Cypriot Art at The Ringling: A New Gallery

Most ancient art at The The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, , The Ringling’s holdings of Ringling once was held by plans to install its first permanent gallery of ancient art in Gallery 12 in ancient art include stone The Metropolitan Museum 2020 as part of a museum-wide gallery reinstallation project. Gallery and terracotta sculpture, of Art. The Metropolitan’s ceramics, glass, bronzes, first director, Luigi Palma 12 highlights the museum’s large collection of ancient Cypriot art. jewelry, and gems from the di Cesnola unearthed Early Bronze Age to the many of the pieces on Roman period (ca. 2,500 Cyprus between 1865 and BCE to 400 CE). At 3,500 1876. Some of the objects Gallery 12 connects viewers with history (ancient and modern), aesthetics pieces today, these form the were on display in New (detail and abstraction), and art and experience (sanctuaries and tombs) museum’s largest collection. York into the early 1900s. through thematic and contextualized displays, including digital content. About 2,300 of the objects The centerpiece is a crowd of sculptures said to be from Golgoi, Cyprus. are from Cyprus. Limestone sculpture from the Cesnola collection on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1907 (Ringling SN28.1755 in second case Colossal male statue head SN28.1755 said to be from Golgoi, from left facing to the right) (courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art) Cyprus, on display in the Astor Library at The Ringling, 2000s (courtesy The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art)

John Ringling of the The first Ringling Brothers permanent purchased nearly 3,300 gallery of ancient works of ancient art art at The from The Metropolitan’s Ringling is part collections during four of a reinstallation days of auction in 1928 at project, led by the Anderson Gallery in the museum’s New York. The resulting director, Steven Connecting Cultures gallery, The Ringling, widespread newspaper view of Cypriot objects on display, High. Transport February 2018 (photo by J. S. Smith) coverage shaped the amphoras and identity of John Ringling limestone sculptures from Cyprus in the new and his wife, Mable, as Asian wing speak to the theme of cultural collectors. interconnections. The collection can be searched Excerpt from , online through eMuseum. March 31, 1928, p. 19.

Research on The Ringlings envisioned a pavilion of ancient art the ancient for their museum in Sarasota, Florida. It did not collection for materialize due the new gallery, to Mable’s death Gallery 12, and the stock began in 2014. market crash of The projected 1929. In 1936 Gallery 12, The Ringling Museum of Art, plan for the display of the ancient collection with frontal opening date is John Ringling views of each section of the display placed next to its location in the gallery (plan by J. S. Smith) 2020. The 200 bequeathed his objects for the Gallery 12, The Ringling, objects in display property to the Joanna S. Smith space, April 2018 (Ringling SN28.1755 at gallery were Consulting Curator, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art center facing viewer) (photo by J. S. Smith) State of Florida. Consulting Scholar, The University of Pennsylvania brought together Today the [email protected] in the display Acknowledgements: I would like to thank colleagues at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art for their collaboration and sponsorship of the Gallery 12 project. museum is part Art student at The Ringling, with displays Most particularly I thank Steven High, Sarah Cartwright, Marian Carpenter, Françoise Hack (†), Jarred Wilson, Barbara Ramsay, David Berry, Keith Crowley, Aislinn space in 2018 for discussion among the director, of objects from the ancient collection in the Stone, Heidi Taylor, Ellie Bloom, Amanda Robinson, Megan Salazar-Walsh, Joni Bradley, Elisa Hansen, Libby Bennett, and Katie Booth. At The Metropolitan Museum of of Florida State Art I would like to thank Séan Hemingway, Joan Mertens, Sarah Szeliga, and Christopher Lightfoot, as well as Carlos Picón and Jeff Daly, both formerly of the museum, curators, registrars, preparators, educators, loggia, probably early 1960s (from Florida for their support of research for this project. At the Penn Museum I would like to thank C. Brian Rose, Ann Brownlee, Lynn Makowsky, and Alex Pezzati for their support University. Memory, image number PR09442). of research into the site of Kourion. I would also like to thank Jennifer Webb and David Frankel for providing archival imagery for the site of Karmi-Lapatsa for the gallery. guards, and other museum staff.

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