Published in conjunction with an exhibition held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art during 1996 and scheduled to travel to Los Angeles during 1997. The works are selected from the holdings of the Shumei Family, a religious organization based in Japan which holds to the belief that beautiful objects elevate the spirit and, therefore, that they were created to be shared (the group is currently constructing a new museum in Japan to house the collection). The works included here--antiquities from the Mediterranean, the Near East, and China--are beautifully presented in color photos, with text by a broad spectrum of curators, art historians, and conservators. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Lie Became Great explores the closed society of international plunderers and forgers which thrives as a subculture of the Art World. These multi-cultural denizens include antiquity dealers, collectors, museum curators, forgers working in conjunction with auction houses, museums and galleries. Forgeries are made to be sold, and a great number pass into the Art World - collections, exhibitions, catalogues, and popular and scholarly journals - complete with their fabricated stories of excavation, and how they were found. The Lie Became Great documents the success and activities of one small corner of this vast network - artifacts form the Ancient Near East - with hundreds of detailed catalogue entries of forgeries. The participants in this society gain money, prestige, power, position as they distort and irretrievably damage the true story of our cultural heritage. STYX PUBLICATIONS

A thrilling analysis of the world of plunderers, forgers, antiquity dealers, collectors, museums, auction houses with one thing in common: a vivid interest in the Ancient Near East.

Catalog of an exhibition being held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 8 to Aug. 17, 2003.

This handsome newly designed addition to The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s symposia series furthers the study of one of the most influential but less known periods of Greek art and culture. It is based on papers given at a two-day scholarly symposium held in conjunction with the award-winning exhibition “Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World,” on view at the Metropolitan in 2016. The twenty diverse essays exemplify the international scope of the Hellenistic arts, which cover the three centuries between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. and the suicide of Cleopatra in 30 B.C. Subjects range from twenty-first century approaches to museum displays of archaeological material to the circulation of artists and works of art throughout the Mediterranean and the influence of Hellenistic art and its legacy in the ancient Roman world. Among the topics discussed are aspects of royal self-presentation and important elements of iconography and style in coins, gems, mosaics, sculpture, vessels, and wall paintings, in mediums including bronze, faience, glass, marble, silver, and terracotta. Authored by a number of internationally renowned scholars, the essays in this volume highlight the holdings of the Metropolitan and markedly demonstrate the artistic innovations and technical mastery of Hellenistic artists, offering new insights into the vitality and complexity of Hellenistic art. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Verdana}