View allAll Photos Tagged Repousse
Jordan, Steve and I did lots of fun things while she visited but what she really wanted to do was art and metalworking. We did both, but here is here finished project of chasing and repousse'. Sorry about the glare from the copper....the colors on the body of the horse are a natural result of the copper being heated by a torch. Kewl effect eh?
More about the technique from wiki:
Repoussé (French pronunciation: [ʀəpuse] or repoussage [ʀəpusaʒ] is a metalworking technique in which a malleable metal is ornamented or shaped by hammering from the reverse side. There are few techniques that offer such diversity of expression while still being relatively economical. Chasing is the opposite technique to repoussé, and the two are used in conjunction to create a finished piece. It is also known as embossing.
While repoussé is used to work on the reverse of the metal to form a raised design on the front, chasing is used to refine the design on the front of the work by sinking the metal. The term chasing is derived from the noun "chase", which refers to a groove, furrow, channel or indentation. The adjectival form is "chased work".
The techniques of repoussé and chasing utilise the plasticity of metal, forming shapes by degrees. There is no loss of metal in the process, as it is stretched locally and the surface remains continuous. The process is relatively slow, but a maximum of form is achieved, with one continuous surface of sheet metal of essentially the same thickness. Direct contact of the tools used is usually visible in the result, a condition not always apparent in other techniques, where all evidence of the working method is eliminated.
The Seaweed Necklace. The inspiration for the Seaweed Necklace was a piece of seaweed, found (obviously) at the beach. The seaweed had dried into a perfect necklace shape and I knew that I needed to make one in metal. After months of trying to figure out how to replicate the look of dried salt and how to get it to stay, I eventually settled on layering liquid polymer clay, embedding the powdered glass, firing, applying another layer of the clay and more glass. Materials used were: sterling silver, for the Herkimer Diamond settings and the "branches" and tube clasp and copper for the pods. To achieve the right color, I painted, in layers - mixed with gel medium - acrylic paint. The flowers, which are set with the Herkimer Diamonds are made from copper mesh. The "branches" have little broken stems that were done by carving, forging and sanding the metal to shape. The pods were first created with the hydraulic press and were then fleshed out and shaped using chasing and repousse´. The mesh flowers were run through a tube ringer and gathered, soldered and melted at the edges - then the settings for the Herkimer's were soldered on.
Silver partially gilt, Late 4th-early 5th century C.E., Asia Minor (?)
L. 23.5 cm.; W. 328.90 grams
Made [1] of multiple elements of silver sheet, strips, beaded wire and rods: hammered, cut, chiselled, punched, grooved, folded, chased and repoussé. Certain parts mercury-gilt: the plates, loop and tongue save for the beaded borders and hinged sections.
Condition: the gilding slightly worn, the silver parts somewhat oxidized, three of the studs at the back loose; the rectangular plates a little warped.
This belt fitting [2] is composed of three rectangular plaques with a buckle and hinge pin. The central and most important panel shows on its right Apollo leaning on a tripod with a snake, his Delphic attributes, which leave no doubt of identity. Holding a laurel wreath in his lowered right hand and turning his head toward his right he looks detachedly at Daphne represented on a smaller scale as she turns into a laurel tree, seemingly indifferent to his frustration and her transformation. The scene represents synoptically the myth of Daphne of which only two representations are so far known, funerary reliefs in limestone of the imperial period found in Germany [3]. The two panels on the right and left are hunting scenes showing an imperial figure or general on horseback, a lion under his leaping mount turns his head towards his aggressor about to spear him. The sport is taking place in a wood or forest as shown by the trees on the upper corners.
M. Feugère reminds us that in Late Antiquity the cingulum was recognized as a sign of high office of which it became the synonym. Such an opulent fitting allegedly found in Asia Minor [4], representing a classical myth and conferred on a member of the social elite at this time of deep mutation both political and religious, might appear as the vindication of classical culture with its centuries-old roots, when Christianity was spreading throughout Anatolia. It is also to be remembered that during Late Antiquity people continued to learn to read using the names of pagan gods and heroes, and that mythology remained the foundation of a culture that Christians chose to assimilate rather than to replace or fight.
Thus the present belt, like the Thetford buckle with its plaque representing a satyr found with spoons dedicated to Faunus, reflects a pagan subject at a time of great social change.
Published:
Feugère, M.: Apollon et Daphné sur une boucle de ceinturon tardo-romaine en argent doré, AKorrBl 22, 1, 1992, pp. 125-136.
id.: Les armes des romains de la République à l'Antiquité tardive (Paris, 1993), pp. 253-254.
Archaeology Glossary
1 The fitting is composed of a loop and tongue, and three rectangular plates. These five elements are hinged to each other. The loop and the tongue are cut, hammered, embossed and elaborately chiselled. Each rectangular plate is made of silver sheet cut and worked, the central scene repoussé and worked from both sides, the inner frames slighty varying with circles, wavy lines, herring-bone pattern, zigzags and triangles punched and chiselled in; the raised chevron border is separately made from strips of silver hammered, chiselled and cut. Four in number, they are bevelled at the angles and fusion-welded on each plate. The outer border of the plates, a length of beaded wire soldered into place on cusps prepared for each bead on the sheet turned up on top and bottom. The last bead on the lower right hand corner of the first plate has been repaired with a round-headed rivet running through it, its flattened end still visible on the underside. The beaded wire on either side extends just above the transverse beads.
On the right side of the last plate the silver sheet is coiled over into a hollow tube that strengthens it and contributes to holding the vertical beads in place. On the left of this plate and the central one, the coiled over section is cut away at top and bottom to enable a fit with the two coiled over sections on the right side of the first and middle plate.
The hinge-pins with their conical shaped heads are slipped through these three-sectioned tubes and flattened at the lower ends, thus holding one plate to the next; the whole sufficiently flexible for the leather belt backing, to which they were attached by the four flat-headed studs on each plate. The studs with mushroom-shaped heads, their stems composed of a silver strip folded over into a tubular section, cut to length and soldered underneath. Four rivets visible in the corners of the central scene come through on the back and fit into these tubular sections. The same principle for tying one plate to the next serves to attach the loop and tongue - the loop by means of two flat strips held in place with round-headed rivets and the tongue with a smaller strip, fusion-welded on the back and on the front worked so as to hide the join.
2 We have made extensive use of the brilliant and very thorough publication by M. Feugère. This appeared three years after his visit in August 1988 to the author, who had pointed out to him that the closest comparison was the gold buckle with plaque from Thetford (Johns, C., Potter, T.: The Thetford Treasure. Roman Jewellery and Silver ) and that the present fitting was to be dated around A.D. 400.
3 Feugère, M.: op. cit., pp. 133-134.
4 Supposedly found with silver vessels: two plates, an oinochoe and a sort of tall bottle, also a bowl that is in the author's collection with a hunting scene - a booted man in a tunic faces a lion with a sort of pig-stick, with rocks and a tree in the background. A punched inscription in Greek would tend to reinforce the suggestion that these objects were made in and for the Eastern Empire (Feugère, M.: op. cit., p. 133).
Text and picture from the website of George Ortiz.
ZADenVIES - semaine de rencontres du 7 au 15 juillet 2018. "Après les grenades, les lacrymos, les buldozers, la violence dévastatrice... l'espoir repousse !"
Infos: www.zadenvies.org et zad.nadir.org
Champtocé-sur-Loire (Maine-et-Loire)
Château de Champtocé.
Une forteresse fut bâties sur un promontoire de shiste, par la famille de Craon, dès le XIIIe siècle. Le château faisait partie des défenses de l'Anjou face au duché de Bretagne.
C'est dans ce château qu'est né Gilles de Laval, baron de Rais (ou Retz), comte de Brienne, seigneur de Pouzauges, Tiffauges, Machecoul, Pornic, Bourgneuf, Champtocé et autres...
Gilles de Rais ou de Retz est né à Champtocé-sur-Loire vers 1404. Né Gilles de Montmorency-Laval il sera baron de Retz et comme baron de Retz possesseur de Pornic. Il combattra les anglais aux côtés de Jeanne d'Arc et sera promu maréchal de France, il a environ 25 ans, le jour du sacre de Charles VII à Reims. Il sera disgracié après l'échec du siège de Paris en août 1429 (les anglais occupaient Paris depuis 1420, les bourgeois de Paris avaient d'ailleurs accepté l'administration anglaise par mépris de Charles VII qu'ils appelaient le "rois de Bourges", mais surtout parce que les anglais leur avaient accordé de nouveaux privilèges. Les troupes de Charles VII seront repoussées d'ailleurs autant par les parisiens que par les anglais peu nombreux). Il retourna donc sur ses terres et dépensa son immense fortune que le brigandage (était ce le seul? C'était le temps des "Ecorcheurs") ne parvenait à maintenir. En 1433 il ne lui resta plus aucune terre à part celles de sa femme et deux châteaux en Anjou. En 1435, un édit du Roi interdisait à quiconque de commercer avec lui. Il fit venir d'Italie un alchimiste qui prétendait pouvoir fabriquer de l'or (Franco Prelati), puis essaya de reprendre par la force ce qu'il avait vendu. C'est en essayant de reprendre un de ses châteaux à un religieux qu'il s'aliène le duc de Bretagne et l'évêque de Nantes. (En 1439, Gille de Rais doit vendre la forteresse de Saint-Etienne-de-Mer-Morte à Geoffroy Le Ferron. Contestant cette vente, il demande des comptes au recteur de la paroisse, qui est aussi le frère de Geoffroy Le Ferron. Il entre, à cheval et en armes, dans l'église paroissiale au cours de l'office de la Pentecôte 1440 et brutalise le religieux). Des rumeurs circulaient depuis longtemps à son propos, concernant des enlèvements d'enfants.
Une enquête est lancée et le 15 septembre 1440, Jean Labbé, capitaine de Jean V, assisté du notaire Robin Guillaumet, le
représentant de Malestroi, arrête Gilles de Rais à Machecoul. Celui-ci est enfermé au château de Bouffray à Nantes. Il est suivi peu après par ses complices, Prelati, Blanchet, Henriet, Poitou et Perrine Martin.
Gilles de Rais fera l'objet de deux procès, un devant la justice civile dépendante du duc et un devant la justice ecclésiastique rendue par l'évêque.
Le tribunal séculier reproche au prévenu le refus d’obéir au duc de Bretagne, son suzerain, dans la prise du château, et des assassinats d’enfants.
Le tribunal ecclésiastique juge Gilles de Rais pour hérésie, sorcellerie avec évocation des démons, viol de l’immunité de l’Église lors de l’enlèvement du religieux devenu propriétaire d'un de ses châteaux, et enfin pour sodomie. De nombreux témoignages, dont ceux des parents des enfants disparus, sont cités dans les actes des procès. Les serviteurs de Gilles de Rais confirment les enlèvements. Sous la torture, Gilles de Rais se livrera à une confession particulièrement horrible (Lorsque le juge Pierre de L’Hôpital interroge Gilles de Rais sur ses motivations, celui-ci répond à plusieurs reprises que ce fut «seulement pour son plaisir et sa délectation charnelle»).Les deux procès estiment à entre 140 et plus de 200 le nombre des victimes. Le 25 octobre 1440, les deux procès condamnent Gilles de Rais et ses deux complices à être pendus et brûlés. Toutefois, Gilles de Rais sera inhumé avec les honneurs dus à son rang. Les cadavres des complices seront effectivement brûlés. L'alchimiste Prelati (père Francisco Prelati) sera condamné, mais s'échappera.
Cumdach (book shrine) of the Cathach, 1062–94 and late 14th century with later additions and repairs, bronze, gilt silver, wood, crystal, and glass, 19 x 25 x 5.25 cm (National Museum of Ireland)
Bronze chariot inlaid with ivory
Period: Archaic
Date: 2nd quarter of the 6th century B.C.
Culture: Etruscan
Scenes from the life of the Greek hero Achilles
The Acquisition
In 1902, a landowner working on his property accidentally discovered a subterranean built tomb covered by a tumulus (mound). His investigations revealed the remains of a parade chariot as well as bronze, ceramic, and iron utensils together with other grave goods. Following the discovery, the finds passed through the hands of several Italian owners and dealers who were responsible for the appearance of the chariot and related material on the Paris art market. There they were purchased in 1903 by General Luigi Palma di Cesnola, the first director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Monteleone chariot is the best preserved example of its kind from ancient Italy before the Roman period. The relatively good condition of its major parts--the panels of the car, the pole, and the wheels--has made it possible to undertake a new reconstruction based on the most recent scholarship. Moreover, some of the surviving ivory fragments can now be placed with reasonable certitude.
The Form and Function of the Chariot
Chariots originated in the Ancient Near East during the early second millennium B.C. and spread westward through Egypt, Cyprus, and the Greek world. In the predominant early type, the car consisted essentially of a platform with a light barrier at the front.
On the Italian peninsula, the largest number of chariots come from Etruria and the surrounding regions. They are datable between the second half of the eighth and the fifth centuries B.C. and represent several varieties. None seems to have been used for fighting in battle. Most came to light in tombs; after serving in life, they were buried with their owners, male and also female.
The Monteleone chariot belongs to a group of parade chariots, so called because they were used by significant individuals on special occasions. They have two wheels and were drawn by two horses standing about forty-nine inches (122 centimeters) apart at the point where the yoke rests on their necks. The car would have accommodated the driver and the distinguished passenger.
The shape of the car, with a tall panel in front and a lower one at each side, provided expansive surfaces for decoration, executed in repoussé. The frieze at the axle, the attachment of the pole to the car, and the ends of the pole and yoke all have additional figural embellishment.
