Ancient Greek Art from Viscount Strangford

Location: Explorers & Collectors

Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, sixth Viscount Strangford (1780 - 1855), discovered and collected Greek and Roman antiquities. He was ambassador in Constantinople, now Istanbul (1820 - 24), when Greece was occupied by Turkey. A predecessor in that post was Lord Elgin, who gave Parthenon sculptures to the British Museum. Strangford also gave the latter important antiquities but some came to Canterbury thanks to his son, a local MP.

Items on display include:

• 'Lekythos' vase
• Portion of a terracotta cornice
• Marble head in relief
• Ivy-crowned head of Bacchus
• Earthenware spouted vessel with black glaze

Ivy crowned head of Bacchus.