This fall, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), will debut two galleries devoted to some of the smallest objects found in the MFA's Art of the Ancient World collection.

Michael C. Ruettgers Gallery for Ancient Coins

Five hundred ancient Greek and Roman coins from the Museum’s world-renowned collection will be showcased in the inaugural exhibition of the MFA’s new coin gallery.  It is the first gallery dedicated to coins at a major US art museum, unique in the world for its emphasis on ancient coins as works of art.  It is named in recognition of Michael C. Ruettgers, who has given 14 rare and important Roman gold coins to the MFA, including Aureus with the bust of Aelius Verus from 137 AD.  The exhibition will draw from the Museum’s collection of approximately 7,500 coins and will feature some of the MFA’s most important Greek and Roman coins, many prized through the centuries as objects of wealth and status.  The Dekadrachm (Demareteion) of Syracuse with quadriga (about 465 BC) is the most famous Greek coin in the Museum’s collection and one of the most significant ones in the world. It illustrates how Greek coins are highly sophisticated, beautiful works of art on a miniature scale. The MFA’s Roman coins document political and cultural history, as seen in the Denarius with head of M. Junius Brutus (43–42 BC), a coin issued by Brutus in the aftermath of the Ides of March assassination of Julius Caesar.  Also on view will be complementary works of art to show how coin engravers used the same visual vocabulary and similar compositions as found in larger works, but had to also adapt them to miniature scale and round format.  Additionally, the exhibition will examine the influence of ancient coins through the ages as documented by a Frederic II gold coin from the Middle Ages, and an 18th-century American copper coin.  To enhance the appreciation of these works, gallery visitors will be able to examine these and other coins on iPads and a computer kiosk.

Gems and Jewelry from the Ancient Mediterranean

The MFA’s newest jewelry gallery will highlight more than 200 objects from the Museum’s collection of Greek and Roman gems, the largest in the United States, and its holdings of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman jewelry. The most famous gem is Cameo with the Wedding of Cupid and Psyche, once owned by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens and then by the Duke of Marlborough. A gold standout is the renowned Nike earring of the 4th century BC comprising 150 pieces of gold.  The gallery will provide a dramatic jewel box display and include works of art representing ancient women wearing jewelry.  This is the Museum’s second gallery dedicated to the display of jewelry.  It opens a year after the debut of the Rita J. and Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation Gallery.  Works on view in both galleries draw from the MFA’s collection of approximately 11,000 ornaments representing a rich variety of jewels, gems, and treasures.