The Materials of the Chariot
Although none of the substructure of the original chariot survives, except in one wheel, much information can be gleaned from details on the bronze pieces, other preserved chariots, and ancient depictions of chariots. Note that a chariot is represented on the proper left panel of the car.
The preserved bronze elements of the car were originally mounted on a wooden substructure. The rails supporting the three main figural panels were made from a tree such as a yew or wild fig. The floor consisted of wooden slats. The wooden wheels were revetted with bronze, an exceptional practice probably reserved only for the most elaborate chariots. A bit of the preserved core has been identified as oak. The tires are of iron. The sections of the pole were mounted on straight branches.
A major component of the original vehicle was leather applied to the wooden substructure. The connection of the pole to the car would have been reinforced by rawhide straps gathered beneath the boar's head, and the yoke would have been lashed to the pole. The upper end of the pole shows traces of the leather bands. In addition, all of the horses' harness was of leather. Moreover, rings of pigskin with the fat attached helped reduce friction between the moving parts of the wheels.
The Monteleone chariot is distinguished not only by the extraordinary execution of the bronze panels but also by the inclusion of ivory inlays. The ivories, from both elephant and hippopotamus, are so fragmentary that only the tusks of the boar and the finials at the back of the car have been placed in their original positions. The remaining pieces are exhibited in a case on the south wall. A series of long narrow strips served as edging, perhaps around the panels of the car or on the underside of the pole. It is possible that other fragments filled the spaces between the figures in the central panel of the car. A major question concerning these adjuncts is the method of their attachment, requiring the use of an adhesive. Another question is whether the ivories were painted.
The Figures on the Chariot
The iconography represents a carefully thought-out program. The three major panels of the car depict episodes from the life of Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan War. In the magnificent central scene, Achilles, on the right, receives from his mother, Thetis, on the left, a shield and helmet to replace the armor that Achilles had given his friend Patroklos, for combat against the Trojan Hektor. Patroklos was killed, allowing Hektor to take Achilles' armor. The subject was widely known thanks to the account in Homer's Iliad and many representations in Greek art. The panel on the left shows a combat between two warriors, usually identified as the Greek Achilles and the Trojan Memnon. In the panel on the right, the apotheosis of Achilles shows him ascending in a chariot drawn by winged horses.
The subsidiary reliefs partly covered by the wheels are interpreted as showing Achilles as a youth in the care of the centaur Chiron and Achilles as a lion felling his foes, in this case a stag and a bull.
The central axis of the chariot is reinforced by the head and forelegs of the boar at the join of the pole to the car. The deer below Achilles' shield appears slung over the boar's back. The eagle's head at the front of the pole repeats the two attacking eagles at the top of the central panel, and the lion heads on the yoke relate to the numerous savage felines on the car.
While the meaning of the human and animal figures allows for various interpretations, there is a thematic unity and a Homeric quality emphasizing the glory of the hero.
The Artistic Origin of the Chariot
The three panels of the car represent the main artistic achievement. Scholarly opinion agrees that the style of the decoration is strongly influenced by Greek art, particularly that of Ionia and adjacent islands such as Rhodes. The choice of subjects, moreover, reflects close knowledge of the epics recounting the Trojan War. In the extent of Greek influence, the chariot resembles works of virtually all media from Archaic Etruria. Contemporary carved ambers reflect a similar situation.
The typically Etruscan features of the object begin with its function, for chariots were not significant in Greek life of the sixth century B.C. except in athletic contests. Furthermore, iconographical motifs such as the winged horses in Achilles' apotheosis and the plethora of birds of prey reflect Etruscan predilections. The repoussé panels may have been produced in one of the important metal-working centers such as Vulci by a local craftsman well familiar with Greek art or possibly by an immigrant bronze-worker. The chariot could well have been made for an important individual living in southern Etruria or Latium. Its burial in Monteleone may have to do with the fact that this town controlled a major route through the Appenine Mountains. The vehicle could have been a gift to win favor with a powerful local authority or to reward his services.
Beyond discussion is the superlative skill of the artist. His control of the height of the relief, from very high to subtly shallow, is extraordinary. Equally remarkable are the richness and variety of the decoration lavished on all of the figures, especially those of the central panel. In its original state, with the gleaming bronze and painted ivory as well as all of the accessory paraphernalia, the chariot must have been dazzling.
The Reconstruction
After the parts of the chariot arrived in the Museum in 1903, they were assembled in a presentation that remained on view for almost a century. During the new reconstruction, which took three years' work, the chariot was entirely dismantled. A new support was made according to the same structural principles as the ancient one would have been. The reexamination of many pieces has allowed them to be placed in their correct positions. Moreover, the bronze sheathing of the pole, which had been considered only partially preserved, has been recognized as substantially complete.
The main element that has not been reconstructed is the yoke. Although the length is correct, the wooden bar simply connects the two bronze pieces.
Bronze chariot inlaid with ivory
2nd quarter of the 6th century B.C.
Scenes from the life of the Greek hero Achilles
In 1902, a landowner working on his property accidentally discovered a subterranean built tomb covered by a tumulus (mound). His investigations revealed the remains of a parade chariot as well as bronze, ceramic, and iron utensils together with other grave goods. Following the discovery, the finds passed through the hands of several Italian owners and dealers who were responsible for the appearance of the chariot and related material on the Paris art market. There they were purchased in 1903 by General Luigi Palma di Cesnola, the first director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Monteleone chariot is the best preserved example of its kind from ancient Italy before the Roman period. The relatively good condition of its major parts--the panels of the car, the pole, and the wheels--has made it possible to undertake a new reconstruction based on the most recent scholarship. Moreover, some of the surviving ivory fragments can now be placed with reasonable certitude. The other tomb furnishings acquired with the chariot are exhibited in two cases on the south wall of this gallery.
...On the Italian peninsula, the largest number of chariots come from Etruria and the surrounding regions. They are datable between the second half of the eighth and the fifth centuries B.C. and represent several varieties. None seems to have been used for fighting in battle. Most came to light in tombs; after serving in life, they were buried with their owners, male and also female. The Monteleone chariot belongs to a group of parade chariots, so called because they were used by significant individuals on special occasions. They have two wheels and were drawn by two horses standing about forty-nine inches (122 centimeters) apart at the point where the yoke rests on their necks. The car would have accommodated the driver and the distinguished passenger. The shape of the car, with a tall panel in front and a lower one at each side, provided expansive surfaces for decoration, executed in repoussé. The frieze at the axle, the attachment of the pole to the car, and the ends of the pole and yoke all have additional figural embellishment.
...The iconography represents a carefully thought-out program. The three major panels of the car depict episodes from the life of Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan War. In the magnificent central scene, Achilles, on the right, receives from his mother, Thetis, on the left, a shield and helmet to replace the armor that Achilles had given his friend Patroklos, for combat against the Trojan Hektor. Patroklos was killed, allowing Hektor to take Achilles' armor. The subject was widely known thanks to the account in Homer's Iliad and many representations in Greek art. The panel on the left shows a combat between two warriors, usually identified as the Greek Achilles and the Trojan Memnon. In the panel on the right, the apotheosis of Achilles shows him ascending in a chariot drawn by winged horses. The subsidiary reliefs partly covered by the wheels are interpreted as showing Achilles as a youth in the care of the centaur Chiron and Achilles as a lion felling his foes, in this case a stag and a bull. The central axis of the chariot is reinforced by the head and forelegs of the boar at the join of the pole to the car. The deer below Achilles' shield appears slung over the boar's back. The eagle's head at the front of the pole repeats the two attacking eagles at the top of the central panel, and the lion heads on the yoke relate to the numerous savage felines on the car. While the meaning of the human and animal figures allows for various interpretations, there is a thematic unity and a Homeric quality emphasizing the glory of the hero.
The three panels of the car represent the main artistic achievement. Scholarly opinion agrees that the style of the decoration is strongly influenced by Greek art, particularly that of Ionia and adjacent islands such as Rhodes. The choice of subjects, moreover, reflects close knowledge of the epics recounting the Trojan War. In the extent of Greek influence, the chariot resembles works of virtually all media from Archaic Etruria. Contemporary carved ambers reflect a similar situation. The typically Etruscan features of the object begin with its function, for chariots were not significant in Greek life of the sixth century B.C. except in athletic contests. Furthermore, iconographical motifs such as the winged horses in Achilles' apotheosis and the plethora of birds of prey reflect Etruscan predilections. The repoussé panels may have been produced in one of the important metal-working centers such as Vulci by a local craftsman well familiar with Greek art or possibly by an immigrant bronze-worker. The chariot could well have been made for an important individual living in southern Etruria or Latium. Its burial in Monteleone may have to do with the fact that this town controlled a major route through the Appenine Mountains. The vehicle could have been a gift to win favor with a powerful local authority or to reward his services. Beyond discussion is the superlative skill of the artist. His control of the height of the relief, from very high to subtly shallow, is extraordinary. Equally remarkable are the richness and variety of the decoration lavished on all of the figures, especially those of the central panel. In its original state, with the gleaming bronze and painted ivory as well as all of the accessory paraphernalia, the chariot must have been dazzling.
After the parts of the chariot arrived in the Museum in 1903, they were assembled in a presentation that remained on view for almost a century. During the new reconstruction, which took three years' work, the chariot was entirely dismantled. A new support was made according to the same structural principles as the ancient one would have been. The reexamination of many pieces has allowed them to be placed in their correct positions. Moreover, the bronze sheathing of the pole, which had been considered only partially preserved, has been recognized as substantially complete. The main element that has not been reconstructed is the yoke. Although the length is correct, the wooden bar simply connects the two bronze pieces.
[Met Museum]
In the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 5th Avenue, New York
Title / Titre :
Walton’s Polyglot Bible, Volume 1, 1654. Pages showing text from the book of Genesis in multiple languages /
Bible polyglotte de l’évêque Walton, volume 1, 1654. Pages montrant une partie du texte de la Genèse en langues multiples
Description :
Bishop Brian Walton’s six-volume Bible, published between 1654 and 1657, contains nine languages including Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Greek, and Latin. This copy is in a 19th-century gold-tooled purple leather binding by the celebrated British bookbinder Robert Riviere. /
La bible en six volumes de l’évêque Brian Walton, publiée de 1654 à 1657, contient neuf langues, notamment l’hébreu, le syriaque, l’arabe, le grec et le latin. Cet exemplaire du 19e siècle vient dans une reliure en cuir repoussé mauve et dorée du célèbre relieur anglais Robert Riviere.
Creator(s) / Créateur(s) : Brian Walton
Date(s) : 1654-1657
Reference No. / Numéro de référence : OCLC 1006898114
bac-lac.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1006898114
Location / Lieu : London, England / Londres, Angleterre
Credit / Mention de source :
Brian Walton. Library and Archives Canada, London : Imprimebat Thomas Roycroft, 1654-1657, Polyglot IMG_6663 /
Brian Walton. Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, London : Imprimebat Thomas Roycroft, 1654-1657, Polyglot IMG_6663
Sacred Heart Brooch. Chasing and repousse, riveting, forging, hydraulic press, enamel, electric engraving. September 2016, Nancy LT Hamilton.
A church silver altar frontal panel of 'The Five Holy Wounds'
Estimate: PHP 200,000 - 220,000
Mid 19th century
Pampanga
Repoussé silver set in a contemporary kamagong frame
66 x 80.5 cm (26 x 31 1/2 in)
Provenance:
Private collection, Manila
A church devotional panel of a massive sheet of repoussé and chased silver depicting the Five Holy Wounds. Also known as the Five Sacred Wounds or the Five Precious Wounds, this devotional panel depicts the five piercing wounds that Jesus Christ suffered during His crucifixion. The wounds have been the focus of particular devotions, especially in the late Middle Ages, and have often been reflected in church music and art. The Rococo design suggests a European source, perhaps a wood lock print, but the execution suggests Chinese silver workmanship with swags and medallions, featuring Chinese lotus buds, acanthus, and fig leaves.
Lot 159 of the Salcedo Auctions auction on 18 March 2023. Please see www.salcedoauctions.com for more information.
Silver (partially gilt), Late Classical, early 4th century B.C.E., local work under Greek influence, allegedly from the region of the Black Sea
Weight: 815.33 g.; H. 28 cm.
The body of the vessel roughly shaped by repeatedly hammering and annealing as it is raised [1] from a dish of silver sheet, in a technique that is called raising or back raising possibly on a wooden stake in a step-by-step operation followed by planishing to smooth out the ridges.
In view of its varying diameter the shapes were knocked out by the artist as he went along, proceeding by sections in repoussé from the inside out and working in both directions. This work divided in three stages: the elaboration of the base with its two feline-mask spouts, the working of the flat sheet up to the top of the foreheads, and the raising and hammering in of the sheet, shaping it in and then out to flare at the mouth, hammering a thickened rim before cutting off any excess metal and finishing with a guilloche tongue pattern on the edge.
To work from the outside the body is filled with either bitumen/pitch or with a mixture of powdered sulphur rock and fine sand, heated to render fluid. Once hardened, shaping can proceed [2].
In this vessel all the details were chased with bronze punches and chisels. The lips and noses were repoussé from the inside as were the upper eyelids. The hair was outlined using fine chasing tools.
The ibex [3] handles solid-cast in silver and elaborately worked in the cold before fixing onto the vessel by soldering; they were then partially gilt as were different parts of the vessel's body. All the gilding done by burnishing on gold leaf.
Condition: a rip and break on the edge of the mouth restored; the handles reattached, one of them missing the leaf attached to lower front knees that would have helped to fix it to the neck of the vessel under the rim. A crack with a little metal missing on the upper neck of the vessel below this handle and further down the metal worn through.
