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)

2.75" tall x 2.375" wide.

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)

Sterling, Copper, Peridot. Beefy Silver Ring. Chased, Repousse, Sawn Soldered, Roller Printed. Adjustable.

Après avoir fait des parts de faune, j'ai eu envie de sculpter une queue de sirène pour mes petites Nenya...

A vrai dire j'ai repoussé ce projet pendant très longtemps, pensant qu'Aurélien (Depths Dolls) n’apprécierait peut-être pas de me voir travailler sur ce thème. Je lui ai donc montré ces photos en premier pour en discuter avec lui et ayant désormais son approbation et son soutien, allons-y !

Voilà où j'en suis, sachant que ce n'est qu'une ébauche (la nageoire est déjà un peu différente depuis que j'ai pris ces photos et le double joint plus large). Je me concentre tout d'abord sur la sculpture des joints, et une fois que tout sera opérationnel j'ajouterai des détails.

En espérant que les Nenya aquatiques vous plairont !

Merci pour votre attention <3

________________________________

After making fawn parts, I wanted to sculpt a mermaid tail for my sweet Nenya girls...

The thing is I put this project off for a very long time because I was afraid Aurélien (Depths Dolls) might me upset with me working on a mermaid too. So I showed him these pictures first and got his blessing ! So let's do this !

So this is what it looks like so far, but keep in mind that this is just a start (the fin is already a bit different since I took these pictures and the double joint is bigger). I'm focusing on getting the joints right first and then I'll add details to the tail.

I hope you'll like the aquatic Nenyas !

Thanks for watching <3

♥ Ivresse de la délivrance ♥

Ébahie par cette expérience,

je déborde de reconnaissance,

car j'ai été totalement épargnée par la souffrance !!!

Véritablement inattendue,

l'absence de douleurs a été surnaturelle !

Le soir même je mangeais je buvais je dansais de joie

Une douce euphorie berçant toutes mes cellules !

Inexplicable magie...?

Victorieuse allégresse de la foi,

miracle de la confiance,

triomphe du lâcher prise,

et vibrante joie d'une gratitude infinie...

Un grand MERCI à tous ceux qui ont "pensé" à moi :

ces "ondes" m'ont donné le courage nécessaire

pour affronter cette opération longtemps repoussée,

et bénéficier d'un réel miracle anti-douleurs !

C'est aussi l'histoire d'une peur démesurée

que soudain j'ai totalement acceptée...

et d'un merveilleux phénomène

que peut-être la mécanique quantique pourrait expliquer...

;-)))

St Cuthbert's Church, Philbeach Gardens tthe lectern, William Bainbridge Reynolds first major commission and undoubtedly the most original of his works here. It is made of wrought iron and copper and consists of a base carrying a central shaft which bears a two-sided revolving reading desk flanked by sinous candle-arms of immense scale. The design is said to follow one of Pugin’s but it is more likely to be a conflation of two facing pages of Pugin’s Desigr s for Metalwork, one of which shows a lectern and the other designs for candle brackets for walls. Apart from the swagger of the design, which John Betjeman rather unkindly categorised as ‘Noveau Viking’, the lectern is a classic piece of true craftsmanship because the form and decoration are both dictated by the material. The copper and iron are treated in many different ways—beaten, pierced, repousse, twisted, embossed and incised— which would have been impossible to achieve with wood. That is the failure of the mass-produced lecterns which Gough derided—the carved goose which nearly went astray at the railway station could as well have been made of brass, wood or, at a pinch, stone. This lectern simply would not stand up in any material other than metal.

Incorporated within it, as within all Reynolds’ work in the church, is a rich vein of subtly expressed symbolism of the sort which might be expected from so brilliant a mind. Between the turrets of the base are the shields of the English provincial sees of Canterbury and York. On one end of the desk is the Fall of Man, expressed by the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, and at the other the Redemption of Man, shown in the Crucifixion with the Instruments of the Passion and the Crown of Thorns. Surmounting the desk is the figure of St. John the Baptist, the forerunner, and the sconces for candles which cast light on the Word are embellished with the attributes of the Lord foretold by Isaiah—‘Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace’.

The Newar people or Newars (/nɪˈwɑrz/; Newar: नेवार) are the historical inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley and its surrounding areas in Nepal and the creators of its historic civilization.

The valley and surrounding territories constituted the former Newar kingdom of the Nepal Mandala. Unlike a common-origin ethnic group, Newars are a good example of a nation-community with relic-identity of a previously existing country. Newar community within it consists of various strands of ethnic, racial, caste and religious heterogeneity, as Newars of today are descendants of the diverse group of people that have lived in Nepal Mandala since prehistoric times. Indo-Aryan immigrants like the Licchavis and Mallas that arrived at different periods eventually merged with the local indigenous population by adopting their language and customs. These immigrants retained their Indic heritage and brought with them their Sanskritic languages, social structure, Vedic religion and culture which has profoundly altered the history of Newar civilization. Newar rule in Nepal Mandala ended with its conquest by the Gorkha Kingdom in 1768.

Today, Newars are a linguistic and cultural community of primarily Indo-Aryan and Tibeto-Burman ethnicities following Hinduism and Buddhism with Nepal Bhasa as their common language. Unlike other ethnic or caste groups of Nepal, they are a linguistic and cultural community that transcends religion, caste, ethnicity and cultural distinctions. Scholars have also described the Newars as a nation. They developed a division of labour and a sophisticated urban civilization not seen elsewhere in the Himalayan foothills. They are known for their contributions to art, sculpture, architecture, culture, literature, music, industry, trade, agriculture and cuisine, and left their mark on the art of Central Asia.

According to Nepal's 2011 census, the 1,321,933 Newars in the country are the nation's sixth-largest ethnic group, representing 5% of the population. Recent mass migration into the Kathmandu Valley has resulted in the Newars becoming a minority in their homeland. Despite the high level of development, Newar culture and language are both under threat today.

