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chapps.bsky.social
And, yes, in case you were wondering, with only 20 sides (specifically an icosahedron), some letters from the Greek alphabet have to be left off, usually phi, chi, psy, and omega. The majority of surviving oracular dice have been found in Egypt.

Ptolemaic or Roman, faience. 📸 #MetMuseum
A number of polyhedral dice made in various materials have survived from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, usually from ancient Egypt when known. Several are in the Egyptian or Greek and Roman collections at the Museum. The icosahedron – 20-sided polyhedron – is frequent. Most often each face of the die is inscribed with a number in Greek - as seen here in this faience example - and/or Latin up to the number of faces on the polyhedron. Nothing specific about the use of these polyhedra is preserved, so theories are built on clues provided by some variant examples. One unusual example uses Greek words, a few of which resemble those associated with throws of the astragals (knucklebones), and this has led to suggestions they were used for games. Another remarkable example discovered in Dakhleh Oasis in Egypt in the 1980s records an Egyptian god’s name in Demotic (the Egyptian script of these late periods) on each face. Divination – seeking advice about the unknown from the supernatural – seems to be the most likely purpose for the Dakhleh die: the polyhedron might have been thrown in order to determine a god who might assist the practitioner. Indeed, even the dice with simple letters might relate to divination: a Greek oracle book composed in in the 2nd or 3rd century CE refers to throwing lots to obtain a number that would, through certain algorithms, lead to ready-prepared oracle questions and responses. Faience, Ptolemaic Period–Roman Period, 2nd c. BCE-4th c. CE. From Egypt. Met Museum (10.130.1159)
February 20, 2026 at 1:14 AM
chapps.bsky.social
Two ancient 20-sided polyhedra inscribed with letters of the Greek alphabet. Now known as 'divination dice', they were used for cleromancy, a form of divination where casting lots determined divine will, sometimes in conjunction with an oracle. 🏺 1/ #ancientbluesky

#MetMuseum
📸 me
Dark greenstone polyhedron, on which we can see capital Greek letters (20 sides to the polyhedron), with only the last four letters (phi, chi, psy, and omega) missing. It looks identical to modern RPG dice. Greek, 2nd-1st c. BCE. Met Museum (27.122.5) Blue-green faience polyhedron (which probably means that it originates in Egypt, but no findspot is known) with a capital Greek letter on each side/facet. A number of polyhedra made in various materials are known from the Hellenistic and Roman periods. They may have been used in conjunction with an oracle inscribed on a pillar set up in a public place. The polyhedron was thrown in order to choose a letter at random. One consulted the inscription to find the matching letter and read the oracle's response. There would be twenty oracular messages, each beginning with a letter of the alphabet that corresponded to one side of the dice. Roman, 2nd-3rd c. CE. Met Museum (37.11.3)
February 20, 2026 at 1:14 AM
chapps.bsky.social
This weird and wonderful Greek amphoriskos (flask) depicts a bird-man, but the explanation is astonishing. It almost certainly relates to Aristophanes' famous comedy 'The Birds' (first produced 415/414 BCE) and may represent a costume worn by members of the chorus. 🏺 #ancientbluesky

#MetMuseum
📸 me
This extraordinary vase of a bird-man, of high technical quality, is unique among the examples of Attic black-glazed pottery known today. It almost certainly relates to Aristophanes' well-known comedy The Birds (first produced in 415/414 B.C.) and may represent the costume that would have been worn by members of the chorus in the fifth century B.C. The body of the bird-man is upright, with human legs tucked under, and human arms wrapped around the bird body's overstuffed stomach. The head is a bird, except for somewhat human ears. The flared spout almost looks like a hat on top of the head of the bird-man, with a handle on either side, attached to the spout and to the feathered shoulders of the bird body. A little tiered circular stand is at the bottom.
February 17, 2026 at 6:00 PM
dualipaposts.bsky.social
Superfine🪡 Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Anna, @voguemagazine and @metmuseum for a night I’ll never forget. And to my incredible @CHANEL family, thank you for pouring so much love, artistry, and dedication into every detail of this look. I’m endlessly grateful. I keep…

Original post
February 17, 2026 at 1:10 AM
chapps.bsky.social
Just in time for #caturday, I noticed something very interesting on this ancient Greek pelike (jar) featuring Poseidon and Amymone. A very rare representation of a cat. It doesn't seem to be very impressed by the presence of the gods. Perhaps this is a scene from a play ... 🏺 1/

#MetMuseum 📸 me
On this red-figure pelike - a squat jar with two handles under a broad rolled lip - we see Amymone standing on the left, her hand on winged Eros' head. Poseidon - who has rescued her from a satyr - sits on an unseen chair or rock, seemingly inspecting the tines on his golden yellow trident. A cat sits under the god of the sea, looking out at us, the viewers. Greek, South Italian, Apulian, ca. 360-340 BCE. Attributed to the Dechter Painter. Met Museum, New York (1984.323.3) Closeup of the cat, not drawn particularly well, but the attitude is all there, as if to say, 'Can you believe all this drama?'
February 15, 2026 at 1:26 AM
dualipaposts.bsky.social
Superfine🪡 Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Anna, @voguemagazine and @metmuseum for a night I’ll never forget. And to my incredible @CHANEL family, thank you for pouring so much love, artistry, and dedication into every detail of this look. I’m endlessly grateful. I keep…
nitter.net
February 9, 2026 at 3:53 PM
jackrainfield.bsky.social
The puzzle is 'complete' for history, but bittersweet for us. 🧩💔

One piece stays at @metmuseum, while the other heads to a private collection for $27.2M.

