls from the much-admired Cypriot geometric and archaic periods.
Discovering Egypt
31 March to 26 August 2007
The Egyptians are one of the most fascinating peoples of the ancient world. This exhibition in the Ian Potter Museum includes artefacts drawn from University of Melbourne and Queen's College collections.
Illuminations: Middle Eastern Manuscripts2 September 2006 to 26 March 2007 |
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Intricate hand embossing, gold inlays and exquisite colourful illuminations of plants and animals feature in these irreplaceable texts dating from the 1500s. These treasured manuscripts, from the Special Collection of the Baillieu Library detail plans and pilgrimages, Sufi poems and ancient prayers, astrological insights and weaponry. | |
Persian manuscript (detail) Quaran (Part 22) Surah ah-Ahzab (Surah 33) |
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The Ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece and Rome:
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| The University of Melbourne’s Classics and Archaeology Collection began in 1901 and is one of the oldest and most important collections of antiquities in Australia. Many of the 2500 items in the collection come from, or reflect the cultural traditions of, the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece and Rome. This exhibition featured objects that relate to death and ritual from the Predynastic and Pharaonic periods in Egypt, and a range of objects from the Near East, including ivories from Nimrud, stamp seals from Amman, and inscribed bricks from Elam. The exhibition also included a selection of Roman glass vessels, bronze weapons from Luristan and artefacts from Greece. A corpus of Near Eastern animal and human figurines that may have served cultic or religious functions and a typology of ancient lamps spanning the Bronze, Iron, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Medieval periods are also featured. This exhibition, demonstrating the diversity of material represented in the Classics and Archaeology Collection, is one in a series of focus exhibitions curated by RE Ross Trust Curator Andrew Jamieson that will present key items, some of which have never been seen before, from this important and unique collection. |
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Early WritingAugust 2005 to February 2006 |
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This exhibition on Early Writing included artefacts from the Classics and Archaeology Collection, complemented by items on loan from the Australian Institute of Archaeology, Melbourne. The selected objects demonstrate the diversity of materials used for early writing in Egypt and Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq ), and the range of uses for which writing was employed. The exhibition was initiated by Associate Professor Antonio Sagona, Head of the School of Art History , Cinema, Classics and Archaeology, and developed by Christopher J Davey, Director of the Australian Institute of Archaeology. An exhibition catalogue is available: C. Davey, Early Writing, Melbourne, 2004. |
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| Cover - Early Writing exhibition catalogue (eds.) Bala Starr and Joanna Bosse. Melbourne, 2003 | ||
For information about special exhibitions contact the R E Ross Curator, Dr Andrew Jamieson,
on telephone (03) 8344 3403 or email asj@ unimelb.edu.au.