HISTORY

For about a thousand years, the Newari civilization in Central Nepal preserved a microcosm of classical North Indian culture in which Brahmanic and Buddhist elements enjoyed equal status. Snellgrove and Richardson (1968) speak of 'the direct heritage of pre-Islamic India'.

The different divisions of Newars had different historical developments. The common identity of Newar was formed in the Kathmandu Valley. Until the conquest of the valley by the Gorkha Kingdom in 1769, all the people who had inhabited the valley at any point of time were either Newar or progenitors of Newar. So, the history of Newar correlates to the history of the Kathmandu Valley prior to the establishment of the modern state of Nepal.

The earliest known history of Newar and the Kathmandu Valley blends with mythology recorded in historical chronicles. One such text, which recounts the creation of the valley, is the Swayambhu Purana. According to this Buddhist scripture, the Kathmandu Valley was a giant lake until the Bodhisattva Manjusri, with the aid of a holy sword, cut a gap in the surrounding hills and let the water out. This apocryphal legend is supported by geological evidence of an ancient lakebed, and it provides an explanation for the high fertility of the Kathmandu Valley soil.

According to the Swayambhu Purana, Manjusri then established a city called Manjupattan (Sanskrit "Land Established by Manjusri"), now called Manjipā, and made Dharmākara its king. A shrine dedicated to Manjusri is still present in Majipā. No historical documents have been found after this era till the advent of the Gopal era. A genealogy of kings is recorded in a chronicle called Gopalarajavamsavali. According to this manuscript, the Gopal kings were followed by the Mahispals and the Kirats before the Licchavis entered from the south. Some claim Buddha to have visited Nepal during the reign of Kirat king Jitedasti. The Licchavi dynasty ruled for at least 600 years, followed by the Malla dynasty in the 12th century AD.

Newar reign over the valley and their sovereignty and influence over neighboring territories ended with the conquest of the Kathmandu Valley in 1769 by the Gorkhali Shah dynasty founded by Prithvi Narayan Shah. Systematic brutal suppression of the Newar people was pursued for generations during early dynastic rule in order to discourage them from any political aspiration.

Prior to the Gorkha conquest, which began with the Battle of Kirtipur in 1767, the borders of Nepal Mandala extended to Tibet in the north, the nation of the Kirata in the east, the kingdom of Makwanpur in the south and the Trishuli River in the west which separated it from the kingdom of Gorkha.

ECONOMY HISTORY

Trade, industry and agriculture have been the mainstay of the economy of the Newars. They are made up of social groups associated with hereditary professions that provide ritual and economic services. Merchants, craftsmen, artists, potters, weavers, dyers, farmers and other castes all played their part in creating a flourishing economic system. Elaborate cultural traditions which required the use of varied objects and services also fuelled the economy. Towns and villages in the Kathmandu Valley specialized in producing particular products, and rich agriculture produced a surplus for export.

For centuries, Newar merchants have handled trade between Tibet and India besides exporting locally manufactured products to Tibet. Rice was another major export. Porters and pack mules transported merchandise over mountain tracks that formed the old trade routes. Since the 18th century, Newars have spread out across Nepal and established trading towns dotting the midhills. They are known as jewelry makers and shopkeepers. Today, they are engaged in modern industry, business and service sectors.

RELIGION

According to the 2001 Nepal Census, 84.13% of the Newars were Hindu and 15.31% were Buddhist, but most of the Newars practice both Hinduism and Buddhism. These days Christianity, Islam, and other religions are also followed.

Out of the three main cities of the Kathmandu Valley which are historically Newar, the city of Patan is the most Buddhist containing the four stupas built by Indian emperor Ashoka. Bhaktapur is primarily Hindu, while Kathmandu is a mix of both. Generally, both Hindu and Buddhist deities are worshiped and festivals are celebrated by both religious groups. However, for ritual activities, Hindu and Buddhist Newars have their own priests and cultural differences.

Religiously, the Newars can be classified as both Hindu and Buddhist. The major cults are Vajrayana Buddhism and Tantric Hinduism. The former is referred to as Buddhamarga, the latter as Sivamarga. Both creeds have been established since antiquity in the valley. Both Buddhamargi and Sivamargi Newars are Tantricists, i.e., one believes that the union of male and female powers moves the universe. In this regard the cult of the mother Goddesses and their consorts, the Bhairavas, is particularly important. The most important shrines in the valley are Swayambhunath (Buddhist) and Pashupatinath (Hindu). Different castes worship different deities at different occasions, and more or less intensively. Only the higher echelons in the caste system claim to be exclusively Buddhist or Hindu. The Vajracharyas, Buddhist priests, will adamantly maintain that they are Buddhists, and so will the Bare and the Uray, whereas, the Deobrahman, the Jha, and the dominant Shresthas will maintain that they are Hindus. Further down in the caste hierarchy no distinction is made between Buddhists and Hindus. Hindu and Buddhist alike always worship Ganesh first in every ritual, and every locality has its local Ganesh shrine (Ganesh Than).

Although Newar Buddhism (Vajrayana) had been traditionally practiced in the Kathmandu Valley, Theravada Buddhism made a comeback in Nepal in the 1920s and now is a common form of Buddhism among Buddhamargi Newars.

LANGUAGE

Newars are bound together by a common language and culture. Their common language is Nepal Bhasa or the linguistic progenitor of that language. However, despite a government directive that the name Nepal Bhasa should be used, the Central Bureau of Statistics has not been doing so.

Nepal Bhasa already existed as a spoken language during the Licchavi period. Inscriptions in Nepal Bhasa emerged from the 12th century, the palm-leaf manuscript from Uku Bahah being the first example. Nepal Bhasa developed from the 14th to the late 18th centuries as the court and state language. It was used universally in stone and copper inscriptions, sacred manuscripts, official documents, journals, title deeds, correspondence and creative writing.

In 2011, there were approximately 846,000 native speakers of Nepal Bhasa. Many Newar communities within Nepal also speak their own dialects of Nepal Bhasa, such as the Dolakha Newar Language. Nepal Bhasa is of Tibeto-Burman origin but has been heavily influenced by Indo-Aryan languages like Sanskrit, Pali, Bengali and Maithili.

