Signs and Wonders at the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA): First Cycle

First time I'd been to the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh since the West Building was completed in 2010. Definitely worth exploring, especially the permanent collection. 

Above: Reclining Bull, circa 305-30 B.C., Greco-Egyptian. Thanks to the gestalt effect, we can tell it's a bull, apparently in the same essential way as people living more than 2,000 years ago did. 

Roman Mosaic, approximately 1800 years old: marble, glass, pattern and color. Groovy contemplation.

This painted Sicilian vase from about 2,250 years ago is downright astonishing. Its accompanying information card is a bit saucy: "A woman with a tambourine leads the procession toward a door, a symbol of both the groom's house and that of Hades, god of the Underworld . . . The appearance of protective friends, Erotes and a Nike, is appropriate for both the major transitions in a woman's life: marriage and death."

Today's Rune: Signals.