For more than 3,000 years, a series of kingdoms flourished along the Nile Valley south of ancient Egypt in the Nubian Desert of modern-day Sudan. The High Museum of Art will showcase work featuring this area in Ancient Nubia: Art of the 25th Dynasty from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
The exhibit, which runs June 2 to Sept. 3, includes more than 200 masterworks drawn from MFA Boston’s vast holdings, now the largest and most comprehensive collection of ancient Nubian art and material culture outside of Africa.
On display will be everything from skillfully crafted pottery, to gold and silver amulets, jewelry, and funerary figurines, Additionally, the exhibition will highlight the skill, artistry, and innovation of Nubian makers and reflect the wealth and power of their kings and queens, who once controlled one of the largest empires of the ancient world.
Ancient Nubia: Art of the 25th Dynasty will also explore how historical narratives have evolved over time, now reflecting recent scholarship that has proved ancient Nubia’s position as an autonomous nation-state separate from ancient Egypt, with its own sophisticated systems of governance, trade, and commerce punctuated by innovations in art, architecture, and science.
For more information, visit www.high.org.
Photo: Sample of artwork from Ancient Nubia: Art of the 25th Dynasty. Photo by John Woolf © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