SCRIPTS

Nepal script is a group of scripts that developed from the Brahmi script and are used primarily to write Nepal Bhasa and Sanskrit. Among the different scripts, Ranjana, Bhujinmol and Prachalit are the most common. Nepal script is also known as Nepal Lipi and Nepal Akhala.

Nepal script appeared in the 10th century. For a thousand years, it was used on stone and copper plate inscriptions, coins (Nepalese mohar), palm-leaf documents and Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts. Devanagari began to be used to write Nepal Bhasa in the beginning of the 20th century, and Nepal script has limited usage today.

LITERATURE

Nepal Bhasa is one of the five languages in the Sino-Tibetan family with an ancient literary tradition. Literature in Nepal Bhasa began as translation and commentary in prose in the 14th century AD. The earliest known document in Nepal Bhasa is called "The Palmleaf from Uku Bahal" which dates from 1114 AD during the Thakuri period.

Classical Nepal Bhasa literature is represented by all the three major genres-prose, poetry and drama. Most of the writings consist of prose including chronicles, popular stories and scientific manuals. Poetry consists of love songs, ballads, working songs and religious poetry. The earliest poems date from the 1570s. Epic poetry describing historical events and tragedies are very popular. The ballads Sitala Maju, about the expulsion of children from Kathmandu, Silu, about an ill-fated pilgrimage to Gosaikunda, and Ji Waya La Lachhi Maduni, about a luckless Tibet trader, are sung as seasonal songs.

The dramas are based on stories from the epics, and almost all of them were written during the 17th and 18th centuries. Nepal Bhasa literature flourished for five centuries until 1850. Since then, it suffered a period of decline due to political oppression. The period 1909–1941 is known as the Nepal Bhasa renaissance period when writers defied official censure and braved imprisonment to create literary works. Modern Nepal Bhasa literature began in the 1940s with the emergence of new genres like short stories, poems, essays, novels and plays.

DANCE

MASKED DANCE

Newar dance consists of sacred masked dance, religious dance without the use of masks known as Dyah Pyakhan, dance performed as part of a ritual and meditation practice known as Chachaa Pyakhan (Newar: चचा प्याखं) (Charya Nritya in Sanskrit) and folk dance. There are also masked dance dramas known as Daboo Pyakhan which enact religious stories to the accompaniment of music.

DHIME DANCE

The dance done in the tune of Dhime are Dhime dance.

MUSIC

Traditional Newa music consists of sacred music, devotional songs, seasonal songs, ballads and folk songs. One of the most well-known seasonal songs is Sitala Maju. The ballad describes the expulsion of children from Kathmandu in the early 19th century. Another seasonal song Silu is about a pilgrimage to Gosaikunda that went wrong. Ji Waya La Lachhi Maduni is a tragedy song about a newly married couple. The ballad Rajamati about unlucky lovers is widely popular. In 1908, maestro Seturam Shrestha made the first recording of the song on gramophone disc in Kolkata.

Common percussion instruments consist of the dhimay, khin, naykhin and dhaa. Wind instruments include the bansuri (flute), payntah (long trumpet) and mwahali (short trumpet), chhusya, bhusya, taa (cymbals), and gongs are other popular instruments. String instruments are very rare. Newa people call their music Dhime Baja.

The musical style and musical instruments are still in use today. Musical bands accompany religious processions in which an idol of a deity is placed in a chariot or portable shrine and taken around the city. Devotional songs known as bhajan may be sung daily in community houses. Hymn societies like Gyanmala Bhajan Khala hold regular recitals. Dapa songs are sung during hymn singing seasons at temple squares and sacred courtyards.

Gunla Bajan musical bands parade through the streets during Gunla, the 10th month of the Nepal Sambat calendar which is a holy month for Newar Buddhists. Musical performances start with an overture which is a salutation to the gods.

Seasonal songs and ballads are associated with particular seasons and festivals. Music is also played during wedding processions, life-cycle ceremonies and funeral processions.

POPULAR TRADITIONAL SONGS

Ghātu (summer music, this seasonal melody is played during Pahan Charhe festival)

Ji Wayā Lā Lachhi Maduni (tragedy of a merchant)

Mohani (festive joy, this seasonal tune is played during Mohani festival)

Rājamati (about young lovers)

Silu (about a couple who get separated during a pilgrimage, this seasonal music is played during the monsoon)

Sitālā Māju (lament for children expelled from the Kathmandu Valley)

RELIGIOUS MUSIC

Gunlā Bājan

ART

The Newars are the creators of most examples of art and architecture in Nepal. Traditional Newar art is basically religious art. Newar devotional paubha painting, sculpture and metal craftsmanship are world-renowned for their exquisite beauty. The earliest dated paubha discovered so far is Vasudhara Mandala which was painted in 1365 AD (Nepal Sambat 485). The murals on the walls of two 15th-century monasteries in the former kingdom of Mustang in the Nepal Himalaya provide illustrations of Newar works outside the Kathmandu Valley. Stone sculpture, wood carving, repoussé art and metal statues of Buddhist and Hindu deities made by the lost-wax casting process are specimens of Newar artistry. The Peacock Window of Bhaktapur and Desay Madu Jhya of Kathmandu are known for their wood carving.

Building elements like the carved Newar window, roof struts on temples and the tympanum of temples and shrine houses exhibit traditional creativity. From as early as the seventh century, visitors have noted the skill of Newar artists and craftsmen who left their influence on the art of Tibet and China. Newars introduced the lost-wax technique into Bhutan and they were commissioned to paint murals on the walls of monasteries there. Sandpainting of mandala made during festivals and death rituals is another specialty of Newar art.

Besides exhibiting a high level of skill in traditional religious art, Newar artists have been at the forefront in introducing Western art styles in Nepal. Raj Man Singh Chitrakar (1797-1865) is credited with starting watercolor painting in the country. Bhaju Man Chitrakar (1817–1874), Tej Bahadur Chitrakar (1898-1971) and Chandra Man Singh Maskey were other pioneer artists who introduced modern style paintings incorporating concepts of lighting and perspective.

