A catalogue raisonée of the natural history, ethnological specimens, and curiosities collected by Lady Brassey, during the voyages of the "Sunbeam", 1876-1883, exhibited at Sir Thomas Brassey's rooms, School of Fine Art, Claremont, Hastings / by Bryce Wright.

  • Wright, Bryce.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A catalogue raisonée of the natural history, ethnological specimens, and curiosities collected by Lady Brassey, during the voyages of the "Sunbeam", 1876-1883, exhibited at Sir Thomas Brassey's rooms, School of Fine Art, Claremont, Hastings / by Bryce Wright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    :irc enabled to gather almost the entire story of the manner of life of the ancients. And besides domestic articles, objects in gold of great beauty abound. In pursuing the study of the objects found in these tombs wc must remember not only the occupation of the island by so many different nations, but also the different influences which had already had an effect on the aids of these several peoples before their arrival as colonists or conquerors ; and we shall be certain to find not only objects of native manufacture which will show the influences exerted by the invaders, but, besides these, objects which they brought with them or which were subsequently imported in the ordinary course of civilization and commerce. Few things are more instructive or interesting in the history of art. It will suffice to mention as examples first what is very beautifully illustrated in this collection, viz., the history of glass and the connection of the Phenicians with Egypt, from which they probably derived their knowledge of the art; at the same time wc cannot pass without notice the Assyrian influence on Lycian art by the Persians, who intro¬ duced the religion and arts which they had received from Assyria, which thus passed on to Cyprus from the mainland of Asia Minor. The excavations made for Lady Brassey are for the most part in one tumulus (or collection of tombs) in the neighbour¬ hood of Kurium. It must be remembered that these tumuli formed the burying places of many succeeding generations of inhabitants, and we are therefore prepared to find, as we do, in this collection (although it comes from a limited area) objects ranging from pre-historic times, from the archaic Phenician and Greek periods, down to the time of the Eoman occupation, and possibly even past the commencement of the Christian era. Until a proper classification of the vases and other objects in pottery has been completed, it must suffice to say that tho