Classical antiquities are objects made in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, broadly from the Bronze Age Aegean to the end of the Roman Empire. They include sculpture in marble and bronze, painted Greek pottery, Roman glass, coins, jewellery, oil lamps, terracotta figures, mosaics and inscriptions.
The study and collection of classical antiquities shaped Western taste from the Renaissance onwards. In eighteenth-century Britain, young men on the Grand Tour brought back marbles, vases and fragments from Italy, and collectors such as Sir William Hamilton and Charles Townley formed celebrated collections, many now in the British Museum. Their publications inspired the Neoclassical style in architecture, furniture, silver and ceramics, including Wedgwood's black basalt and jasperware. Today the market in antiquities is closely regulated, and provenance is of paramount importance: reputable dealers and auction houses require documentary evidence that an object left its country of origin legally, ideally well before 1970, the date of the UNESCO convention. Collectors must also beware of forgeries, which have been made since antiquity itself. Many pieces described as classical are Grand Tour copies or later reproductions, which have their own appeal and value.