TRADITIONAL PAINTING

Paubhā

ARCHITECTURE

There are seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites and 2,500 temples and shrines in the Kathmandu Valley that illustrate the skill and aesthetic sense of Newar artisans. Fine brickwork and woodcarving are the marks of Newar architecture. Residential houses, monastic courtyards known as baha and bahi, rest houses, temples, stupas, priest houses and palaces are the various architectural structures found in the valley. Most of the chief monuments are located in the Durbar Squares of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, the old royal palace complexes built between the 12th and 18th centuries.

Newa architecture consists of the pagoda, stupa, shikhara, chaitya and other styles. The valley's trademark is the multiple-roofed pagoda which may have originated in this area and spread to India, China, Indochina and Japan. The most famous artisan who influenced stylistic developments in China and Tibet was Arniko, a Newar youth who traveled to the court of Kublai Khan in the 13th century AD. He is known for building the white stupa at the Miaoying Temple in Beijing.

SETTLEMENTS

Durbar squares, temple squares, sacred courtyards, stupas, open-air shrines, dance platforms, sunken water fountains, public rest houses, bazaars, multistoried houses with elaborate carved windows and compact streets are the characteristics of traditional planning. Besides the historical cities of Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Madhyapur Thimi and Kirtipur, small towns with a similar artistic heritage dot the Kathmandu Valley where almost half of the Newar population lives.

Outside the valley, historical Newar settlements include Nuwakot, Nala, Banepa, Dhulikhel, Panauti, Dolakha, Chitlang and Bhimphedi. The Newars of Kathmandu founded Pokhara in 1752 at the invitation of the rulers of Kaski. Over the last two centuries, Newars have fanned out of the Kathmandu Valley and established trade centers and settled in various parts of Nepal. Bandipur, Baglung and Tansen in west Nepal and Chainpur and Bhojpur in east Nepal contain large Newar populations.

Outside Nepal, many Newars have settled in Darjeeling and Kalimpong in West Bengal, Assam, Manipur and Sikkim, India. Newars have also settled in Bhutan. Colonies of expatriate Newar merchants and artisans existed in Lhasa, Shigatse and Gyantse in Tibet till the mid-1960s when the traditional trade came to an end after the Sino-Indian War. In recent times, Newars have moved to different parts of Asia, Europe and America.

FESTIVALS

Newar religious culture is rich in ceremony and is marked by frequent festivals throughout the year. Many festivals are tied to Hindu and Buddhist holidays and the harvest cycle. Street celebrations include pageants, jatras or processions in which a car or portable shrine is paraded through the streets and sacred masked dances. Other festivals are marked by family feasts and worship. The celebrations are held according to the lunar calendar, so the dates are changeable.

Mohani (Dasain) is one of the greatest annual celebrations which is observed for several days with feasts, religious services and processions. During Swanti (Tihar), Newars celebrate New Year's Day of Nepal Sambat by doing Mha Puja, a ritual in which a mandala is worshipped, that purifies and strengthens one spiritually for the coming year.Similarly, Bhai Tika is also done during Swanti. It is a ritual observed to worship and respect a woman's brothers, with or without blood relation. Another major festival is Sā Pāru (Gai Jatra) when people who have lost a family member in the past year dress up as cows and saints, and parade through town, following a specific route. In some cases, a real cow may also be a part of the parade. People give such participants money, food and other gifts as donation. Usually, childrens are the participants of the parade.

In Kathmandu, the biggest street festival is Yenya (Indra Jatra) when three cars bearing the living goddess Kumari and two other child gods are pulled through the streets and masked dance performances are held. The two godchild are Ganesh and Bhairav. Another major celebration is Pahan Charhe when portable shrines bearing images of mother goddesses are paraded through Kathmandu. During the festival of Jana Baha Dyah Jatra, a temple car with an image of Karunamaya is drawn through central Kathmandu for three days. A similar procession is held in Lalitpur known as Bunga Dyah Jatra which continues for a month and climaxes with Bhoto Jatra, the display of the sacred vest. The biggest outdoor celebration in Bhaktapur is Biska Jatra which is marked by chariot processions and lasts for nine days. Sithi Nakha is another big festival when worship is offered and natural water sources are cleaned. In addition, all Newar towns and villages have their particular festival which is celebrated by holding a chariot or palanquin procession.

CLOTHING

Western wear is the norm as in urban areas in the rest of the country. Traditional costumes consist of trousers (suruwā) and long shirts (tappālan) for men, blouse (misālan) and saris (parsi) for women and ankle-length gowns (bhāntānlan) for girls. Ritual dresses consist of pleated gowns, coats and a variety of headresses. Similarly, a shawl (gā) are worn by women. Traditionally, newar women wear a shoe made out of red cloth. It is decorated with glitters and colorful beads (potya). One of the major part of newari dressup is bracelets (chūra).

CUISINE

Meals can be classified into three main categories: the daily meal, the afternoon snack and festival food. The daily meal consists of boiled rice, lentil soup, vegetable curry and relish. Meat is also served. The snack generally consists of rice flakes, roasted and curried soybeans, curried potato and roasted meat mixed with spices.

Food is also an important part of the ritual and religious life of the Newars, and the dishes served during festivals and feasts have symbolic significance. Different sets of ritual dishes are placed in a circle around the staple rice flakes to represent and honour different sets of deities depending on the festival or life-cycle ceremony.

Kwāti (क्वाति soup of different beans), kachilā (कचिला spiced minced meat), chhoyalā (छोयला water buffalo meat marinated in spices and grilled over the flames of dried wheat stalks), pukālā (पुकाला fried meat), wo (वः lentil cake), paun kwā (पाउँक्वा sour soup), swan pukā (स्वँपुका stuffed lungs), syen (स्येँ fried liver), mye (म्ये boiled and fried tongue), sapu mhichā (सःपू म्हिचा leaf tripe stuffed with bone marrow), sanyā khunā (सन्या खुना jellied fish soup) and takhā (तःखा jellied meat) are some of the popular festival foods. Dessert consists of dhau (धौ yogurt), sisābusā (सिसाबुसा fruits) and mari (मरि sweets). Thwon (थ्वँ rice beer) and aylā (अयला local alcohol) are the common alcoholic liquors that Newars make at home.

