"The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the richest and most varied representation, outside Cyprus, of Cypriot antiquities. These works were purchased by the newly established Museum in the mid-1870s from General Luigi Palma di Cesnola, a Civil War cavalry officer who had amassed the objects while serving as the American consul on Cyprus." "This catalogue is published on the occasion of the opening of the Museum's four permanent galleries for ancient art from Cyprus. It is also the first scholarly publication since 1914 devoted to the Cesnola Collection (which totals approximately six thousand objects). The volume features some five hundred pieces from the collection, illustrated in new color photography. Dating from about 2500 B.C. to about A.D. 300, these works rank among the finest examples of Cypriot art from the prehistoric, Geometric, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods. Among the objects are monumental sculpture; weapons, tools, and domestic utensils; vases, lamps, and ritual paraphernalia; dedicatory figurines; engraved sealstones and jewelry; and luxury objects."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Cesnola Collection of antiquities from Cyprus preserves the island’s artistic traditions from prehistoric through Roman times and represents the first large group of ancient Mediterranean works to enter the museum’s collection. This catalogue, which focuses on Cypriot terracottas, was originally published in 2004 as a CD-ROM, and is now available in a more accessible format. It contains nearly 500 works dating from between about 2000 B.C. and the 2nd century A.D. from one of the most expansive collections of Cypriot art in the world. Illustrations of each object are accompanied by a detailed catalogue entry, including a brief bibliography. In addition, fifteen commentaries make the catalogue a perfect introduction to Cypriot terracottas and the colorful world of ancient life and mythology.

The Cesnola Collection of antiquities was assembled on Cyprus in the 1860s and 1870s by Luigi Palma de Cesnola, who sold it to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1872. Cesnola subsequently served as the institution's first director.