A hole (or gash) beneath the lower lip of the male head, his chin slightly indented.
A blow to the thick edge of the base.
The gilding worn slightly here and there.
This double-headed [4] vase is unique for its shape, with a male and a female head back to back, and with ibex handles. It is, with the rhytons, cat. nos. 152 and 154, and the one from Tarentum [5], among the earliest of such vessels. Examples in precious metal are known from recent discoveries in the north: Panagyurishte, Rozovets and Borovo in Bulgaria, and from old and more recent finds in South Russia. Less stylized and somewhat decadent is a later gold hoard from Panagyurishte [6] with a generally accepted date at the end of the 4th, beginning of the 3rd century B.C.; similar for the use of a head - single ones here - which have a lion protome-spout at the base. There is a resemblance for the turban around the hair tied in a bow with a metal hair ornament over the forehead below it. Little gold heads were used as pendants, ear-rings and surmounting spiral ornaments, see cat. no. 161, as of the 4th century.
Particular details of our vase are the ear-studs worn by the female head, the necklaces around both necks with the lion spouts as pendants, and especially the Achaemenid-type handles in the form of ibexes.
The workmanship of the hair, of the necklaces, of the egg-and-dart and beaded rim, though different, seems to have some affinity with Thracian output, whether it be the bull-rhyton [7] from the Borovo treasure, first half of the 4th century, the greave [8] from the Vratsa treasure dated 380-350 B.C., or the silver gilt plaques [9] from the Letnitsa treasure dated 400-350 B.C. On the greave, though the hairstyle is different, formed of little curls, both these, the fringe and the locks are executed technically as on our vessel; the fine strokes for the eyebrows and eyelashes on our heads find a parallel in the strokes on the inside of the outline of the eyelids. The execution of the figures on all the above parallels is somewhat coarse and awkward.
This must be the creation of a superior craftsman working under Greek influence save for the handles of which the model and the subject are Achaemenid, though probably executed by the same artisan.
Greek goldsmiths from Classical times onwards worked for Thracian kings and Scythian princes, the Persian satraps and the wealthy Greeks of the Ionian coast.
It is an early vessel such as this one, with rhytons, cat. nos. 152 and 154, that must be at the inception of production that led to the Panagyurishte treasure. The workmanship of this rhyton is probably Thracian and the expression of the heads resembles those on the above-mentioned four plaques that are later in date and local Thracian. Though the female head is more attractive than the male, they both have the rather boorish unrefined features of the faces on Thracian works.
J. Dörig [10] assigns a date around 370 B.C. and suggests that the female head may represent the Thracian goddess Kotys paired with Attis, who has the traits of a youth. We would like to think that this vessel could have been a marriage present for a princely occasion which would have permitted, instead of the modern kiss, that bride and groom drink from it simultaneously.
Exhibited and Published:
Hommes et Dieux, cat. no. 110, pp. 185 col. pl., 186-187.
Published:
Dörig, J.: Les trésors d'orfèvrerie thrace, RdA Suppl. 3, 1987, no. 15, p. 19.
Mentioned:
Vickers, M. et al.: From Silver to Ceramic (Oxford, 1986), pl. 22. - Pfrommer, M.: Ein achämenidisches Amphorenrhyton mit ägyptischem Dekor, AMI 23, 1990, p. 197 n. 44, with further references.
1 In the initial stages a hollowed-out tree trunk may be used, laying the silver sheet over it and working it down.
2 After having fulfilled its purpose, the core can be made fluid again by heating and removed.
3 Possibly of the caucasica species.
4 Vessels in the form of a head, see cat. no. 92, and double-headed were made in terracotta from the Archaic period onwards. However, it is only during the Hellenistic period that one finds them made in metal (bronze).
5 See cat. no. 152, footnote 6.
6 Svoboda, B., Concev, D.: Neue Denkmäler antiker Toreutik. Monumenta Archaeologica IV (Prague, 1956).
7 Maier, J.-L.: L'Or des Thraces. Trésors de l'art et de la culture thraces dans les terres bulgares (Mainz, 1980-81), no. 286, pp. 144, 136 pl.
8 See footnote 7: no. 289, pp. 146, 138 pl.
9 See footnotes 7, 8: nos. 266, 267, 271, 276,
pp. 140-142, 133 pl.
10RdA Suppl. 3, 1987, no. 15, p. 19.
Text from the website of George Ortiz.
Trésor de Boscoreale : gobelet aux squelettes
[50 BCE to 25 CE]
found in Boscoreale - 1895 (villa de la Pisanella)
Inv-No: MNC 1981 ; Bj 1923
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Two silver cups decorated with skeletons. The two silver cups have similar and complementary repoussé decoration depicting the skeletons of tragic and comic poets and famous Greek philosophers, beneath a garland of roses.
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Liberty Enlightening the World (French: La liberté éclairant le monde), commonly known as the Statue of Liberty (French: Statue de la Liberté), has stood on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, welcoming visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans, since it was presented to the United States by the people of France. Dedicated on October 28, 1886, the gift commemorated the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence and has since become one of the most recognizable national icons--a symbol of democracy and freedom.
The 151-foot (46-meter) tall statue was sculpted by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and stands atop Richard Morris Hunt's 154-foot (93-meter) rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star. Maurice Koechlin, chief engineer of Gustave Eiffel's engineering company and designer of the Eiffel Tower, engineered the internal structure. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper and adoption of the repoussé technique, where a malleable metal is hammered on the reverse side. The Statue of Liberty depicts a woman clad in Roman Stola and holding a torch and tablet, and is made of a sheeting of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf.
Affectionately known as Lady Liberty, the figure is derived from Libertas, ancient Rome's goddess of freedom from slavery, oppression, and tyranny. Her left foot, fitted in Roman sandals, tramples broken shackles, symbolizing freedom from opression and tyranny, while her raised right foot symbolizes Liberty and Freedom refusing to stand still. Her torch signifies enlightenment. The tablet in her hand represents knowledge and shows the date of the Declaration of Independence--July 4, 1776. The seven spikes on the crown represent the Seven Seas and seven continents. Visually the the Statue of Liberty draws inspiration from the ancient Colossus of Rhodes of the Greek Sun-god Zeus or Helios, and is referred to in the 1883 sonnet The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, which was later engraved inside.
The Statue of Liberty National Monument was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1976.
Statue of Liberty National Monument New Jersey State Register (1971)
Statue of Liberty National Monument National Register #66000058 (1966)
Gold, 8th-7th century B.C.E., from Northwestern Iran, possibly Ziwiye
54.3.5
In 1947 a treasure was reputedly found at a mound near the village of Ziwiye in northwestern Iran. Objects attributed to Ziwiye are stylistically similar to Assyrian art of the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. as well as to the art of contemporary Syria, Urartu, and Scythia. Many objects of gold, silver, bronze, ivory, and ceramic have since appeared on the antiquities market with the provenance of Ziwiye, although there is no way to verify this identification.
This plaque, perforated around the edge, was perhaps once attached to a garment of a wealthy lord or to the shroud of a prince. Its design is similar to contemporary art of Assyria, Urartu, and Scythian-style objects. The plaque was originally composed of seven registers decorated in repoussé and chasing; two were separated and are now in the collection of the Archaeological Museum, Tehran. The registers display the familiar composite creatures of the ancient Near East striding in groups of three toward a stylized sacred tree, the central motif. The human-headed, winged lion, seen in the first and third register, is a creature that also appears as a gate guardian on the doorjambs in the palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud. A sphinx struts along the second band, followed by winged lions and an ibex. The bodies of the fantastic creatures are composed of unusual combinations of animal and bird parts: in the uppermost register, the lions sport ostrich tails, while in the second, their tails are those of scorpions. The trees of life bear pomegranates, pine cones, and lotus flowers. Each scene is framed and separated by a delicate guilloche pattern.
Text from the Metropolitan Museum card.
Liberty Enlightening the World (French: La liberté éclairant le monde), commonly known as the Statue of Liberty (French: Statue de la Liberté), has stood on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, welcoming visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans, since it was presented to the United States by the people of France. Dedicated on October 28, 1886, the gift commemorated the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence and has since become one of the most recognizable national icons--a symbol of democracy and freedom.
The 151-foot (46-meter) tall statue was sculpted by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and stands atop Richard Morris Hunt's 154-foot (93-meter) rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star. Maurice Koechlin, chief engineer of Gustave Eiffel's engineering company and designer of the Eiffel Tower, engineered the internal structure. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper and adoption of the repoussé technique, where a malleable metal is hammered on the reverse side. The Statue of Liberty depicts a woman clad in Roman Stola and holding a torch and tablet, and is made of a sheeting of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf.
Affectionately known as Lady Liberty, the figure is derived from Libertas, ancient Rome's goddess of freedom from slavery, oppression, and tyranny. Her left foot, fitted in Roman sandals, tramples broken shackles, symbolizing freedom from opression and tyranny, while her raised right foot symbolizes Liberty and Freedom refusing to stand still. Her torch signifies enlightenment. The tablet in her hand represents knowledge and shows the date of the Declaration of Independence--July 4, 1776. The seven spikes on the crown represent the Seven Seas and seven continents. Visually the the Statue of Liberty draws inspiration from the ancient Colossus of Rhodes of the Greek Sun-god Zeus or Helios, and is referred to in the 1883 sonnet The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, which was later engraved inside.
The Statue of Liberty National Monument was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1976.
Statue of Liberty National Monument New Jersey State Register (1971)
Statue of Liberty National Monument National Register #66000058 (1966)
"Thankyou to the Moon, for tidal treasures and rhythms of history”.
Like wearing lots of different elements from the places I've lived, as a way of keeping connected with my history.
The Locket ‘moon’ face came from my drawings of Victorian London shop signs, and inspired the contents which are a collection of objects collected at my favourite shoreline haunts. All objects have been collected from locations where ‘rubbish’ was dumped at the turn of the 19th-20th century and been exposed through subsequent tides and shaped by the forces of time and nature. The ‘tin’ inner faces are from reproduction tin of Victorian design and the back is engraved with OS grid references for the shoreline locations, in a handwritten style as if just freshly logged in a personal notebook.
Materials & processes;
Silver, bronze, copper, copper-plated steel chain, reclaimed ‘tin’ packaging, enamel, vintage buttons, vintage glass beads, 1941 ha’penny coin, beach glass, beach pottery. Repousse, cloisonné, pressformed, constructed, silver soldered, punched, chased, riveted, engraved, oxidised.
Champtocé-sur-Loire (Maine-et-Loire)
Château de Champtocé.
Une forteresse fut bâties sur un promontoire de shiste, par la famille de Craon, dès le XIIIe siècle. Le château faisait partie des défenses de l'Anjou face au duché de Bretagne.
C'est dans ce château qu'est né Gilles de Laval, baron de Rais (ou Retz), comte de Brienne, seigneur de Pouzauges, Tiffauges, Machecoul, Pornic, Bourgneuf, Champtocé et autres...
Gilles de Rais ou de Retz est né à Champtocé-sur-Loire vers 1404. Né Gilles de Montmorency-Laval il sera baron de Retz et comme baron de Retz possesseur de Pornic. Il combattra les anglais aux côtés de Jeanne d'Arc et sera promu maréchal de France, il a environ 25 ans, le jour du sacre de Charles VII à Reims. Il sera disgracié après l'échec du siège de Paris en août 1429 (les anglais occupaient Paris depuis 1420, les bourgeois de Paris avaient d'ailleurs accepté l'administration anglaise par mépris de Charles VII qu'ils appelaient le "rois de Bourges", mais surtout parce que les anglais leur avaient accordé de nouveaux privilèges. Les troupes de Charles VII seront repoussées d'ailleurs autant par les parisiens que par les anglais peu nombreux). Il retourna donc sur ses terres et dépensa son immense fortune que le brigandage (était ce le seul? C'était le temps des "Ecorcheurs") ne parvenait à maintenir. En 1433 il ne lui resta plus aucune terre à part celles de sa femme et deux châteaux en Anjou. En 1435, un édit du Roi interdisait à quiconque de commercer avec lui. Il fit venir d'Italie un alchimiste qui prétendait pouvoir fabriquer de l'or (Franco Prelati), puis essaya de reprendre par la force ce qu'il avait vendu. C'est en essayant de reprendre un de ses châteaux à un religieux qu'il s'aliène le duc de Bretagne et l'évêque de Nantes. (En 1439, Gille de Rais doit vendre la forteresse de Saint-Etienne-de-Mer-Morte à Geoffroy Le Ferron. Contestant cette vente, il demande des comptes au recteur de la paroisse, qui est aussi le frère de Geoffroy Le Ferron. Il entre, à cheval et en armes, dans l'église paroissiale au cours de l'office de la Pentecôte 1440 et brutalise le religieux). Des rumeurs circulaient depuis longtemps à son propos, concernant des enlèvements d'enfants.
Une enquête est lancée et le 15 septembre 1440, Jean Labbé, capitaine de Jean V, assisté du notaire Robin Guillaumet, le
représentant de Malestroi, arrête Gilles de Rais à Machecoul. Celui-ci est enfermé au château de Bouffray à Nantes. Il est suivi peu après par ses complices, Prelati, Blanchet, Henriet, Poitou et Perrine Martin.
Gilles de Rais fera l'objet de deux procès, un devant la justice civile dépendante du duc et un devant la justice ecclésiastique rendue par l'évêque.
Le tribunal séculier reproche au prévenu le refus d’obéir au duc de Bretagne, son suzerain, dans la prise du château, et des assassinats d’enfants.