Traditionally, at meals, festivals and gatherings, Newars sit on long mats in rows. Typically, the sitting arrangement is hierarchical with the eldest sitting at the top and the youngest at the end. Newar cuisine makes use of mustard oil and a host of spices such as cumin, sesame seeds, turmeric, garlic, ginger, mint, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, chili and mustard seeds. Food is served in laptya (लप्त्य plates made of special leaves, held together by sticks). Similarly, any soups are served in botā (बोटा bowls made of leaves). Liquors are served in Salinchā (सलिंचाः bowls made of clay) and Kholchā (खोल्चाः small metal bowls).

LIFE-CYCLE CEREMONIES

Elaborate ceremonies chronicle the life cycle of a Newar from birth till death. Hindu Newars consider life-cycle rituals as a preparation for death and the life after it. Macha Janku, the rice feeding ceremony, is performed at the age of six or eight months for boys and at the age of five or seven months for girls. As a male child approaches puberty, the Kayta Puja, a rite of initiation, is performed. Shakyas and Bajracharyas perform Bare Chhuyegu which is initiation into the monkhood. The boy disrobes and goes back to being a layman after four days.

For a female child, Ihi (also called Bel Bibaha) is performed between the ages of five to nine. The next ceremony is Baray when a girl approaches puberty. She is kept in a room for 12 days hidden from the sun and generally taught domestic sciences. At the end of the retreat, a service is held. The next ceremony is marriage. Janku is an old-age ceremony which is conducted when a person reaches the age of 77 years, seven months and seven days. Further Janku ceremonies are performed at similar auspicious milestones after which the person is accorded deified status. The Sagan ceremony where auspicious food items are presented is an important part of life-cycle rituals.

All Newars, except the Laakumi and Jogi caste, cremate their dead. The Jogis bury their dead. As part of the funeral, offerings are made to the spirit of the deceased, the crow and the dog. The crow and the dog represent ancestors and the god of death. Subsequently, offerings and rituals are conducted four, seven, eight, 13 and 45 days following death and monthly for a year and then annually.

Buddhist Newars also make a mandala (sand painting) depicting the Buddha on the third day after death which is preserved for four days.

SUB-COMMUNITIES

Newa people are divided into various endogamous clans or groups on the basis of their ancient hereditary occupations, deriving its roots in the classic late-Vedic Varna model. Although first introduced in the time of the Licchavis, the Newar caste system assumed its present shape during the medieval Malla period.

NEWA GAMES

The games which had been played by prasanga people from their ancient time can be classified as Newa games.

Kana kana pichha (Blindfold game) , Piyah (a game played with stone by pushing stone within the marks drawn in ground) ,Gatti (another game played with stone by hand), pasa are some games played by newar people since ancient time.

WIKIPEDIA

Shaft Grave IV, Grave Circle A, Mycenae. 1600-1500 BC.

National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

Gold male death-mask made of sheet metal with repoussé details portraying the deceased's eyes opened, the only one in Shaft Grave IV.

Once part of a large cemetery outside the acropolis walls, Grave Circle A was discovered within the Mycenaean citadel by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 under the supervision of the Greek Ephor of Antiquities Panagiotis Stamatakis.

The tombs in Grave Circle A contained a total of nineteen burials: nine males, eight females and two infants. With the exception of Grave II, which contained a single burial, all of the other graves contained between two and five inhumations.

The amazing wealth of the grave gifts reveals both the high social rank and the martial spirit of the deceased: gold jewelry and vases, a large number of decorated swords and other bronze objects, and artefacts made of imported materials, such as amber, lapis lazuli, faience and ostrich eggs. All of these, together with a small but characteristic group of pottery vessels, confirm Mycenae's importance during this period, and justify Homer's designation of Mycenae as 'rich in gold.'

Shaft Grave IV is conspicuous by its wealth and size. It contained three male and two female inhumations. Two of the deceased were placed on a north-south axis, contrary to the more common east-west axis. The three gold death-masks are the par excellence male burial accoutrements. One male burial also had a gold breastplate. This grave contained precious gold, silver and stone vases, ritual rhytons (libation vases), either with intricate decoration, or in the shape of animals, large bronze vessels and numerous weapons, including a beautiful dagger with an inlaid lion hunt scene. The deceased were adorned with gold diadems, numerous pieces of gold jewelry, a variety of cut-out foil ornaments, and belts or straps.

Description: Yizkor

Creator/Photographer: Schatz, Boris

Object Origin: Jerusalem (?), Israel

Medium: painting: oil on panel; frame: copper; cast, repousse, painted

Date: 1929 (?)

Persistent URL: http://museums.cjh.org/Display.php?irn=78928

Repository: Yeshiva University Museum, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

Call Number: 1988.019

Rights Information: No known copyright restrictions; may be subject to third party rights. For more copyright information, click here.

See more information about this image and others at CJH Museum Collections.

Etsy Metal challenge for the month is "sun". I had a piece of bread-biscuit tin with the pink and red stripes which made great sunbeams in a Beatles "Yellow Submarine" style of graphics, so I started with that. The sun face is repoussed from the same piece of biscuit tin...I was suprised at how well the thin steel coped with the process. Despite using repousse since the late 80's this is the first time I've ever tried it in the 'tin', believe it or not. Feeling a bit low at the time, I came up with the slogan to indicate that it is possible to cheer up. Coral and aventurine beads. Bird flying up from its roost across the sky for a new day. Also consists of scrap silver wire, scrap of copper (back) and silver chain.

One of the exhibits from the Patan Museum, Nepal. The museum is worth visiting as much for the historic buiding as the exhibits themselves.

