The David Johnson Collection of Cypriot Antiquities (Broché)

This handsome catalogue accompanies the opening of a new gallery at the Kykkos Monastery Museum, created to house the David Johnson Collection of Cypriot antiquities. Until its donation to the museum, the David Johnson Collection was among the most significant private collections of Cypriot antiquities in the world. The Johnson Collection spans some 2,500 years, from the Middle Chalcolithic period to the beginning of the Classical era (c. 480 BC), with a particular strength in Early and Middle Bronze Age material. Comprising mainly pottery, it also includes bronze and stone artifacts as well as some early coinage. Most pieces originate from tomb contexts and, like much Cypriot material in circulation, were likely removed through illicit excavation. Cyprus remains one of the most heavily looted archaeological landscapes in the world. The repatriation of the Johnson Collection represents a small but meaningful act of restitution – ensuring the collection’s integrity while returning it to its cultural home. The collection is being formally donated to the Republic of Cyprus through the Hadjitofi Cultural Heritage Protection Foundation. The Kykkos Monastery Museum – one of Cyprus’s most visited heritage sites, with over a million pilgrims and tourists annually – has committed to exhibiting the collection in its entirety. With detailed entries and beautiful photography of every object, this catalogue serves as a permanent record of the collection. Cyprus, a major source of copper in antiquity, was a crossroads of Eastern Mediterranean cultures. Its very name gave rise to the Latin word for copper, cuprum. In the Early and Middle Bronze Age, Cypriot pottery was locally produced, marked by strong regional styles and typified by the mysterious ‘plank’ figures that have long fascinated archaeologists and the public alike. By the Late Bronze Age, production had become more centralized and sophisticated, with vessels often intended for export. This period also saw the rise of iconic goddess figurines, bull askoi, and imports—especially from Mycenaean Greece. In the Early Iron Age, foreign influences became more pronounced. Pottery forms were more uniform, typically decorated with geometric motifs. This era witnessed a flourishing of terracotta votive figures and the emergence of limestone sculpture, which would come to prominence in the Classical and Hellenistic periods – though these later developments lie beyond the scope of the Johnson Collection. By then, Cypriot ceramics had largely lost their earlier originality and distinctiveness.