Le tribunal ecclésiastique juge Gilles de Rais pour hérésie, sorcellerie avec évocation des démons, viol de l’immunité de l’Église lors de l’enlèvement du religieux devenu propriétaire d'un de ses châteaux, et enfin pour sodomie. De nombreux témoignages, dont ceux des parents des enfants disparus, sont cités dans les actes des procès. Les serviteurs de Gilles de Rais confirment les enlèvements. Sous la torture, Gilles de Rais se livrera à une confession particulièrement horrible (Lorsque le juge Pierre de L’Hôpital interroge Gilles de Rais sur ses motivations, celui-ci répond à plusieurs reprises que ce fut «seulement pour son plaisir et sa délectation charnelle»).Les deux procès estiment à entre 140 et plus de 200 le nombre des victimes. Le 25 octobre 1440, les deux procès condamnent Gilles de Rais et ses deux complices à être pendus et brûlés. Toutefois, Gilles de Rais sera inhumé avec les honneurs dus à son rang. Les cadavres des complices seront effectivement brûlés. L'alchimiste Prelati (père Francisco Prelati) sera condamné, mais s'échappera.
Bronze chariot inlaid with ivory
Period: Archaic
Date: 2nd quarter of the 6th century B.C.
Culture: Etruscan
Scenes from the life of the Greek hero Achilles
The Acquisition
In 1902, a landowner working on his property accidentally discovered a subterranean built tomb covered by a tumulus (mound). His investigations revealed the remains of a parade chariot as well as bronze, ceramic, and iron utensils together with other grave goods. Following the discovery, the finds passed through the hands of several Italian owners and dealers who were responsible for the appearance of the chariot and related material on the Paris art market. There they were purchased in 1903 by General Luigi Palma di Cesnola, the first director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Monteleone chariot is the best preserved example of its kind from ancient Italy before the Roman period. The relatively good condition of its major parts--the panels of the car, the pole, and the wheels--has made it possible to undertake a new reconstruction based on the most recent scholarship. Moreover, some of the surviving ivory fragments can now be placed with reasonable certitude.
The other tomb furnishings acquired with the chariot are exhibited in two cases on the south wall of this gallery.
The Form and Function of the Chariot
Chariots originated in the Ancient Near East during the early second millennium B.C. and spread westward through Egypt, Cyprus, and the Greek world. In the predominant early type, the car consisted essentially of a platform with a light barrier at the front.
On the Italian peninsula, the largest number of chariots come from Etruria and the surrounding regions. They are datable between the second half of the eighth and the fifth centuries B.C. and represent several varieties. None seems to have been used for fighting in battle. Most came to light in tombs; after serving in life, they were buried with their owners, male and also female.
The Monteleone chariot belongs to a group of parade chariots, so called because they were used by significant individuals on special occasions. They have two wheels and were drawn by two horses standing about forty-nine inches (122 centimeters) apart at the point where the yoke rests on their necks. The car would have accommodated the driver and the distinguished passenger.
The shape of the car, with a tall panel in front and a lower one at each side, provided expansive surfaces for decoration, executed in repoussé. The frieze at the axle, the attachment of the pole to the car, and the ends of the pole and yoke all have additional figural embellishment.
The Materials of the Chariot
Although none of the substructure of the original chariot survives, except in one wheel, much information can be gleaned from details on the bronze pieces, other preserved chariots, and ancient depictions of chariots. Note that a chariot is represented on the proper left panel of the car.
The preserved bronze elements of the car were originally mounted on a wooden substructure. The rails supporting the three main figural panels were made from a tree such as a yew or wild fig. The floor consisted of wooden slats. The wooden wheels were revetted with bronze, an exceptional practice probably reserved only for the most elaborate chariots. A bit of the preserved core has been identified as oak. The tires are of iron. The sections of the pole were mounted on straight branches.
A major component of the original vehicle was leather applied to the wooden substructure. The connection of the pole to the car would have been reinforced by rawhide straps gathered beneath the boar's head, and the yoke would have been lashed to the pole. The upper end of the pole shows traces of the leather bands. In addition, all of the horses' harness was of leather. Moreover, rings of pigskin with the fat attached helped reduce friction between the moving parts of the wheels.
The Monteleone chariot is distinguished not only by the extraordinary execution of the bronze panels but also by the inclusion of ivory inlays. The ivories, from both elephant and hippopotamus, are so fragmentary that only the tusks of the boar and the finials at the back of the car have been placed in their original positions. The remaining pieces are exhibited in a case on the south wall. A series of long narrow strips served as edging, perhaps around the panels of the car or on the underside of the pole. It is possible that other fragments filled the spaces between the figures in the central panel of the car. A major question concerning these adjuncts is the method of their attachment, requiring the use of an adhesive. Another question is whether the ivories were painted.
The Figures on the Chariot
The iconography represents a carefully thought-out program. The three major panels of the car depict episodes from the life of Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan War. In the magnificent central scene, Achilles, on the right, receives from his mother, Thetis, on the left, a shield and helmet to replace the armor that Achilles had given his friend Patroklos, for combat against the Trojan Hektor. Patroklos was killed, allowing Hektor to take Achilles' armor. The subject was widely known thanks to the account in Homer's Iliad and many representations in Greek art. The panel on the left shows a combat between two warriors, usually identified as the Greek Achilles and the Trojan Memnon. In the panel on the right, the apotheosis of Achilles shows him ascending in a chariot drawn by winged horses.
The subsidiary reliefs partly covered by the wheels are interpreted as showing Achilles as a youth in the care of the centaur Chiron and Achilles as a lion felling his foes, in this case a stag and a bull.
The central axis of the chariot is reinforced by the head and forelegs of the boar at the join of the pole to the car. The deer below Achilles' shield appears slung over the boar's back. The eagle's head at the front of the pole repeats the two attacking eagles at the top of the central panel, and the lion heads on the yoke relate to the numerous savage felines on the car.
While the meaning of the human and animal figures allows for various interpretations, there is a thematic unity and a Homeric quality emphasizing the glory of the hero.
The Artistic Origin of the Chariot
The three panels of the car represent the main artistic achievement. Scholarly opinion agrees that the style of the decoration is strongly influenced by Greek art, particularly that of Ionia and adjacent islands such as Rhodes. The choice of subjects, moreover, reflects close knowledge of the epics recounting the Trojan War. In the extent of Greek influence, the chariot resembles works of virtually all media from Archaic Etruria. Contemporary carved ambers reflect a similar situation.
The typically Etruscan features of the object begin with its function, for chariots were not significant in Greek life of the sixth century B.C. except in athletic contests. Furthermore, iconographical motifs such as the winged horses in Achilles' apotheosis and the plethora of birds of prey reflect Etruscan predilections. The repoussé panels may have been produced in one of the important metal-working centers such as Vulci by a local craftsman well familiar with Greek art or possibly by an immigrant bronze-worker. The chariot could well have been made for an important individual living in southern Etruria or Latium. Its burial in Monteleone may have to do with the fact that this town controlled a major route through the Appenine Mountains. The vehicle could have been a gift to win favor with a powerful local authority or to reward his services.
Beyond discussion is the superlative skill of the artist. His control of the height of the relief, from very high to subtly shallow, is extraordinary. Equally remarkable are the richness and variety of the decoration lavished on all of the figures, especially those of the central panel. In its original state, with the gleaming bronze and painted ivory as well as all of the accessory paraphernalia, the chariot must have been dazzling.
The Reconstruction
After the parts of the chariot arrived in the Museum in 1903, they were assembled in a presentation that remained on view for almost a century. During the new reconstruction, which took three years' work, the chariot was entirely dismantled. A new support was made according to the same structural principles as the ancient one would have been. The reexamination of many pieces has allowed them to be placed in their correct positions. Moreover, the bronze sheathing of the pole, which had been considered only partially preserved, has been recognized as substantially complete.
The main element that has not been reconstructed is the yoke. Although the length is correct, the wooden bar simply connects the two bronze pieces.
Plaque: winged creatures approaching stylized trees
Period: Iron Age III
Date: ca. 8th–7th century B.C.
Geography: Iran, said to be from Ziwiye
In 1947 a treasure was reputedly found at a mound near the village of Ziwiye in northwestern Iran. Objects attributed to Ziwiye are stylistically similar to Assyrian art of the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. as well as to the art of contemporary Syria, Urartu, and Scythia. Many objects of gold, silver, bronze, ivory, and ceramic have since appeared on the antiquities market with the provenance of Ziwiye, although there is no way to verify this identification.
This plaque, perforated around the edge, was perhaps once attached to a garment of a wealthy lord or to the shroud of a prince. Its design is similar to contemporary art of Assyria, Urartu, and Scythian-style objects. The plaque was originally composed of seven registers decorated in repoussé and chasing; two were separated and are now in the collection of the Archaeological Museum, Tehran. The registers display the familiar composite creatures of the ancient Near East striding in groups of three toward a stylized sacred tree, the central motif. The human-headed, winged lion, seen in the first and third register, is a creature that also appears as a gate guardian on the doorjambs in the palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud. A sphinx struts along the second band, followed by winged lions and an ibex. The bodies of the fantastic creatures are composed of unusual combinations of animal and bird parts: in the uppermost register, the lions sport ostrich tails, while in the second, their tails are those of scorpions. The trees of life bear pomegranates, pine cones, and lotus flowers. Each scene is framed and separated by a delicate guilloche pattern.
The lodge that Voltaire and Franklin joined in France was the Lodge of the Nine Sisters, ... Among many other scientific links, Franklin struck up a friendship with the ... he was an ardent supporter of both the American and the French Revolutions. ... Alchemy descended from ancient times to medieval pursuits, when the Statue of Liberty's initial internal designer, Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, unexpectedly passed away in 1879, the Franco American Union and Auguste Bartholdi hired Eiffel as his replacement.When the Statue of Liberty's initial internal designer, Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, unexpectedly passed away in 1879, the Franco American Union and Auguste Bartholdi hired Eiffel as his replacement. While Eiffel praised and retained Viollet-le-Duc's plans for the sculpting and connection of the copper sheets (he would use Viollet-le-Duc's repoussé technique and armature bars), he ultimately changed the initial plans for the interior design in favor of a modern approach. The 17th century world view of America was of a magical land, filled literally .... In 1773 he wrote to his long-time friend Benjamin Franklin offering to send ..... He was past President of the Alchemical Society of France .
The Statue's new internal structure would not rely on weight to support the copper skin but rather a flexible, skeletal system.Eiffel designed a tall, central pylon (92 feet, or 28 meters) to be the primary support structure of the Statue's interior. The pylon serves as the central attachment point for a lightweight truss work of complex asymmetrical girders which forms the Statue's body. To connect the Statue's copper skin to the pylon, flat metal bars are bolted at one end to the pylon and to the copper skin at the other end. While the bars hold the Statue together, they also create flexible suspension (due to their malleability), acting like springs allowing the Statue to adjust and settle into the environment. This elasticity of Eiffel's design is important because the Statue has to withstand winds from New York Harbor, temperature changes, and various other weather conditions.Once his plans were approved, Eiffel supervised the Statue's internal construction until its completion in late 1883. A few years later, Eiffel began his most famous project: the Eiffel Tower, which was completed for the Universal Exposition of 1889 (Exposition Universelle de 1889) in Paris. Eiffel died on December 27, 1923 in Paris, France.
Liberty Enlightening the World (French: La liberté éclairant le monde), commonly known as the Statue of Liberty (French: Statue de la Liberté), has stood on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, welcoming visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans, since it was presented to the United States by the people of France. Dedicated on October 28, 1886, the gift commemorated the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence and has since become one of the most recognizable national icons--a symbol of democracy and freedom.
The 151-foot (46-meter) tall statue was sculpted by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and stands atop Richard Morris Hunt's 154-foot (93-meter) rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star. Maurice Koechlin, chief engineer of Gustave Eiffel's engineering company and designer of the Eiffel Tower, engineered the internal structure. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper and adoption of the repoussé technique, where a malleable metal is hammered on the reverse side. The Statue of Liberty depicts a woman clad in Roman Stola and holding a torch and tablet, and is made of a sheeting of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf.
Affectionately known as Lady Liberty, the figure is derived from Libertas, ancient Rome's goddess of freedom from slavery, oppression, and tyranny. Her left foot, fitted in Roman sandals, tramples broken shackles, symbolizing freedom from opression and tyranny, while her raised right foot symbolizes Liberty and Freedom refusing to stand still. Her torch signifies enlightenment. The tablet in her hand represents knowledge and shows the date of the Declaration of Independence--July 4, 1776. The seven spikes on the crown represent the Seven Seas and seven continents. Visually the the Statue of Liberty draws inspiration from the ancient Colossus of Rhodes of the Greek Sun-god Zeus or Helios, and is referred to in the 1883 sonnet The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, which was later engraved inside.
The Statue of Liberty National Monument was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1976.
New Jersey State Register (1971)
National Register #66000058 (1966)
Bronze inlaid with silver, second half of the first century B.C.E.
Condition: Essentially complete and in an exceptional state of preservation; some repairs and interior reinforcement to the body.
H. 58 cm.
This sumptuously ornamented vessel, unique among the ancient vases known to us, is probably best characterized as a lebes (cauldron). Its purpose can only be inferred. The decoration alludes to Dionysos, god of wine and ecstasy. The half-length figure of a young satyr (or Pan), a member of the god's inebriated retinue, adorns the front, and a large grapevine leaf is shown in relief under the back handle. The exuberant vegetation-like forms of the handles and the intricate low-relief composition of blooms and foliage at the front seem to express the inexhaustible generative forces of nature, another Dionysiac theme. The vessel must have been connected with the service of wine, and the very functional hinged design of the lid may imply that it was made for actual use. However, the extraordinary preservation of the piece suggests that it survived in a closed chamber, probably a tomb, either as a container for the ashes of the deceased or as a funerary offering.