More photos from the trip : www.flickr.com/photos/darrellg/albums/72157709610673461

From Wikipedia : "The Patan Museum is a museum located in Patan, Lalitpur, Nepal. The museum falls under the UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. The Patan Museum was inaugurated in 1997 by Late King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah. The Patan Museum displays the traditional sacred arts of Nepal in an illustrious architectural setting. Its home is an old residential court of Patan Darbar, one of the royal palaces of former Malla Kings of the Kathmandu Valley. The Museum’s exhibits cover a long span of Nepal’s cultural history and some rare objects are among its treasures. Most of the objects are cast bronzes and gilt copper repoussé work, traditional crafts for which Patan is famous."

My Website : Twitter : Facebook : Instagram : Photocrowd

© D.Godliman

پلاک طلا مینای، رقم محمد باقر، ایران، قرن 19 میلادی

6.3در 7 سانتی متر

A enamelled gold plaque, signed Muhammad Baqir, Persia, 19th century

decorated in repoussé motifs and polychrome enamels with a central cartouche depicting a mother and child flanked by a female and winged attendant beneath a calligraphic detail.

6.3 by 7cm

Sterling, Fine Silver, Almandine Garnet. Sawn petal shapes, repouseed stacked and soldered. Shank made by soldering various types of wires together - twisted silver, plain round, multistrand fancy wire. Leaf shapes, sawn, chased and repouseed. Size between 7 and 8.5. Open, squared, ring shank. Liver of sulpher patina

Gilded silver; 4th century C.E.; From Iran

65.126

The Sasanian dynasty of Iran ruled an area from the Euphrates River to Bactria from the third century A.D. until the Islamic conquest in the seventh century, controlling for much of that time the Silk Road from Byzantium to China.

Dating from the fourth century, this royal head, hammered from a single sheet of silver, with chased and repoussé details, has parallels in imperial portraits made in the Roman West. The king wears simple ovoid earrings and a beaded necklace of Sasanian fashion. His powerful stare and characteristic arched nose seem to suggest that the artist was attempting to convey a sense of majesty rather than an individual likeness. The identity of the subject of such representations, in relief or in the round, can often be determined by comparison of facial features and details of the crown with those of kings portrayed on Sasanian coins of the period. In this case, however, the crescent that decorates the crenellated crown and the striated orb that rises above it have no exact parallel. It does appear, however, on crowns worn by Kushano-Sasanian rulers. No crescent is seen on the official crowns of Shapur II, but a rock relief at Taq-i Bustan depicts Shapur III (r. 383–88) in a similar fashion.

Source: Head of a king, probably Shapur I [Iran] (65.126) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Shaft Grave V, Grave Circle A, Mycenae. 1600-1500 BC.

National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

Gold funerary breastplate decorated with repoussé spirals. Two repoussé circles indicate the nipples. The breast plates are reminiscent of the luxurious Pharaonic Egyptian burials, where the mummified bodies were covered entirely with gold.

Once part of a large cemetery outside the acropolis walls, Grave Circle A was discovered within the Mycenaean citadel by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 under the supervision of the Greek Ephor of Antiquities Panagiotis Stamatakis.

The tombs in Grave Circle A contained a total of nineteen burials: nine males, eight females and two infants. With the exception of Grave II, which contained a single burial, all of the other graves contained between two and five inhumations.

The amazing wealth of the grave gifts reveals both the high social rank and the martial spirit of the deceased: gold jewelry and vases, a large number of decorated swords and other bronze objects, and artefacts made of imported materials, such as amber, lapis lazuli, faience and ostrich eggs. All of these, together with a small but characteristic group of pottery vessels, confirm Mycenae's importance during this period, and justify Homer's designation of Mycenae as 'rich in gold.'

Shaft Grave V contained three male burials. Two of the deceased wore gold death-masks, one of which is known as the "Mask of Agamemnon". The grave gifts included gold breastplates, elaborate bronze swords and daggers, gold and silver vessels, an ostrich egg rhyton and a wooden pyxis. There was less gold jewelry that in the female graves, but a great number of amber beads.

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

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.

Aikin Lambert BHR eyedropper filler with repoussé gold filled Half Overlay - Chased pattern (c.1910)

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.

The faces are kept scratch free and polished.

A repost.

Thank you all for the visits, faves and comments during the past year (2023)! Can't thank you enough. My apologies for rarely doing the same.

I don't have a fireworks image or anything remotely New Year. Instead, I took a quick shot (ages ago) of a prayer wheel that I have had for a few decades, bought in Dubai, Oct/Nov 1972, when we were on local leave from Oman. This city is in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai.

In my imagination (and maybe in yours, too), this wheel can turn and turn forever, repeating prayers (and hope) that some day the world will change and each one of us would be able to live in peace, no matter what part of the world one lives. Hopefully, the year 2024 will begin to change in that direction - it definitely needs to. Wishing you all a healthy, happy and peaceful New Year. If you are out on the roads, please don't drink and drive.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_wheel

"In Buddhism, a prayer wheel is of a hollow metal cylinder, often beautifully embossed, mounted on a rod handle and containing a tightly wound scroll printed with a mantra. Prayer wheels come in many sizes: they may be small, attached to a stick, and spun around by hand, medium-sized and set up at monasteries or temples, or very large and continuously spun by a wind or water mill.

Prayer wheels are used primarily by the Buddhists of Tibet and Nepal, where hand-held prayer wheels are carried by pilgrims and other devotees and turned during devotional activities.

According to Tibetan Buddhist belief, spinning a prayer wheel is just as effective as reciting the sacred texts aloud. This belief derives from the Buddhist belief in the power of sound and the formulas to which deities are subject. For many Buddhists, the prayer wheel also represents the Wheel of the Law (or Dharma) set in motion by the Buddha.

The prayer wheel is also useful for illiterate members of the lay Buddhist community, since they can "read" the prayers by turning the wheel.

