The sea knows where all the rocks are

[sovay]

I walked something like five miles today and worked until nearly five in the morning and my body does not appear to believe it needs sleep, although I am quite certain it does; I do.

derspatchel and I visited the MFA briefly tonight. There are three new galleries in the classical wing; I only got as far as the one dedicated to the art of Homeric epic before the museum closed and kicked us out, though Rob reports to my great delight that one of my favorite erotic kylices is back on display. I photographed this marble fragment of a siren through the glass:



(Phone caption as I mailed it to myself: "Mourning Siren, then we got thrown out of gallery.")

Comments

[sovay]

They've been repairing/restoring for what seems like years a sarcophagus in their tiny Etruscan room, which has been closed as a result. Is that one of the galleries that has been added?

The three galleries are one long partitioned room upstairs next to the renovated Roman section. It used to be full of statuary and pottery and a lot of window light; I believe it's where the (probably fake) Minoan snake goddess used to be, although that might have been the current coin collection. The Etruscan gallery is still being used as a conservation lab. One of the sarcophagi is now finished and on display downstairs among the Greek artifacts—it's the younger one, of Larth Tetnies and Thanchvil Tarnai. The older sarcophagus, which is actually my favorite, is still undergoing conservation and looks like it's currently on hold; the featured object in the lab is a Roman fountain. I miss the Etruscan room. I used to visit it regularly. There were the sarcophagi and the jewelry and the beautiful black bucchero ware and an amazed winged Skylla or siren on a cinerary urn with the paint still on her.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

That Etruscan room sounds amazing! Why would they get rid of it? Really love the siren, too.

[sovay]

That Etruscan room sounds amazing! Why would they get rid of it? Really love the siren, too.

It was one of my favorite rooms in the museum; I'm really hoping they'll restore it. Here's the cinerary urn I was talking about, and here is some of the jewelry, and here is some bucchero ware, and here is a vase possibly featuring Vanth. You can still see the aulos-player from the tomb wall and his companion with her kithara when you enter, but they've been swathed protectively with some kind of cloth. This is the lid of the recently restored sarcophagus currently on display and this is my favorite, a generation earlier. I love their faces, and their arms around each other's shoulders, and their bare feet. She was Ramtha Vishnai and her husband was Arnth Tetnies.