While the object as a whole is unprecedented, many of its separate features have revealing parallels elsewhere; Hellenistic elements predominate. The basic shape of the body, a flattened globular form with a short, wide neck and everted lip, is one familiar in decorative or ceremonial vases of late Hellenistic times, as well as in Roman cinerary urns. Monumental vessels of this form, usually with griffin protomes testifying to the shape's ultimate derivation from the great orientalizing cauldrons of Archaic times, figure prominently in the sanctuary scenes of Second- and Third-Style wall painting. in these representations as in our piece the vase has a lid of flattened conical shape with concave sides, culminating in a tall, spindlelike turned finial.
The energized appearance of the vessel owes much to the fact that its body rests not on the usual profiles base but on three rollerlike spool feet. It has been noted (Bernard Holtzmann, verbally to Marion True) that similar feet support the basin with perching doves in the Capitoline mosaic, which is probably a work of the second century B.C.E.
The fluted side handles of the lebes, bursting into leaf at the edges of their central bead, have palmette attachment plates. They belong to a Hellenistic type seen, for example, on a bronze hydria in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (66.11.12); variants, including an example on the New York art market (Fortuna Gallery, 1993), continue into the Roman period.
The magnificent foliate back handle has a close parallel in two bronze attachments from the Mahdia wreck (an ancient ship, laden with works of art, that sank off Tunis at the end of the second century B.C.E.). They appear to have a slightly different curvature but are strikingly similar to the lebes handle in style and basic composition. On the lebes, the toothed acanthus of the handle proper continues beyond the hinge, breaking like a wave onto the lid, where the foliage is modeled in low relief and has frothing, ruffled edges like the acanthus on Italo-Hellenistic capitals.
Hellenistic rococo inspiration is obvious in the bust of a satyr decorating the front of the vase. The handsome, high-cheekboned young rustic snaps his fingers an bares his teeth in a wild, impudent grin; his eyes and teeth are silvered. His facial features and his gesture recall the Kroupezion Satyr and the Young Centaur, large-scale Hellenistic works usually dated in the second half of the second century B.C.E. The finely modeled bust seems to reproduce a prototype of this time with almost academic precision. One detail, the wart near the right nostril, has a realism almost unknown outside of Roman portraiture. (There are at least two other bust appliqués with the same composition, but they are in completely different styles from our piece and have both been dated, perhaps on insufficient evidence, relatively early in Hellenistic times).
Other elements carry us further into Roman Republican or Early Imperial times. The vessel's lip is decorated front and back with flat plates of cut-out scrollwork. This cut and curled ornament is a Roman fashion, at its height in the metalware of the first century B.C.E. The miniature cup held by the young satyr is decorated around the lip with scrollwork in the same style and is fitted with thumb-plates, loop handles, and finger-rests like those familiar from silver drinking cups of the first centuries B.C.E. and C.E. The cut-out ivy-leaf shaped plates connecting the spool feet with the body or our piece are also very Roman. The large repoussé vine leaf under the back handle seems a spontaneous creation, loosely inspired by the appliqué vine-leaf attachment plates of oinochoe handles.
The delicate foliate ornament worked in relief below the bust recalls another forerunner for this part of our vessel's decoration: the relief designs under the handle attachments of Hellenistic situlas. It springs, via a vestigial leaf chalice, from an inverted "flaming" palmette. The palmette, with thin, undulating lobes around a much longer lanceolate central lobe, is an elaboration of an early Hellenistic type, further refined by the introduction of tiny silver rosettes, each on an incised stem, between the lobes. This kind of palmette is revived in Types II, II, IVb, and VI of the standardized decorative schemes for the base of Roman marble candelabra. The overall designs of these reliefs, combining foliate and abstract ornament, have telling affinities with the composition adorning the lebes--their creation is ascribed to Early Imperial times.
On the lebes, the foliage springing up from the inverted palmette has the treelike arrangement, perfectly symmetrical for all its apparent lushness, that appears in the reliefs of the Ara Pacis Augustae, constructed between 13 and 9 B.C.E. As on the Ara Pacis, the design is composed around a candelabrum-like vertical axis of stacked vegetal forms. Many details, including some whole flowers, evenly distributed for a starry effect and always symmetrically disposed, are picked out in silver. Regularly spaced acanthus scrolls, each encircling a flattened, frontally seen blossom, are the basic units of construction. The jagged, crisp-looking foliage on the lebes, still related to late Republican decoration, recalls the early Augustan frieze from the Temple of the Divus Julius. The acanthus scrolls are flattened as if pressed between the plain, solid background and an imaginary front plane. The continuity and linear energy of the stems, rather than the plasticity of the leaves and blooms, is emphasized (cf. the decoration on the seat of the Augustan goddess from Cumae). Each growth knot has paired wrapper-leaves, one short and one elongated, whose tips turn back, sometimes folding over to appear in "perspective," or curling around a neighboring stem. Abstract, ribbonlike helices, their tips rolled around silver buttons, mingle with the foliage; these are a feature or Early Imperial ornament. As in the Divus Julius frieze, slender, wandering shoots intertwine with the more regular elements to create a lacy unity. A few naturalistic touches are admitted, such as the little, ragged-looking bunches of immature leaves and the pairs of soft bud capsules. Two lightly sketched birds, symmetrically placed, are gestures to a vogue for inhabited foliage.
The additive, inorganic combination of decorative features, many of them derived from earlier models, and the sudden jumps in scale and degrees of relief recall vessels from the cities destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 C.E. Details picked out in silver and lacy low-relief ornament, even on bulky vessels, are well known on the bronze vases from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the villas of the surrounding countryside. The vase's bulging belly and tall conical lid, as well as the manner of the four-sided composition's placement over three supports, obviously suggest the famous Pompeian "samovar."
The pieces from the Vesuvian sites, however, furnish only a terminus ante quem, since some of them were probably not new when they were buried. The Hellenistic components in the decoration of our lebes seem to represent survivals of Mahdia-like forms down past the middle of the first century B.C.E. Elements more specific to the decorative vocabulary of late Republican Rome and still attested in early Augustan times, but disappearing thereafter, show that the piece is unlikely to be much later. Its sophistication, vitality, and grace suggest that it was produced by one of the mainstream ateliers whose work inspired the Pompeian pieces. The lebes is to those vessels as the deliciously inventive decoration of the Farnesina Hosue by the Tiber is to routine Third-Style Roman wall painting.
The inside of the vessel is rather summarily finished. The body is hammered and the vine leaf under the back handle raised in repoussé. The relief foliate ornament at the front, however, was evidently worked by another technique, since it seems to have left no "ghost" on the interior (unless this is disguised by a reinforcing material). No interior seam is evident along the ridge at the juncture of the body and shoulder, though one would expect these elements to have been made separately. The cone of the lid is hammered and turned, and a lining piece has been soldered to its interior. The turned finial, as well as the cast handles, bust, scrollwork plates, and feet, were separately made.
Formerly in the collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman, New York; text from the catalog of that collection.
From the collection of the Getty Villa, Malibu, California.
Bronze chariot inlaid with ivory
Period: Archaic
Date: 2nd quarter of the 6th century B.C.
Culture: Etruscan
Scenes from the life of the Greek hero Achilles
The Acquisition
In 1902, a landowner working on his property accidentally discovered a subterranean built tomb covered by a tumulus (mound). His investigations revealed the remains of a parade chariot as well as bronze, ceramic, and iron utensils together with other grave goods. Following the discovery, the finds passed through the hands of several Italian owners and dealers who were responsible for the appearance of the chariot and related material on the Paris art market. There they were purchased in 1903 by General Luigi Palma di Cesnola, the first director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Monteleone chariot is the best preserved example of its kind from ancient Italy before the Roman period. The relatively good condition of its major parts--the panels of the car, the pole, and the wheels--has made it possible to undertake a new reconstruction based on the most recent scholarship. Moreover, some of the surviving ivory fragments can now be placed with reasonable certitude.
The Form and Function of the Chariot
Chariots originated in the Ancient Near East during the early second millennium B.C. and spread westward through Egypt, Cyprus, and the Greek world. In the predominant early type, the car consisted essentially of a platform with a light barrier at the front.
On the Italian peninsula, the largest number of chariots come from Etruria and the surrounding regions. They are datable between the second half of the eighth and the fifth centuries B.C. and represent several varieties. None seems to have been used for fighting in battle. Most came to light in tombs; after serving in life, they were buried with their owners, male and also female.
The Monteleone chariot belongs to a group of parade chariots, so called because they were used by significant individuals on special occasions. They have two wheels and were drawn by two horses standing about forty-nine inches (122 centimeters) apart at the point where the yoke rests on their necks. The car would have accommodated the driver and the distinguished passenger.
The shape of the car, with a tall panel in front and a lower one at each side, provided expansive surfaces for decoration, executed in repoussé. The frieze at the axle, the attachment of the pole to the car, and the ends of the pole and yoke all have additional figural embellishment.
The Materials of the Chariot
Although none of the substructure of the original chariot survives, except in one wheel, much information can be gleaned from details on the bronze pieces, other preserved chariots, and ancient depictions of chariots. Note that a chariot is represented on the proper left panel of the car.
The preserved bronze elements of the car were originally mounted on a wooden substructure. The rails supporting the three main figural panels were made from a tree such as a yew or wild fig. The floor consisted of wooden slats. The wooden wheels were revetted with bronze, an exceptional practice probably reserved only for the most elaborate chariots. A bit of the preserved core has been identified as oak. The tires are of iron. The sections of the pole were mounted on straight branches.
A major component of the original vehicle was leather applied to the wooden substructure. The connection of the pole to the car would have been reinforced by rawhide straps gathered beneath the boar's head, and the yoke would have been lashed to the pole. The upper end of the pole shows traces of the leather bands. In addition, all of the horses' harness was of leather. Moreover, rings of pigskin with the fat attached helped reduce friction between the moving parts of the wheels.
The Monteleone chariot is distinguished not only by the extraordinary execution of the bronze panels but also by the inclusion of ivory inlays. The ivories, from both elephant and hippopotamus, are so fragmentary that only the tusks of the boar and the finials at the back of the car have been placed in their original positions. The remaining pieces are exhibited in a case on the south wall. A series of long narrow strips served as edging, perhaps around the panels of the car or on the underside of the pole. It is possible that other fragments filled the spaces between the figures in the central panel of the car. A major question concerning these adjuncts is the method of their attachment, requiring the use of an adhesive. Another question is whether the ivories were painted.
The Figures on the Chariot
The iconography represents a carefully thought-out program. The three major panels of the car depict episodes from the life of Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan War. In the magnificent central scene, Achilles, on the right, receives from his mother, Thetis, on the left, a shield and helmet to replace the armor that Achilles had given his friend Patroklos, for combat against the Trojan Hektor. Patroklos was killed, allowing Hektor to take Achilles' armor. The subject was widely known thanks to the account in Homer's Iliad and many representations in Greek art. The panel on the left shows a combat between two warriors, usually identified as the Greek Achilles and the Trojan Memnon. In the panel on the right, the apotheosis of Achilles shows him ascending in a chariot drawn by winged horses.
The subsidiary reliefs partly covered by the wheels are interpreted as showing Achilles as a youth in the care of the centaur Chiron and Achilles as a lion felling his foes, in this case a stag and a bull.
The central axis of the chariot is reinforced by the head and forelegs of the boar at the join of the pole to the car. The deer below Achilles' shield appears slung over the boar's back. The eagle's head at the front of the pole repeats the two attacking eagles at the top of the central panel, and the lion heads on the yoke relate to the numerous savage felines on the car.
While the meaning of the human and animal figures allows for various interpretations, there is a thematic unity and a Homeric quality emphasizing the glory of the hero.
The Artistic Origin of the Chariot
The three panels of the car represent the main artistic achievement. Scholarly opinion agrees that the style of the decoration is strongly influenced by Greek art, particularly that of Ionia and adjacent islands such as Rhodes. The choice of subjects, moreover, reflects close knowledge of the epics recounting the Trojan War. In the extent of Greek influence, the chariot resembles works of virtually all media from Archaic Etruria. Contemporary carved ambers reflect a similar situation.
The typically Etruscan features of the object begin with its function, for chariots were not significant in Greek life of the sixth century B.C. except in athletic contests. Furthermore, iconographical motifs such as the winged horses in Achilles' apotheosis and the plethora of birds of prey reflect Etruscan predilections. The repoussé panels may have been produced in one of the important metal-working centers such as Vulci by a local craftsman well familiar with Greek art or possibly by an immigrant bronze-worker. The chariot could well have been made for an important individual living in southern Etruria or Latium. Its burial in Monteleone may have to do with the fact that this town controlled a major route through the Appenine Mountains. The vehicle could have been a gift to win favor with a powerful local authority or to reward his services.
Beyond discussion is the superlative skill of the artist. His control of the height of the relief, from very high to subtly shallow, is extraordinary. Equally remarkable are the richness and variety of the decoration lavished on all of the figures, especially those of the central panel. In its original state, with the gleaming bronze and painted ivory as well as all of the accessory paraphernalia, the chariot must have been dazzling.
The Reconstruction
After the parts of the chariot arrived in the Museum in 1903, they were assembled in a presentation that remained on view for almost a century. During the new reconstruction, which took three years' work, the chariot was entirely dismantled. A new support was made according to the same structural principles as the ancient one would have been. The reexamination of many pieces has allowed them to be placed in their correct positions. Moreover, the bronze sheathing of the pole, which had been considered only partially preserved, has been recognized as substantially complete.