The external cylinder of a prayer wheel is made out of repoussé metal, usually gilded bronze. The wheel is supported on a handle or axis made of wood or a precious metal. On the outside of the cylinder are inscriptions in Sanskrit (or sometimes Tibetan) script (often Om mani padme hum) and auspicious Buddhist symbols. This outer part is removable to allow for the insertion of the sacred text into the cylinder. The uppermost point of the prayer wheel forms the shape of a lotus bud.

The cylinder contains a sacred text written or printed on paper or animal skin. These texts might be sutra or invocations to particular deities (dharani or mantras). In Tibetan prayer wheels, the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is printed in an ancient Indian script or in Tibetan script, usually on the outside as well as on the scroll inside. "Om mani padme hum" is the most important mantra of Buddhism. It is the six syllable mantra of the Bodhisattva of compassion Avalokiteshvara. The Dalai Lama is said to be an incarnation of Avalokiteshvara, so the mantra is especially revered by his devotees." From religionfacts,com.

www.religionfacts.com/prayer-wheel

Gold repousse earring with carnelian inset of warrior with spear and shield. From Messapian chamber tomb West Necropolis 79/7 used from the 3rd Century BC - early 1st Century BC. Archaeological Museum. Egnazia. Apulia, Italy. Copyright 2016, James A. Glazier.

Armure aux armoiries de Nabeshima Yoshishige (1707 - 1730), domaine de Saga (la province de Hizen sur Kyūshū), Japon 日本.

Epoque Edo.

Expo Daymio (大名) - Seigneurs de la Guerre au Japon.

Musée Guimet (MNAAG), Paris (75).

Matériaux utilisés : fer, fer repoussé, laque, bois, soie, cuivre doré.

On y voit la cuirasse, appelée dô (胴).

Le kabuto (casque, 兜, 冑) et ses ornements.

La jupe : kusazuri (草摺)

Le masque : menpō ou mempō (面頬).

Épaulière : sode (袖).

Genouillère : tateage (立挙)

Jambière : suneate (臑当)

Soleret : kōgake (甲懸)

Cuissard : haidate (佩楯)

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 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.

RELIEF is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb relevo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane. What is actually performed when a relief is cut in from a flat surface of stone (relief sculpture) or wood (relief carving) is a lowering of the field, leaving the unsculpted parts seemingly raised. The technique involves considerable chiselling away of the background, which is a time-consuming exercise with little artistic effect if the lowered background is left plain, as is often the case. On the other hand, a relief saves forming the rear of a subject, and is less fragile and more securely fixed than a sculpture in the round, especially one of a standing figure where the ankles are a potential weak point, especially in stone. In other materials such as metal, clay, plaster stucco, ceramics or papier-mache the form can be just added to or raised up from the background, and monumental bronze reliefs are made by casting.

There are different degrees of relief depending on the degree of projection of the sculpted form from the field, for which the Italian appellations are still sometimes used. The full range includes high relief (alto-rilievo), where more than 50% of the depth is shown and there may be undercut areas, mid-relief (mezzo-rilievo), low-relief (basso-rilievo, or French: bas-relief), and shallow-relief or rilievo schiacciato, where the plane is scarcely more than scratched in order to remove background material. There is also sunk relief, which was mainly restricted to Ancient Egypt. However the distinction between high relief and low relief is the clearest and most important, and these two are generally the only terms used to discuss most work. The definition of these terms is somewhat variable, and many works combine areas in more than one of them, sometimes sliding between them in a single figure; accordingly some writers prefer to avoid all distinctions. The opposite of relief sculpture is counter-relief, intaglio, or cavo-rilievo, where the form is cut into the field or background rather than rising from it; this is very rare in monumental sculpture.

Reliefs are common throughout the world on the walls of buildings and a variety of smaller settings, and a sequence of several panels or sections of relief may represent an extended narrative. Relief is more suitable for depicting complicated subjects with many figures and very active poses, such as battles, than free-standing "sculpture in the round". Most ancient architectural reliefs were originally painted, which helped to define forms in low relief. The subject of reliefs is for convenient reference assumed in this article to be usually figures, but sculpture in relief often depicts decorative geometrical or foliage patterns, as in the arabesques of Islamic art, and may be of any subject.

TYPES

The distinction between high and low relief is somewhat subjective, and the two are very often combined in a single work. In particular, most later "high reliefs" contain sections in low relief, usually in the background. From the Parthenon Frieze onwards, many single figures have heads in high relief, but their lower legs are in low relief; the slightly projecting figures created in this way work well in reliefs that are seen from below (see Moissac portal in gallery). As unfinished examples from various periods show, raised reliefs, whether high or low, were normally "blocked out" by marking the outline of the figure and reducing the background areas to the new background level, work no doubt performed by apprentices. Hyphens may or may not be used in all these terms, though they are rarely seen in "sunk relief" and are usual in "bas-relief" and "counter-relief". Works in the technique are described as "in relief", and, especially in monumental sculpture, the work itself is "a relief".

BAS-RELIEF OR LOW RELIEF

A bas-relief ("low relief"], from the Italian basso rilievo) or low relief is a projecting image with a shallow overall depth, for example used on coins, on which all images are in low relief. In the lowest reliefs the relative depth of the elements shown is completely distorted, and if seen from the side the image makes no sense, but from the front the small variations in depth register as a three-dimensional image. Other versions distort depth much less. It is a technique which requires less work, and is therefore cheaper to produce, as less of the background needs to be removed in a carving, or less modelling is required. In the art of Ancient Egypt and other ancient Near Eastern and Asian cultures, and also Meso-America, a very low relief was commonly used for the whole composition. These images would all be painted after carving, which helped to define the forms; today the paint has worn off in the great majority of surviving examples, but minute, invisible remains of paint can usually be discovered through chemical means.

The Ishtar Gate of Babylon, now in Berlin, has low reliefs of large animals formed from moulded bricks, glazed in colour. Plaster was sometimes used in Egypt and Rome, and probably elsewhere, but needs very good conditions to survive – Roman decorative plasterwork is mainly known from Pompeii and other sites buried by ash from Mount Vesuvius. Low relief was relatively rare in Western medieval art, but may be found, for example in wooden figures or scenes on the insides of the folding wings of multi-panel altarpieces.

