Museum Exhibition
Afterlives: Contemporary Art in the Byzantine Crypt
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
January 29, 2024 – January 10, 2027
This exhibit brings together modern-day works that reckon with death and visualize the afterlife with Byzantine Egyptian funerary art and artifacts.
Exhibition artworks
Representative work
Michael Aschenbrenner
"Damaged Bone Series"
1990
Glass, fabric, wire, twigs
Oberall estimated: 64 × 62 × 4 in., 36.8 lb. (162.6 × 157.5 × 10.2 cm, 16.7 kg) 2003.39a: 28 1/2 × 6 × 6 in., 5 lb. (72.4 × 15.2 × 15.2 cm, 2.3 kg) 2003.39b: 28 1/2 × 2 3/4 × 3 1/4 in., 2.6 lb. (72.4 × 7 × 8.3 cm, 1179.352g) 2003.39c: 24 1/4 × 10 1/4 × 4 1/4 in., 2.6 lb. (61.6 × 26 × 10.8 cm, 1.2 kg) 2003.39d: 33 × 2 1/4 × 2 1/2 in., 2 lb. (83.8 × 5.7 × 6.4 cm, 907.194g) 2003.39e: 22 3/4 × 4 × 4 1/2 in., 3 lb. (57.8 × 10.2 × 11.4 cm, 1360.791g) 2003.39f: 25 1/2 × 3 1/2 × 8 in., 3.4 lb. (64.8 × 8.9 × 20.3 cm, 1542.23g) 2003.39g: 19 3/8 × 2 1/8 × 2 1/2 in., 1.6 lb. (49.2 × 5.4 × 6.4 cm, 0.7 kg) 2003.39h: 25 1/2 × 6 1/2 × 2 5/8 in., 3.4 lb. (64.8 × 16.5 × 6.7 cm, 1.5 kg) 2003.39i: 13 1/2 × 2 1/4 × 3 1/2 in., 1.4 lb. (34.3 × 5.7 × 8.9 cm, 635.036g) 2003.39j: 11 × 2 × 2 1/2 in., 0.6 lb. (27.9 × 5.1 × 6.4 cm, 272.158g) 2003.39k: 8 1/8 × 2 1/4 × 4 1/8 in., 4 lb. (20.6 × 5.7 × 10.5 cm, 1814.388g) 2003.39l: 21 × 4 × 2 7/8 in., 2.2 lb. (53.3 × 10.2 × 7.3 cm, 1 kg) 2003.39m: 12 1/2 × 2 × 2 1/2 in., 0.6 lb. (31.8 × 5.1 × 6.4 cm, 272.158g) 2003.39n: 17 × 4 7/8 × 2 1/2 in., 1.8 lb. (43.2 × 12.4 × 6.4 cm, 0.8 kg) 2003.39o: 22 1/2 × 3 1/2 × 4 in., 2.6 lb. (57.2 × 8.9 × 10.2 cm, 1179.352g)
View artwork at the museumFeatured works
Alwar Balasubramaniam
Body as Shell
2011–15
Sandstone
6 1/4 × 20 5/8 × 33 in., 96 lb. (15.9 × 52.4 × 83.8 cm, 43.5 kg) Weight: 96 lb. (43.5 kg)
View at museum
Byzantine
Silenus, the Tutor of Dionysos
4th–7th century
Bone
Overall: 4 3/16 x 1 3/4 x 3/4 in. (10.7 x 4.5 x 1.9 cm)
View at museum
Byzantine
Bone Carving, Possibly of a Dionysiac Revel
300–500
Elephant ivory
Overall: 3 7/8 x 2 3/8 x 13/16 in. (9.8 x 6 x 2 cm)
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Byzantine
Fragment with Personifications of Victory and the Nile
6th century
Elephant ivory
Overall: 1 x 2 7/16 x 1/4 in. (2.6 x 6.2 x 0.6 cm)
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Byzantine
Dionysos
4th–6th century
Bone
Overall: 5 3/8 x 2 1/16 x 9/16 in. (13.6 x 5.3 x 1.5 cm)
View at museum
Coptic
Arm and Hand Fragment
4th–7th century
Marble
Overall: 3 1/8 x 1 1/4 x 7/8 in. (8 x 3.1 x 2.3 cm)
View at museum30 documented works in this exhibition
View all 30 documented works