The main element that has not been reconstructed is the yoke. Although the length is correct, the wooden bar simply connects the two bronze pieces.
Liberty Enlightening the World (French: La liberté éclairant le monde), known more commonly as the Statue of Liberty (Statue de la Liberté), is a large statue that was presented to the United States by France in 1886. It stands at Liberty Island (part of New York but physically on the New Jersey side of the New York Harbor) as a welcome to all visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans. The copper patina-clad statue, dedicated on October 28, 1886, commemorates the centennial of the United States and is a gesture of friendship from France to America. Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi sculpted the statue and obtained a U.S. patent useful for raising construction funds through the sale of miniatures. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (designer of the Eiffel Tower) engineered the internal structure. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper in the statue's construction and adoption of the repoussé technique.
The statue is of a robed woman holding a lit flame, and is made of a sheeting of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel (originally puddled iron) with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf (originally made of stained glass and lit from the inside.) It stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star. The statue is 151 feet (46.02 m) tall, with the pedestal and foundation, it is 305 feet (92.96 m) tall.
Worldwide, the Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons of the United States,[2] and, more generally, represents liberty and escape from oppression. The Statue of Liberty was, from 1886 until the jet age, often one of the first glimpses of the United States for millions of immigrants after ocean voyages from Europe. Visually, the Statue of Liberty appears to draw inspiration from il Sancarlone or the Colossus of Rhodes.
a National Monument in 1924 and restored for her centennial on July 4, 1986.
French sculptor Fredric Bartholdi designed and sculpted the statue.
IMAGE taken just prior to a nasty snowstorm From a moving Boat !
The Statue of Liberty (French: Statue de la Liberté), officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World (French: la Liberté éclairant le monde), dedicated on October 28, 1886, is a monument commemorating the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, given to the United States by the people of France to represent the friendship between the two countries established during the American Revolution.[5] It represents a woman wearing a stola, a radiant crown and sandals, trampling a broken chain, carrying a torch in her raised right hand and a tabula ansata, where the date of the Declaration of Independence JULY IV MDCCLXXVI[6] is inscribed, in her left arm. Standing on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, it welcomes visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans traveling by ship.[7] Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi sculpted the statue[8] and obtained a U.S. patent for its structure.[9] Maurice Koechlin—chief engineer of Gustave Eiffel's engineering company and designer of the Eiffel Tower—engineered the internal structure. The pedestal was designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper in the statue's construction, and for the adoption of the repoussé technique, where a malleable metal is hammered on the reverse side.[10]
The statue is made of a sheathing of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel (originally puddled iron) with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf (originally made of copper and later altered to hold glass panes). It stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star. The statue is 151 ft (46 m) tall, but with the pedestal and foundation, it is 305 ft (93 m) tall.
The Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable symbols in the world, and of the United States.[11] For many years it was one of the first glimpses of the United States for millions of immigrants and visitors after ocean voyages from around the world.
The statue is the central part of Statue of Liberty National Monument, administered by the National Park Service. The National Monument also includes Ellis Island.
(Museum Quality)
www.jango.com/stations/220049036/tunein?song_id=79789
"Follow the Leader"/Terry Riley
"Personified Ritual Dagger (Vajrakila) in Ritual Embrace (Yab-yum)" is a piece at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) not currently on view. Dating to the 16th century, this ornate dagger originates from Tibet and is crafted using copper repoussé over wood. The dimensions of the dagger are 43.1 × 24.8 × 10.3 cm (17 × 9 3/4 × 4 1/16 in.). The piece was a purhcase from Mr. Albert H. Lieberman 1996.652. The image is in the Public Domain and can be seen on the museum's website. www.artic.edu/artworks/146283/personified-ritual-dagger-v...
Avec la météo du moment, Carbone passe tout son temps dehors. Une belle vie de chat non? Il a toujours son bedon nu, les poils ont repoussé sur les pattes mais pas encore sur le ventre. Dans 20 minutes il part à sa visite médicale, j'imagine qu'il sera moins enthousiaste.
With the weather now, Carbone spends all his time outside. A beautiful cat life right? He still has his bare belly, the hair grew back on the legs but not on the belly yet. In 20 minutes he will go tho his medical visit, I imagine he will be less enthusiastic.
I took this photo of the magnificent Statue of Liberty on my first trip to Liberty Island and New York City in October 2004. She is of utmost beauty and I was totally blown away by her magnifigance.
THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
Liberty Enlightening the World (French: La liberté éclairant le monde), known more commonly as the Statue of Liberty (Statue de la Liberté), is a large statue that was presented to the United States by France in 1886. It stands at Liberty Island, New York in New York Harbor as a welcome to all visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans. The copper-clad statue, dedicated on October 28, 1886, commemorates the centennial of the United States and is a gesture of friendship from France to America. Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi sculpted the statue, and Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (designer of the Eiffel Tower) engineered the internal structure. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper in the statue's construction and adoption of the repoussé technique.
The statue is of a female figure standing upright, dressed in a robe and a seven point spiked rays representing a nimbus (halo), holding a stone tablet close to her body in her left hand and a flaming torch high in her right hand. The tablet bears the words "JULY IV MDCCLXXVI" (July 4, 1776), commemorating the date of the United States Declaration of Independence.
The statue is made of a sheeting of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel (originally puddled iron) with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf. It stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star. The statue is 151' 1" (46.5 m) tall, with the pedestal and foundation adding another 154 feet (46.9 m).
Worldwide, the Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons of the United States, and, more generally, represents liberty and escape from oppression. The Statue of Liberty was, from 1886 until the jet age, often one of the first glimpses of the United States for millions of immigrants after ocean voyages from Europe. The Statue of Liberty's obviously classical appearance (Roman stola, sandals, facial expression) derives from Libertas, ancient Rome's goddess of freedom from slavery, oppression, and tyranny. Broken shackles lie at her feet. The seven spikes in the crown represent the Seven Seas and seven continents. Her torch signifies enlightenment. The tablet in her hand shows the date of the nation's birth, July 4, 1776.
Since 1903, the statue, also known as "Lady Liberty," has been associated with Emma Lazarus's poem “The New Colossus” and has been a symbol of welcome to arriving immigrants. The interior of the pedestal contains a bronze plaque inscribed with the poem, which reads:
“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
There are 354 steps inside the statue and its pedestal. There are 25 windows in the crown which comprise the jewels beneath the seven rays of the diadem. The tablet which the Statue holds in her left hand reads, in Roman numerals, "July 4, 1776" the day of America's independence from Britain. The Statue of Liberty was engineered to withstand heavy winds. Winds of 50 miles per hour cause the Statue to sway 3 inches (7.62 cm) and the torch to sway 5 inches (12.7 cm). This allows the Statue to move rather than break in high [wind load] conditions.
Source: Wikipedia
Bronze chariot inlaid with ivory
2nd quarter of the 6th century B.C.
Scenes from the life of the Greek hero Achilles
In 1902, a landowner working on his property accidentally discovered a subterranean built tomb covered by a tumulus (mound). His investigations revealed the remains of a parade chariot as well as bronze, ceramic, and iron utensils together with other grave goods. Following the discovery, the finds passed through the hands of several Italian owners and dealers who were responsible for the appearance of the chariot and related material on the Paris art market. There they were purchased in 1903 by General Luigi Palma di Cesnola, the first director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Monteleone chariot is the best preserved example of its kind from ancient Italy before the Roman period. The relatively good condition of its major parts--the panels of the car, the pole, and the wheels--has made it possible to undertake a new reconstruction based on the most recent scholarship. Moreover, some of the surviving ivory fragments can now be placed with reasonable certitude. The other tomb furnishings acquired with the chariot are exhibited in two cases on the south wall of this gallery.
...On the Italian peninsula, the largest number of chariots come from Etruria and the surrounding regions. They are datable between the second half of the eighth and the fifth centuries B.C. and represent several varieties. None seems to have been used for fighting in battle. Most came to light in tombs; after serving in life, they were buried with their owners, male and also female. The Monteleone chariot belongs to a group of parade chariots, so called because they were used by significant individuals on special occasions. They have two wheels and were drawn by two horses standing about forty-nine inches (122 centimeters) apart at the point where the yoke rests on their necks. The car would have accommodated the driver and the distinguished passenger. The shape of the car, with a tall panel in front and a lower one at each side, provided expansive surfaces for decoration, executed in repoussé. The frieze at the axle, the attachment of the pole to the car, and the ends of the pole and yoke all have additional figural embellishment.
...The iconography represents a carefully thought-out program. The three major panels of the car depict episodes from the life of Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan War. In the magnificent central scene, Achilles, on the right, receives from his mother, Thetis, on the left, a shield and helmet to replace the armor that Achilles had given his friend Patroklos, for combat against the Trojan Hektor. Patroklos was killed, allowing Hektor to take Achilles' armor. The subject was widely known thanks to the account in Homer's Iliad and many representations in Greek art. The panel on the left shows a combat between two warriors, usually identified as the Greek Achilles and the Trojan Memnon. In the panel on the right, the apotheosis of Achilles shows him ascending in a chariot drawn by winged horses. The subsidiary reliefs partly covered by the wheels are interpreted as showing Achilles as a youth in the care of the centaur Chiron and Achilles as a lion felling his foes, in this case a stag and a bull. The central axis of the chariot is reinforced by the head and forelegs of the boar at the join of the pole to the car. The deer below Achilles' shield appears slung over the boar's back. The eagle's head at the front of the pole repeats the two attacking eagles at the top of the central panel, and the lion heads on the yoke relate to the numerous savage felines on the car. While the meaning of the human and animal figures allows for various interpretations, there is a thematic unity and a Homeric quality emphasizing the glory of the hero.
The three panels of the car represent the main artistic achievement. Scholarly opinion agrees that the style of the decoration is strongly influenced by Greek art, particularly that of Ionia and adjacent islands such as Rhodes. The choice of subjects, moreover, reflects close knowledge of the epics recounting the Trojan War. In the extent of Greek influence, the chariot resembles works of virtually all media from Archaic Etruria. Contemporary carved ambers reflect a similar situation. The typically Etruscan features of the object begin with its function, for chariots were not significant in Greek life of the sixth century B.C. except in athletic contests. Furthermore, iconographical motifs such as the winged horses in Achilles' apotheosis and the plethora of birds of prey reflect Etruscan predilections. The repoussé panels may have been produced in one of the important metal-working centers such as Vulci by a local craftsman well familiar with Greek art or possibly by an immigrant bronze-worker. The chariot could well have been made for an important individual living in southern Etruria or Latium. Its burial in Monteleone may have to do with the fact that this town controlled a major route through the Appenine Mountains. The vehicle could have been a gift to win favor with a powerful local authority or to reward his services. Beyond discussion is the superlative skill of the artist. His control of the height of the relief, from very high to subtly shallow, is extraordinary. Equally remarkable are the richness and variety of the decoration lavished on all of the figures, especially those of the central panel. In its original state, with the gleaming bronze and painted ivory as well as all of the accessory paraphernalia, the chariot must have been dazzling.
After the parts of the chariot arrived in the Museum in 1903, they were assembled in a presentation that remained on view for almost a century. During the new reconstruction, which took three years' work, the chariot was entirely dismantled. A new support was made according to the same structural principles as the ancient one would have been. The reexamination of many pieces has allowed them to be placed in their correct positions. Moreover, the bronze sheathing of the pole, which had been considered only partially preserved, has been recognized as substantially complete. The main element that has not been reconstructed is the yoke. Although the length is correct, the wooden bar simply connects the two bronze pieces.
[Met Museum]
In the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 5th Avenue, New York
Liberty Enlightening the World (French: La liberté éclairant le monde), commonly known as the Statue of Liberty (French: Statue de la Liberté), has stood on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, welcoming visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans, since it was presented to the United States by the people of France. Dedicated on October 28, 1886, the gift commemorated the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence and has since become one of the most recognizable national icons--a symbol of democracy and freedom.
The 151-foot (46-meter) tall statue was sculpted by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and stands atop Richard Morris Hunt's 154-foot (93-meter) rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star. Maurice Koechlin, chief engineer of Gustave Eiffel's engineering company and designer of the Eiffel Tower, engineered the internal structure. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper and adoption of the repoussé technique, where a malleable metal is hammered on the reverse side. The Statue of Liberty depicts a woman clad in Roman Stola and holding a torch and tablet, and is made of a sheeting of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf.
Affectionately known as Lady Liberty, the figure is derived from Libertas, ancient Rome's goddess of freedom from slavery, oppression, and tyranny. Her left foot, fitted in Roman sandals, tramples broken shackles, symbolizing freedom from opression and tyranny, while her raised right foot symbolizes Liberty and Freedom refusing to stand still. Her torch signifies enlightenment. The tablet in her hand represents knowledge and shows the date of the Declaration of Independence--July 4, 1776. The seven spikes on the crown represent the Seven Seas and seven continents. Visually the the Statue of Liberty draws inspiration from the ancient Colossus of Rhodes of the Greek Sun-god Zeus or Helios, and is referred to in the 1883 sonnet The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, which was later engraved inside.
The Statue of Liberty National Monument was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1976.
New Jersey State Register (1971)
National Register #66000058 (1966)
Goblet with repousse bacchic image of Ariadne, Bacchus and grape clusters. Roman silver tableware from Pompeii. Roman Imperial, 1st Century AD. Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. Napoli, Campania, Italy. Copyright 2016, James A. Glazier.