Hopefully, we’ll see them reunited on loan one day! 🏛️✨

www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

#ArtHistory #Michelangelo
Michelangelo Buonarroti - Studies for the Libyan Sibyl (recto); Studies for the Libyan Sibyl and a small Sketch for a Seated Figure (verso) - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Signature: On recto, annotated in pen and light brown ink at lower left: "di Michel Angelo bona Roti"Inscription: On verso, annotated in pen and brown ink at upper right: 58 Annotated by early 16th ce...
www.metmuseum.org
February 6, 2026 at 3:43 PM
chapps.bsky.social
One of the best examples of ancient #polychromy that I know of is this terracotta thymiaterion - incense burner - in the form of a group of colorfully dressed women sitting around a wellhead. The iconography reflects a local cult, perhaps of Demeter and Kore. 🏺 1/

4th c. CE. #MetMuseum
📸 me
This thymiaterion has five individually hand-made women sitting on the edge of a red-painted wellhead, with one sitting in her own high-baked chair. All are brightly painted, and each woman has a 'hat' with a cup on top for the burning of the incense. All painted slightly differently - three with orange-yellow tunics, two with red tunics; two red himatia (cloaks), two purple-black himatia, and one yellow himation. They each once carried an attribute in each hand, but several are missing. In this photo, one woman carries a yellow (meant to be gold) phiale, an offering plate, and a pomegranate; the other woman facing us carries a spindle with wool. Met Museum (2012.546)
February 3, 2026 at 9:51 PM
dualipaposts.bsky.social
Superfine🪡 Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Anna, @voguemagazine and @metmuseum for a night I’ll never forget. And to my incredible @CHANEL family, thank you for pouring so much love, artistry, and dedication into every detail of this look. I’m endlessly grateful. I keep…
nitter.net
February 3, 2026 at 4:43 AM
chapps.bsky.social
Heading to NYC on Wednesday, and giving up my 80º weather for … 20ºF?? I’m going to die. 🥶 Just a few days, though.

Going to hit up the #MetMuseum, and the #BrooklynMuseum, of course, but is there anything I shouldn’t miss (besides theater)?
The Met Museum facade in a deep freeze - yes, AI.
February 3, 2026 at 3:12 AM
tiglath-pileser1.bsky.social
This helmet was forged from watered steel and decorated in gold with arabesques and Koranic inscriptions. Probably Ottoman ca1560. Almost certainly for a high-ranking member of the court.
📷 Metmuseum
February 1, 2026 at 2:06 PM
tiglath-pileser1.bsky.social
War Hat
Italian, Milan
ca. 1590
Undecorated war hats were a common form of head defence during the Middle Ages and into the early sixteenth century. Probably made for a nobleman of high rank.
📷 Metmuseum
February 1, 2026 at 2:03 PM
nowbreezing.ntw.app

Bluesky's Top 10 Trending Words (past 10min):
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💨x48 - fanone
💨x43 - cuellar
💨x1* - democracy 🔓
💨x1* - gaza 🔓
💨x35 - perez
💨x29 - he-man
💨x28 - suozzi
💨x27 - fable
💨x24 - nehls
*🔓 = Unlocked Emergency Words (see img)

