Museum
Rijksmuseum van Oudheden
Leiden, Netherlands · founded 1818
Museum in Leiden, founded 1818. 13 people in the register connected with it.
History
- 1818Museum founded; core of 150 Greek and Roman sculptures; first director Caspar Reuvens.
- 1828First Cypriot object: a Red Polished ritual vase, entering as part of a large Egyptian collection sold by a Bruges shipowner and first catalogued as Egyptian.
- 187927 Cypriot ceramic objects inventoried by Conrad Leemans, given by Richard Jacob van Lennep, Dutch consul at Smyrna.
- 1886First Cypriot terracottas (votive fragments, small heads) given by R. C. Keun, Dutch consul general in Persia.
- February 1925Offer and purchase of eight limestone sculptures (two monumental busts, a head of Heracles/Melqart) from Michael Kantsantonos of Lefkara; W. Speijer was intermediary.
- December 1925Director J. H. Holwerda, seeing the stock in Marseilles, bought from V. Vagliano 21 limestone sculptures and 27 terracottas, incl. a crouching sphinx; funded with help from the Vereniging Rembrandt.
- 1926W. Speijer gave 20 Cypriot objects he had bought; curator Johanna Brants published the first scholarly description of the Cyprus collection in the museum bulletin.
- 2013Museum decided to buy a Cypriot priest's head offered at TEFAF; research traced it to a French excavation of 1861, the Louvre, then architect H.-M. Lefuel, and a 2003 auction; purchase followed consultation with Cypriot authorities.
- 2018Museum alerted Cypriot officials to a Cesnola-collection head offered at BRAFA, Brussels; Cyprus bought it.
People
13 peopleStaff and members · 8
- Conrad Leemansdirector (1879–1879)Cyprus. A Dynamic Island 20251879
- Richard Jacob van Lennepconsul (1879–1879)Cyprus. A Dynamic Island 20251879
- R. C. Keunconsul (1886–1886)Cyprus. A Dynamic Island 20251886
- Jan Hendrik Holwerdadirector (1925–1925)Cyprus. A Dynamic Island 20251925
- Johanna Brantscurator (1926–1926)Cyprus. A Dynamic Island 20251926
- Conrad LeemansdirectorCyprus. A Dynamic Island 2025
- Jan Hendrik HolwerdadirectorCyprus. A Dynamic Island 2025
- Johanna Brantscurator (1926–1926)Cyprus. A Dynamic Island 2025
Donors and lenders · 3
- W. Speijerdonor (1926–1926) · donor of 20 Cypriot objects · gave objectsCyprus. A Dynamic Island 20251926
- R. C. Keundonor (1886–1886)Cyprus. A Dynamic Island 2025
- Richard Jacob van Lennepdonor (1879–1879)Cyprus. A Dynamic Island 2025
Sellers and consignors · 2
- Michael Kantsantonosseller (1925–1925) · sold objectsCyprus. A Dynamic Island 20251925
- V. Vaglianoseller (1925–1925) · sold objectsCyprus. A Dynamic Island 20251925
Objects
Limestone statue of a male votary
Limestone head of Heracles/Melqart
Limestone stele finial with sphinxes
Crouching sphinx that crowned a funerary stele
On Ancient Cyprus
4 pages- BowlsCompendium
- Late Bronze Age CyprusCompendium
- The Mycenaeans and CyprusCompendium
- Bichrome IV Jug with Vertical Circle SystemsObject
Sources
- 1. (2025). Cyprus. A Dynamic Island. Rijksmuseum van Oudheden.