Sun goddess or priestess, an ancient alabaster beauty crafted more than 2,000 years ago enjoys an afterlife in The Walters Art Museum thanks to Marylander Dr. Giraud Foster.
“There are only eight or nine such pieces in the world,” said Regine Schulz, the curator of ancient art, about the curvy, carved figure which clutches a bundle of wheat, kept close to her chest, while raising her right hand, palm facing the viewer. “It?s probably the best in the world. She really is our poster child of ?Faces of Ancient Arabia? and the most beautiful one. She?s an unbelievable piece.”
In 2007, Foster donated the priestess to the Walters with his entire collection of South Arabian art, on display in “Faces of Ancient Arabia.” The carvings and sculptures, mostly alabaster dating from 6th century B.C. to 4th century A.D., were excavated from a critical territory known in biblical times as the Land of the Queen of Sheba, which introduced to the world coffee, spices and fragrances.
Foster, who studied medicine at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland in Baltimore, began to acquire his astounding pieces of Yemeni history and our key to unlocking past civilizations? religions while serving as the last King of Yemen’s personal physician from 1961 to 1962. The King of Yemen, Imam Ahmed, gave Foster his first two pieces after learning he was interested in the ritual relics.
“The king had asked for an American doctor,” Foster said from his Baltimore home. “My wife and I had a couple days to decide if we would sell our house and live in Yemen. We felt it was an adventure, and an incredible opportunity to see something that we would never be able to see ever again.”
After fleeing Yemen during the country?s civil war, Foster later lived in England, where he bought the female bust during a Sotheby?s auction for only a couple hundred dollars. “I recognized it as an important piece, and at that time the text [inscribed on it] had not been translated. I purchased it because I knew it was unusual.”
Most likely a bust of a priestess, scholars believe the female figure is taking an oath to a god on behalf of a male donor, Rathadum, whose name is inscribed below the figure.
“The hand across the chest shows the importance attributed to making a request to a deity for sufficient rain to yield good crops,” said Foster, who worked on an archeological excavation in Cyprus from 1973 to 1995.
After decades of nurturing and expanding his collection, Foster gave his priceless artifacts to the Walters in order to maintain the collection?s integrity, he said.
With Foster?s collection, “Faces of Ancient Arabia” presents forgeries from the 1940s and 1950s, drawings and paintings by world-renowned contemporary Yemeni artists and photographic portraits of modern Yemeni people, Yemen?s lands and architecture.
IF YOU GO:
What: Faces of Ancient Arabia
Where: The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles Street, Baltimore
When: July 20 through Sept. 7
Admission: Free
Info: 410-547-9000;