Naymlap, the heroic founder-colonizer of the Lambayque Valley on the north coast of Peru, is thought to be the legendary figure represented on the top of this striking gold tumi (ceremonial knife). It would have been carried by dynastic rulers during state ceremonies to represent, in a more precious form, the copper knives used for animal sacrifices. Here Naymlap stands with his arms to his abdomen and his feet splayed outward. His gold headdress has an elaborate open filigree design. Turquoise—for the peoples of ancient Peru, a precious gem related to the worship of water and sky—is inlaid around the headdress cap and in the ear ornaments. The tumi was made with diverse metalworking techniques. Solid casting was used to produce the blade. The face and body were created with annealing (heating, shaping, and then cooling) and repoussé, in which the relief design is hammered into a mold from the reverse side. Finally, the small ornaments around the top of the headdress were separately hammered or cast, then soldered into place. This tumi and many other gold, silver, and textile objects were made in royal workshops and ceremonially presented to high officials as emblems of rank and authority.
Chimú, north coast, Peru, ca. 1100-1470 CE. Gold with turquoise inlay.
Art Institute of Chicago (1963.841)
Crest : le donjon. A partir de 1145 le château haut est la propriété des évêques de Die. On trouvait à l'époque un château bas aux mains des comtes de Valentinois : les adversaires des évêques ! En 1201, la moitié du château haut fut inféodée au dauphin du Viennois qui cède ses parts aux comtes en 1267. Les évêques ne s'avouant pas vaincus commencent la construction d'une nouvelle place au-dessus du château haut. En 1332, cette nouvelle construction est rasée, les comtes sont maîtres des lieux ! Richelieu fera détruire le château à l’exception du donjon reconverti en prison que l’on surnommera la bastille du sud. La place va conserver ce rôle jusqu’au XIXème siècle.
Le château visible aujourd’hui est le fruit de la réunion progressive de trois tours indépendantes peu à peu surélevées. La place ne subira plus de phase de construction significative après la première moitié du XVème. Richelieu sur ordre de Louis XIII fera détruire le château à l’exception du donjon reconverti en prison que l’on surnommera la bastille du sud.
Pour plus de photos de Crest :
www.flickr.com/photos/ranulf1214/sets/72157628595031763/
Sur cette vue, en haut du rempart on observe une petite galerie de mâchicoulis : ce dispositif est le descendant des hourds.
Dans le passé, afin d’améliorer la défense de la base des remparts, on utilise des hourds qui protègent efficacement les assiégés des carreaux d’arbalètes. Ces galeries de bois en encorbellement placées contre les remparts permettent aux assiégés de jeter toutes sortes de projectiles sur la tortue lorsqu’elle est suffisamment proche, y compris des projectiles incendiaires. Les hourds de bois sont employés dans les constructions maçonnées dés les XIIème et XIIIème siècles. Les châteaux de Carcassonne et de Culan en possèdent de beaux exemples. Mais les hourds résistent mal aux machines de guerre et demeurent relativement fragiles au feu. C’est pourquoi, on inventera les mâchicoulis qui ont la même fonction mais sont construits en pierre ! A partir de la seconde moitié du XIIème, les mâchicoulis sur contreforts font leur apparition (Cathédrale fortifiée d’Agde dès 1173, tour maîtresse de Château Gaillard 1198). Ils présentent l’avantage de s’adapter facilement sur les anciennes constructions munies de contreforts. Les mâchicoulis alternés sont utilisés lorsque la portée entre deux arcs boutants oblige à placer une console entre eux (ensemble épiscopal du Puy-en-Velay début XIIIème). Et enfin la forme la plus aboutie, les mâchicoulis sur console dont l’utilisation se généralisera à la fin du XIIIème siècle sans supplanter les hourds de bois qui garderont la prééminence durant la première moitié du XIVème siècle.
Mais pourquoi avoir construit aussi haut au XIVème-XVème ?
Dans l’esprit de certains, l’apparition du canon rime avec disparition des châteaux. Alors, pourquoi Protestants et Catholiques se disputent-ils toujours les places fortes médiévales durant les guerres de religion au XVIème siècle, époque où le canon a fait ses preuves ! Pourquoi Richelieu et Mazarin s’acharnent-ils à détruire tous les châteaux non frontaliers susceptibles de servir de point d’appui à d’éventuels fauteurs de troubles ? Au XVIIème siècle, durant la minorité de Louis XIV, les frondeurs choisissent Coucy-le-Château comme place de ralliement. Malgré l’artillerie, il faudra trois mois de sièges et 60 000 hommes pour assurer le blocus de la place avant d’en venir à bout après un assaut ! En 1652, Mazarin fera démanteler la place, même la sape et la poudre noire utilisées ne parviendront pas à détruire le magnifique donjon. En 1917, l’état major Allemand donnera l’ordre absurde de le dynamiter : il faudra 28 tonnes d’explosifs !!!
La réalité est donc beaucoup plus complexe qu’il n’y paraît. Les architectes du XVème, tout comme leurs aînés des XII-XIIIème siècles, confrontés aux machines à contrepoids semblent avoir fait preuve d’innovation face à cette nouvelle menace que constitue le canon.
Il ne faut pas perdre de vue que le château, quelque soit la période, répond à une réalité sociale et militaire. Ainsi, dès le XIIIème, la construction d’un château capable de « résister » à un siège en règle coûte déjà fort cher et devient le privilège des nobles les plus puissants. Tandis que la grande majorité d’entre eux se contente de maisons fortes ou de petits châteaux dans le meilleur des cas. Ainsi en 1337, alors que commence la Guerre de Cent Ans la plupart des places fortes ont une valeur militaire médiocre. En 1355 lorsque le Prince Noir déferle sur le Languedoc, seules Carcassonne et Narbonne sont aptes à lui résister ! La Guerre de Cent Ans dure de 1337 à 1453 et voit la montée en puissance du canon, mais nous n’en sommes pas encore là ! Néanmoins les châteaux et les villes fournissent des points d’appuis aux belligérants durant toute la guerre. Depuis ces places sont lancées des chevauchées dévastatrices en territoire ennemi. Faute de temps et de moyens les sièges sont rares comme aux XIIème-XIIIème siècles. Mais les périodes de trêve ne sont pas pour autant des périodes de sécurité avec toutes ces bandes de mercenaires désœuvrés, les fameuses grandes compagnies qui sillonnent le pays et prennent les places en escaladant les remparts par assaut massif à l’échelade ou par ruse. Contre de petites garnisons et des places vieillottes, l’opération réussit souvent ! De plus le marasme économique qui s’installe depuis la fin du XIIIème, conjugué à l’épidémie de peste de 1348, les impôts écrasants et le climat de guerre poussent les plus pauvres à la révolte : ce sont les Jacqueries. Les nobles, la bourgeoisie et les collecteurs d’impôts sont les cibles favorites des émeutiers qui attaquent parfois les châteaux. Ces Jacqueries comme celle de 1358 qui toucha la Brie, le Soissonais, et le Valois sont systématiquement sauvagement réprimées, mais le danger est là…
Aussi pour se protéger lorsqu’on en a les moyens, on tend à surélever les courtines à la hauteur des tours, on multiplie les flanquements, et surtout on réalise une défense efficace du haut des remparts en employant de plus en plus fréquemment les mâchicoulis, parfois surmontés d’un étage à partir des années 1360 comme à Pierrefond. Pour les archers et les arbalétriers, on multiplie aussi les archères, notamment à la hauteur de la contrescarpe tandis que le pont levis à flèche s’impose progressivement pour sa vitesse de manœuvre. Cependant on note dès le début du XIVème une volonté d’améliorer le confort, la notion d’intimité est au goût du jour. Pour cela les demeures sont compartimentées et organisées tant sur le plan horizontal que vertical. On n’hésite plus à percer des fenêtres défendues par de solides grilles dans les étages supérieurs, les tours de flanquements deviennent des tours résidences, seuls les étages inférieurs et les chemins de ronde conservent une vocation défensive. Le souci du décor, voire du luxe pour les plus riches est de plus en plus marqué. Parfois le château devient palais, sans pour autant oublier l’aspect militaire même si ces deux aspects semblent difficilement conciliables. A partir de 1360 Charles V désirant faire oublier les règnes désastreux de Philippe VI et Jean Le Bon remet au goût du jour la notion de tour résidence, mais plus haute, mieux décorée, plus ostentatoire. Vincennes en est l’un des plus beaux exemples. Mais ces grosses tours sont des appartements privés, on n’y trouve plus les espaces d’apparats comme dans les tours des XI-XIIème. Le donjon redevient le logis du seigneur du château. Certaines places se retrouvent donc avec deux donjons, un ancien modèle peu confortable et un neuf conforme à la nouvelle mode. A noter que durant ces années, c’est toujours le bon vieux trébuchet qui représente la machine de guerre la plus destructrice, comme au siège de Dieppe en 1378.
L’artillerie à poudre semble faire son entrée dès l’année 1324 dans l’armée royale au siège de la Réole. Sur le manuscrit de Gaullier de Milimete daté de 1325, on peut voir un canon en forme de vase dont les munitions semblent être de grosses flèches nommées « garro ». Une pièce archéologique semblable a été trouvée en suède en 1861. Les archives de Florences accréditent cette datation, en 1326 la ville fait fabriquer des canons de bronze. Les archives de Lille parlent aussi de ce type de canons et de munitions en 1340. Dès lors cette nouvelle technologie donne lieu à de nombreux essais, et de nombreuses voies sont explorées avant d’obtenir des performances réellement efficaces dans les années 1370. On sait qu’en 1392 la République de Strasbourg en guerre avec son évêque Frédéric de Blanckenheim et frappée d’interdit par l’empereur Wenceslas subit l’attaque d’une coalition de comtes menée par son évêque qui est repoussée par des tirs d’artillerie à poudre mais de quel calibre (grosse büchsen) ? Rapidement, deux technologies se distinguent : les canons en bronze coulés d’une seule pièce et les canons en fer composés de barres du même métal cerclées à la manière des tonneaux. Les cerclages sont parfois montés les uns contre les autres afin de renforcer la résistance de l’affût. Le bronze est provisoirement abandonné à cause de la complexité de la coulée et de la fragilité relative du matériau utilisé (le même que pour les cloches). Dès lors de nombreux modèles voient le jour mais ces armes sont hors de prix et souvent plus dangereuses pour l’artilleur que pour l’ennemi. Il est si fréquent que les pièces explosent que certains n’acceptent de les payer qu’après deux tirs d’essai. Ce risque demeurera longtemps. Ainsi en 1460 Jacques II, Roi d’Ecosse est tué par l’explosion d’une bombarde ! Mais ces explosions ne sont pas uniquement dues à un manque de résistance du métal mais aussi à un problème de dosage de poudre. La poudre fabriquée est très fine et lors du transport elle tend à perdre de son homogénéité et du coup peut avoir un pouvoir détonnant supérieur ! Il faut donc à nouveau la mélanger à la main avant utilisation, d’où risque d’explosion avant même d’utiliser cette très coûteuse marchandise ! Son coût s’explique par la rareté du salpêtre. Sa fabrication relève du secret d’alchimiste et d’artilleur.
La finesse de la poudre empêche la flemme d’arriver au cœur de la charge explosive, du coup une quantité de poudre substantielle continue à se consumer alors que le projectile est déjà parti !
Nous ne nous lancerons pas ici dans une description précise de chaque pièce mais plûtot dans un descriptif des grandes familles et de leurs conséquences. De plus, il en va du canon comme des machines de guerre à contrepoids : les clercs utilisent un vocabulaire très approximatif, ainsi une couleuvrine peut tout aussi bien évoquer un trait à poudre manœuvré à la main ou un canon !
Dans les années 1340 semble apparaître le veuglaire qui est toujours utilisé dans la seconde moitiée du XVème siècle. Cette pièce est composée de deux parties : la volée et la boîte. Cette dernière, qui fait office de culasse mobile, contient la charge de poudre. L’ensemble est posé sur une solide poutre évidée, cerclée de fer. La boîte est maintenue en position par des coins de fer au moment du tir. Cette solution pose des problèmes d’étanchéité au niveau du plan de joint, d’ou des problèmes d’usure et une importante perte de rendement. Néanmoins, ce système est toujours utilisé dans la seconde moitié du XVème pour les pièces de petits calibres. Pour viser, il faut jouer sur l’inclinaison de la pièce à l’aide de leviers et de cales, on dit alors que l’on « affûte » la pièce, d’où le terme d’affût qui apparaît plus tard pour le châssis de bois supportant le canon. Le calibre de ce type d’engins ne semble pas avoir excédé les 200mm et le poids des projectiles, une dizaine de kilo, donc bien insuffisant pour être réellement dangereux contre un solide rempart ! Ce type de pièces est juste capable d’endommager des hourds, par contre il s’avère efficace contre le personnel. Les machines comme les trébuchets vont donc côtoyer les armes à poudre durant de longues années ! Avant 1370 l’apparition du canon n’aura que peu d’effet sur l’art castrale. En 1347 le règlement de Bioule et Montauban place les armes à poudre entre l’arbalète à un pied et la fronde ! Dans les années 1370 apparaissent les fameuses bombardes qui sont à même de tirer des boulets de gros calibre dépassant parfois les 100 kg. Ces armes sont coulées d’une seule pièce. En effet l’utilisation d’une boîte est rendue impossible par la pression des gaz au moment de la mise à feu. Ce sont presque des armes de dissuasion au même titre que les grands trébuchets mais leur prix est prohibitif et seuls les plus puissants peuvent en équiper leurs troupes. La logistique accompagnant ce type de pièces est conséquente. Ainsi juste pour leur transport, il faut compter une trentaine de chevaux et une petite dizaine d’hommes pour les plus grosses qui atteignent les quatre mètres de longs pour un poids de près de six tonnes comme le Mons Meg visibles aujourd’hui à Edimbourg. A Gand, on peut voir la plus grande bombarde ayant subsisté : cinq mètres de long pour un calibre de 65 cm ! Contrairement aux apparences, la cadence de tir peut être relativement élevée et n’envie rien aux trébuchets… Logiquement c’est aussi à cette époque que l’artillerie fait son entrée dans les châteaux pour en assurer la défense. Dans les premiers temps ce ne sont pas des armes de gros calibres. On multiplie donc les archères-canonnières (vers 1400) que l’on surmonte souvent d’une fente pour faciliter la visée, évacuer la fumée et permettre de tirer à l’arc ou à l’arbalète le temps du rechargement. Ce procédé simple est aisé à mettre en place sur une ancienne place. Afin de palier le poids élevé de certaines pièces et les problèmes de recul, on fixe des poutres en bois dans les niches de tir dont il reste encore les encoches visibles dans les parois. Les armes les plus lourdes y sont assujetties tandis que les plus légères qui vont faire des progrès significatifs fin XIVème, sont justes posées. On les appelle les « canons à main » ce sont des canons miniatures utilisables par un seul homme. L’arme à feu portative la plus ancienne se rapprochant de l’ancêtre du fusil a été découverte au XIXème siècle dans les ruines du château de Tannenberg détruit en 1399. Cette pièce de bronze à huit pans mesure 32 cm de longueur pour un calibre de 14,5mm. L’ensemble se monte au bout d’une pièce de bois. Ce type d’armes est souvent appelé « bâton à feu ». Il existe des modèles similaires en fer forgé mais la plupart des pièces utilisant cette technique sont cylindriques. Les pièces de petits calibres (15 à 20mm) sont rarement équipées du croc destiné à absorber le recul en posant l’arme sur un support, ce sont vraiment des armes portatives ! Des armes de petits calibres sont aussi utilisées grâce à des trous percés sous les allèges des fenêtres.