#ListenToBlackVoices

(Something not right? Reply!)
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January 22, 2026 at 10:10 PM
dave.feediverse.org
Georges Seurat, Study for "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte", 1884 #metmuseum #themet.
Great art on Bluesky (@art.feediverse.org)
Georges Seurat, Study for "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte", 1884 #metmuseum #themet
bsky.app
January 22, 2026 at 7:22 PM
art.feediverse.org
Georges Seurat, Study for "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte", 1884 #metmuseum #themet
January 22, 2026 at 7:00 PM
mdstamper.bsky.social
“Girl in a Red Dress” by Charles Henry Alston (American) - Oil on canvas / 1934 - Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) #WomenInArt #CharlesHenryAlston #Alston #HarlemRenaissance #AfricanAmericanArt #BlackPortraiture #BlackArt #artText #BlueskyArt #AmericanArt #PortraitofaGirl #TheMet #MetMuseum
A young Black woman sits with her body turned slightly while she looks off to our left, as if her attention has been caught by something beyond the frame. She wears a vivid red dress that is both formal and modern, anchored by a large, rounded white collar and chest drop that brightens her neckline and draws our eyes upward. Her hair is short and close to the head, shaping her profile with clean, sculptural clarity. The painting balances bold color against simplified forms as her figure is modeled with calm, steady contours rather than fussy detail, giving her an iconic stillness. The setting is spare and uncluttered, letting the red of the dress carry emotional weight via warmth, visibility, and intent while her gaze remains reserved, self-contained, and unmistakably dignified. Nothing about her posture asks for permission so the portrait holds her as a person with interior life, style, and agency, captured in a moment that feels quiet but resolute. Made in 1934, this work sits within Harlem Renaissance portraiture’s insistence on modern Black subjecthood and beauty without caricature plus selfhood without explanation. Art historian Richard Powell called this painting a model of the “New Negro” woman: “defiantly black, beautiful, and feminine, yet also unsettled, mysterious, and utterly modern.” American artist Charles Henry Alston’s approach reinforces that tension as the sitter is intimate in scale, yet deliberately unreadable. The painting’s sculptural face and elongated neck also echo Alston’s interest in African aesthetics joined to modernist pictorial flatness. In the mid-1930s, Alston was stepping into public leadership as an artist-educator and WPA mural supervisor in Harlem, helping shape a visual culture of representation. This portrait embodies Alain Locke’s challenge that “art must discover and reveal the beauty which prejudice and caricature have overlaid” … not by idealizing the sitter, but by granting her complexity and presence.
January 15, 2026 at 4:02 PM
marisajpascucci.bsky.social
Art history as refuge for this present moment in American history: John Singer Sargent (Florence 1856–1925 London) “Cathedral Interior,” 1904, Watercolor & graphite on wove paper, 13 3/4 x 9 13/16 in. @metmuseum Embrace art. #ArtGeek #ArtHistory #ArtHistorianForHire #AOTD • Ars longa, vita brevis
January 13, 2026 at 12:43 AM
dualipaposts.bsky.social
Superfine🪡 Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Anna, @voguemagazine and @metmuseum for a night I’ll never forget. And to my incredible @CHANEL family, thank you for pouring so much love, artistry, and dedication into every detail of this look. I’m endlessly grateful. I keep…
nitter.net
January 12, 2026 at 8:05 PM
dave.feediverse.org
John Singer Sargent, Mary, Study for "Annunciation", ca. 1909–10 #americanart #metmuseum.
Great art on Bluesky (@art.feediverse.org)
John Singer Sargent, Mary, Study for "Annunciation", ca. 1909–10 #americanart #metmuseum
bsky.app
January 12, 2026 at 7:01 AM
art.feediverse.org
John Singer Sargent, Mary, Study for "Annunciation", ca. 1909–10 #americanart #metmuseum
January 12, 2026 at 7:00 AM
chapps.bsky.social
This well preserved Roman bronze cavalry 'sports' mask has some beautiful details. Thought to have been used for parades or tournaments - part of maintaining morale and fighting effectiveness - these masks may also have been used in battle. 🏺 1/ #ancientbluesky

2nd c. CE, #MetMuseum loan.
Frontal photo of a dark bronze mask. It has the features of a handsome young man wearing an elaborate diadem with floral scrolls. His hair is very curly, as it appears from beneath the diadem, and his sideburns are long and similarly curly. The eyeholes are long, and there are holes in the nostrils and a slit cut between the lips. There's no provenance, but the details on this mask are very reminiscent of one found in Homs, Syria, and now in the national museum in Damascus. Roman, 2nd century CE. No provenance. Met Museum (Collection of Shelby White and Leon Levy), New York (L.2007.8.1)
January 6, 2026 at 5:13 PM
chapps.bsky.social
A Roman terracotta lamp with Victory holding a shield inscribed with a wish for a happy and prosperous new year. Around her are representations of things that were usually given as gifts to celebrate the New Year: money (here three coins), and dried fruit (dates and figs). 🥳 🏺 1/

#MetMuseum 📸 me
Winged Victory holds a shield inscribed with a New Year's wish for happiness: ANNV / NOVM FAV/STVM FEL/ICEM MI/HI, which transliterates as 'Annum Novum Faustum Felicem Mihi' - literally 'A happy, fortunate, and prosperous New Year to me'. It's a self-referential wish for happiness and good fortune in the new year. Around her are representations of things that were usually given as gifts to celebrate the New Year— money (in the form of three coins) and dried fruit (dates and figs). Roman, mold-made, 2nd half of 1st century CE. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (06.1021.291)
December 31, 2025 at 8:36 PM
chapps.bsky.social
Greek box mirrors were, in effect, giant versions of modern compacts. Hinged like a clamshell, the top cover was frequently decorated mythological scenes or portraits of women or gods. Chains were sometimes attached, for hanging.🏺 2/

Last quarter of the 4th c. BCE. #MetMuseum

flic.kr/p/2qCe1BN
Greek bronze box mirror
This box mirror depicts a relief head of a woman - her hair twisted or braided back - wearing a silver earring and necklace. Greek, last quarter of the 4th century BCE. Met Museum, New York (1989.28...
flic.kr
December 27, 2025 at 8:10 PM