Animal-Shaped Vessels from the Ancient World: Contexts and Meanings

Date: 

Tuesday, October 2, 2018, 6:00pm

Location: 

Menschel Hall, Lower Level, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

Harvard Art Museums Event

 

Robert Koehl, of Hunter College, and Kimberley Patton, of Harvard, will explore why animal shapes were such popular forms for ancient vessels.

In this lecture, leading scholars will offer perspectives on the social and symbolic importance of the vessels featured in our special exhibition Animal-Shaped Vessels from the Ancient World: Feasting with Gods, Heroes, and Kings, on view September 7, 2018 through January 6, 2019.

Robert Koehl, professor of classical and oriental studies at Hunter College (CUNY), will give an overview of the history of animal-shaped vessels in the Near East and Mediterranean during the Bronze Age. He will examine the specific species of animals represented and address the different ways that zoomorphic vessels were used, focusing on their social and ritual significance.

Kimberley Patton, professor of the comparative and historical study of religion at Harvard University, will consider why vessels were shaped as animals—the heads of animals in particular. Delving deep into the human past through the archaeology of religion, she will reveal the long history of human/animal symbolic interdependence, including through representations and reanimations, the manipulation of animal remains, metamorphosis, sacrifice, and the creation of composite beings.

Following their presentations, Koehl and Patton will be joined in conversation by Susanne Ebbinghaus, the George M.A. Hanfmann Curator of Ancient Art and head of the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at the Harvard Art Museums. Ebbinghaus curated the Animal-Shaped Vessels exhibition.

 

Free admission, but seating is limited. Tickets will be distributed beginning at 5:30pm at the Broadway entrance. One ticket per person.

Complimentary parking available in the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street, Cambridge.

Following the lecture, guests are invited to view the Animal-Shaped Vessels exhibition on Level 3 until 8pm.