A partir de la fin du XIVème siècle les canons deviennent de plus en plus efficaces et faciles à déplacer pour les pièces de calibre moyen, la construction d’un château apte à résister à ces armes devient le privilège des plus puissants : rares sont ceux capables de s’adapter à cette course aux armements. La fabrication de la poudre fait de gros progrès au XVème. En effet les différents éléments sont écrasés sous la meule et humidifié après mélange. Les galettes ainsi obtenues après séchage sont concassées et fournissent de gros grains dont la composition n’est plus altérée par le transport. La quantité de poudre non brûlée diminue et son rendement augmente considérablement : on fait ainsi 1/3 d’économie sur le volume de poudre utilisé. Cependant elle demeure une précieuse marchandise. Ainsi à Strasbourg au XVIème lors de la prise d’une place toute la poudre dans les tonneaux entamés est la propriété des artilleurs, ainsi que la cloche du tocsin et une prime équivalente à un mois de solde ! Et ce, tout simplement pour les dédommager de la part du pillage à laquelle ils n’ont pu goûter pour assurer la sécurité de leurs pièces…
Les trébuchets disparaissent progressivement avec la montée en puissance du canon. Si les bombardes sont toujours utilisées, elles côtoient de nombreux autres modèles de pièces de plus petits calibres. On tend progressivement à rallonger le canon pour gagner en précision et à réduire le calibre du fait de l’abandon progressif des boulets de pierre au profit des boulets métalliques plus efficace. Ces améliorations permettent de réaliser des tirs tendus. En effet, l’utilisation des boulets métalliques est impossible sur les pièces de gros calibre. A titre d’exemple un boulet en pierre de 50cm de diamètre pèse approximativement 450 livres, le même en métal pèse 1400 livres, la montée en pression dans la chambre de combustion est donc d’autant plus importante et risque de provoquer l’explosion de la pièce. A partir du milieu du XVème siècle, on recommence donc à couler des canons de bronze d’une seule pièce, qui seront progressivement remplacés par des pièces de fonte quand ce matériaux deviendra plus courant. Cependant les canons ont souvent le défaut d’être lourds et peu maniables. On transporte les plus lourds sur de solides chariots ou des barges d’où ils sont déchargés avant usage ! Fin XVème le canon devient mobile avec le ribaudequin, pièce de petit calibre, monté sur roue. A cette époque les pièces d’artillerie sont coulées montées sur roue, dotées d’une poudre propulsive puissante et fiable, la visée fait de gros progrès. Ce sont de véritables armes tactiques à même d’appuyer et de suivre la troupe en toute circonstance, au contraire de leurs ancêtres qui après les premières salves souvent peu précises ne servaient plus à rien une fois la charge lancée. De plus, en cas de contre-attaque il est impossible de se replier avec ces pièces qui tombent aux mains de l’ennemi. Au XVI-XVIIème les artilleurs enclouaient (un clou est enfoncé en force dans la lumière) les canons qu’ils ne pouvaient emmener afin d’empêcher leur utilisation : cela se faisait-il aussi au XVème ? Une aire nouvelle est née : les architectes vont alors réagir et utiliser la nouvelle arme à sa juste valeur.
Hand-crafted engraving has been widely used to the accessories for the Body, Home, or Office, like the fittings of the lighting, katana sword weapons' reproduction, Buddhist Altar, Furniture’s, Mural & Plaque, Clocks, Vases, Rings, and precise lost-wax casting mold, was traditionally created with the pure handmade technique of metal chasing, The art work is made from metal panel, using oxy acetylene flame, graver, chisel and metal hammer. By either sharping, beating, carving, engraving, sculpture on the metal, like brass or stell, in order to emboss the custom image into the copper sheet. It is an exquisite hand work. which is unique & permanent, so hand engraving is different from other decorative techniques in the sharpness of the lines and its permanence. Machine engraving cannot cut as deeply as the hand technique. Stamping and etching are sometimes confused with hand engraving, but the result is not as sharp. Lasers and die cutting can also be used to cut into metal but the results look machined rather than finely crafted. Please click below box for more details about the item.
A church silver altar frontal panel of 'The Five Holy Wounds'
Estimate: PHP 200,000 - 220,000
Mid 19th century
Repoussé silver set in a contemporary kamagong frame
53 x 74 cm (21 x 29 in)
Provenance:
Private collection, Manila
A devotional panel made of a massive sheet of repoussé and chased silver depicting the Five Holy Wounds of Jesus Christ in a cartouche with a Neoclassical Roman Revival festoon. Although the ecclesiastical narrative may be a copy from a European woodblock print, the workmanship suggests Chinese silver workmanship with cartouche borders suggestive of stylized lotus petals.
Lot 160 of the Salcedo Auctions auction on 18 March 2023. Please see www.salcedoauctions.com for more information.
Le port de Marina Baie des Anges, situé entre Nice et Antibes, fait partie intégrante de la célèbre Marina, labellisée Patrimoine architectural du XXème siècle et Pavillon Bleu depuis 2011. Sur un site relativement plat de 16 ha entre le rivage et la voie ferrée, 1300 logements s'organisent autour d'un amphithéâtre divisé en deux foyers constitués d'un port de plaisance et d'un parc, les plages étant repoussées à l'extérieur. Un sol artificiel formé de dalles-socles couvrant les parkings est entouré de 4 pyramides de faible épaisseur à l'accroche végétalisée. Autour du port, les équipements comprennent, outre la capitainerie et les logements de fonction, une rangée de commerces, une piscine et un centre de thalassothérapie. L'image sportive de villégiature estivale du lieu s'est avérée très vite en contradiction avec le mode de vie des habitants, en majorité retraités en résidence permanente.
Lucien Nouvel, chimiste de formation et riche industriel, se lance dans l'immobilier de loisir sur un terrain acquis à Villeneuve-Loubet vers 1960. Ce projet était constitué par un ensemble de tours verticales et d'immeubles concentriques. Des difficultés financières importantes ayant conduit le Groupe Carat à l'abandonner, le Groupe Nouvel recherche de nouveaux appuis et accepte celui du bureau d'étude André Minangoy. Les travaux débutent en janvier 1969, sous l'égide du Groupe Marina détenu par M. Jean Marchand.
L'ensemble clos à circulation mixte, culminant à 70 m, au linéaire décuplé par la courbe serpentant à travers le terrain triangulaire, se pénètre par une discrète porte centrale liée à une voirie périphérique. Le souci premier du concepteur se situe dans l'innovation formelle des pyramides aux lignes pures d'une grande légèreté, dont le style relève du design, faisant référence au Musée Guggenheim de F. L. Wright. Ici prime l'esthétique, la stupéfiante beauté d'un port ceint d'un mur décor à l'image de collines artificielles.
Les logements traversants ne font pas l'objet de recherche particulière. L'idée nouvelle est celle de la coursive extérieure qui réduit le nombre des ascenseurs et crée surtout une homogénéité visuelle parfaite entre les façades. Le garde-corps sculptural identique à l'avant comme à l'arrière se prête magnifiquement aux courbes du plan. À l'inclinaison de l'allège à l'effet de porte-à-faux s'ajoute une jardinière intégrée côté mer qui permet la dissimulation au regard d'espaces extérieurs privatifs assez vastes, notamment en pignon où les décrochements des terrasses donnent naissance à la forme pyramidale.
La réalisation s'échelonne sur plus de 20 ans. Le premier bâtiment (Amiral) est livré en 1970, le second (Commodore) en 1972. Après l'achèvement du troisième de 22 étages (Ducal) en 1976, le rythme ralentit et le dernier immeuble (Baronnet) commencé cette année-là n'est terminé qu'en 1993 (cf. Agnès Fuzibet, drac Paca, 2000 ; merci gites.fr pour la photo).
Silver and gold ewer and tray. 18th Century AD. Kunsthistorisches Museum. Vienna, Austria. Copyright 2016, James A. Glazier.
Louvre Br4306 - Disk-fibula with a gorgoneion [550-500 BC] - Bronze with repoussé decoration, Boeotian production under Corinthian influence - wm
سفالُ با نقش هارپی ۱۱۹۹/۱۱۰۰ ترسایی، محل نگهداری موزه بریتانیا
هارپي ها موجودات ترکيبي از سر انسان و بدن پرنده اند که در دنياي باستان ( مصر) روح مردگان را به دنياي ديگر مي بردند. اين موجودات در دوره اسلامي بر روي ظروف سفالي و فلزي ظاهر شدند به طوري که در سده هاي شش، هفت و هشت هجري قمري از رايج ترين نقش هاي موجود برروي سفالينه ها محسوب مي شدند. آن چه مسلم است اين نمادها در دوره اسلامي با مفهوم برکت و باروري (مرغ آمین) ارتباط تنگاتنگ داشته اند وگسترش فعاليت هاي نجومي در سده هاي سوم وچهارم هجري و بعد از آن در ايران وتاليف کتاب صورالکواکب اثر عبدالرحمن الصوفي، زمينه را براي ظهور اين موجودات بر روي آثار هنري فراهم کرد.
Stone-paste laqabi dish, decorated with a harpy
1100/1199
From the collection of
British Museum
Laqabi ceramics are decorated with an incised pattern under different coloured glazes. First the design or picture is cut into the soft unfired ceramic. After the first firing, different colours of glaze are added over the design: in this case the harpy herself, the curling vegetation behind, and the framing rim of the dish. A transparent glaze covers the remaining blank space. The incised lines of the pattern were intended to stop the glazes from running into different areas, but were only slightly successful, as the name laqabi suggests, from the Persian for waterstained.
Ceramic vessels were a cheaper alternative to decorated metal tableware. Indeed, they often imitate the details of repoussé work, metal inlay, and also the forms of popular luxury metal items. Here, both the shape of the bowl and the incised lines around the rim may derive from metalwork.
Title: Stone-paste laqabi dish, decorated with a harpy
Date Created: 1100/1199
Physical Dimensions: Height: 16.40in
External Link: British Museum collection online
Technique: glazed; incised
Place: Found Iran
Material: pottery
The Statue of Liberty's original torch was removed in 1984 and is currently on display in the lobby of the monument. A replacement torch was added in 1986.
Liberty Enlightening the World (French: La liberté éclairant le monde), commonly known as the Statue of Liberty (French: Statue de la Liberté), has stood on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, welcoming visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans, since it was presented to the United States by the people of France. Dedicated on October 28, 1886, the gift commemorated the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence and has since become one of the most recognizable national icons--a symbol of democracy and freedom.
The 151-foot (46-meter) tall statue was sculpted by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and stands atop Richard Morris Hunt's 154-foot (93-meter) rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star. Maurice Koechlin, chief engineer of Gustave Eiffel's engineering company and designer of the Eiffel Tower, engineered the internal structure. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper and adoption of the repoussé technique, where a malleable metal is hammered on the reverse side. The Statue of Liberty depicts a woman clad in Roman Stola and holding a torch and tablet, and is made of a sheeting of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf.
Affectionately known as Lady Liberty, the figure is derived from Libertas, ancient Rome's goddess of freedom from slavery, oppression, and tyranny. Her left foot, fitted in Roman sandals, tramples broken shackles, symbolizing freedom from opression and tyranny, while her raised right foot symbolizes Liberty and Freedom refusing to stand still. Her torch signifies enlightenment. The tablet in her hand represents knowledge and shows the date of the Declaration of Independence--July 4, 1776. The seven spikes on the crown represent the Seven Seas and seven continents. Visually the the Statue of Liberty draws inspiration from the ancient Colossus of Rhodes of the Greek Sun-god Zeus or Helios, and is referred to in the 1883 sonnet The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, which was later engraved inside.
The Statue of Liberty National Monument was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1976.
Statue of Liberty National Monument New Jersey State Register (1971)
Statue of Liberty National Monument National Register #66000058 (1966)