Low relief is probably the most common type of relief found in Hindu-Buddhist arts of India and Southeast Asia. The low reliefs of 2nd-century BCE to 6th-century CE Ajanta Caves* and 5th to 10th-century Ellora Caves* in India are noted for they were carved out from rock-cut hill. They are probably the most exquisite examples of Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain arts in India. Most of these low reliefs are used in narrating sacred scriptures, such as those founds in 9th century Borobudur* Temple in Central Java, Indonesia, that narrating The birth of Buddha (Lalitavistara). Borobudur itself possess 1,460 panels of narrating low reliefs. Another example is low reliefs narrating Ramayana Hindu epic in Prambanan temple, also in Java. In Cambodia, the temples of Angkor* are also remarkable for their collection of low reliefs. The Samudra manthan or "Churning of Ocean of Milk" of 12th-century Angkor Wat is an example of Khmer art. Another examples are low reliefs of Apsaras adorned the walls and pillars of Angkorian temples. The low reliefs of Bayon* temple in Angkor Thom also remarkable on capturing the daily life of Khmer Empire.

The revival of low relief, which was seen as a classical style, begins early in the Renaissance; the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini, a pioneering classicist building, designed by Leon Battista Alberti around 1450, uses low reliefs by Agostino di Duccio inside and on the external walls. Since the Renaissance plaster has been very widely used for indoor ornamental work such as cornices and ceilings, but in the 16th century it was used for large figures (many also using high relief) at the Chateau of Fontainebleau, which were imitated more crudely elsewhere, for example in the Elizabethan Hardwick Hall.

In later Western art, until a 20th-century revival, low relief was used mostly for smaller works or combined with higher relief to convey a sense of distance, or to give depth to the composition, especially for scenes with many figures and a landscape or architectural background, in the same way that lighter colours are used for the same purpose in painting. Thus figures in the foreground are sculpted in high-relief, those in the background in low-relief. Low relief may use any medium or technique of sculpture, stone carving and metal casting being most common. Large architectural compositions all in low relief saw a revival in the 20th century, being popular on buildings in Art Deco and related styles, which borrowed from the ancient low reliefs now available in museums. Some sculptors, including Eric Gill, have adopted the "squashed" depth of low relief in works that are actually free-standing.

Mid-relief, "half-relief" or mezzo-rilievo is somewhat imprecisely defined, and the term is not often used in English, the works usually being described as low relief instead. The typical traditional definition is that only up to half of the subject projects, and no elements are undercut or fully disengaged from the background field. The depth of the elements shown is normally somewhat distorted. Shallow-relief or rilievo stiacciato, used for the background areas of compositions with the main elements in low-relief, was perfected by the Italian Renaissance sculptor Donatello. It is a very shallow relief, which merges into engraving in places, and can be hard to read in photographs.

HIGH RELIEF

High relief (or altorilievo, from Italian) is where in general more than half the mass of the sculpted figure projects from the background, indeed the most prominent elements of the composition, especially heads and limbs, are often completely undercut, detaching them from the field. The parts of the subject that are seen are normally depicted at their full depth, unlike low relief where the elements seen are "squashed" flatter. High-relief thus uses essentially the same style and techniques as free-standing sculpture, and in the case of a single figure gives largely the same view as a person standing directly in front of a free-standing statue would have. All cultures and periods in which large sculptures were created used this technique in monumental sculpture and architecture.

Most of the many grand figure reliefs in Ancient Greek sculpture used a very "high" version of high-relief, with elements often fully free of the background, and parts of figures crossing over each other to indicate depth. The metopes of the Parthenon have largely lost their fully rounded elements, except for heads, showing the advantages of relief in terms of durability. High relief has remained the dominant form for reliefs with figures in Western sculpture, also being common in Indian temple sculpture. Smaller Greek sculptures such as private tombs, and smaller decorative areas such as friezes on large buildings, more often used low relief.

Hellenistic and Roman sarcophagus reliefs were cut with a drill rather than chisels, enabling and encouraging compositions extremely crowded with figures, like the Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus (250–260 CE). These are also seen in the enormous strips of reliefs that wound round Roman triumphal columns. The sarcophagi in particular exerted a huge influence on later Western sculpture. The European Middle Ages tended to use high relief for all purposes in stone, though like Ancient Roman sculpture their reliefs were typically not as high as in Ancient Greece. Very high relief reemerged in the Renaissance, and was especially used in wall-mounted funerary art and later on Neo-classical pediments and public monuments.

In Hindu-Buddhist art of India and Southeast Asia high relief can also be found, although it is not as common as low reliefs. Most of Hindu-Buddhist sculptures however also can be considered as a high relief, since these sculptures usually connected to a stella as the background to support the statue as well as provides additional elements such as aura or halo in the back of sculpture's head, or floral decoration. The examples of Indian high reliefs can be found in Khajuraho temple, that displaying voluptuous twisting figures that often describes the erotic Kamasutra positions. In 9th-century Prambanan temple, Central Java, the examples are the high reliefs of Lokapala devatas, the guardian of directions deities.

SUNK RELIEF

Sunk or sunken relief is largely restricted to the art of Ancient Egypt where it is very common, becoming after the Amarna period of Ahkenaten the dominant type used, as opposed to low relief. It had been used earlier, but mainly for large reliefs on external walls, and for hieroglyphs and cartouches. The image is made by cutting the relief sculpture itself into a flat surface. In a simpler form the images are usually mostly linear in nature, like hieroglyphs, but in most cases the figure itself is in low relief, but set within a sunken area shaped round the image, so that the relief never rises beyond the original flat surface. In some cases the figures and other elements are in a very low relief that does not rise to the original surface, but others are modeled more fully, with some areas rising to the original surface. This method minimizes the work removing the background, while allowing normal relief modelling.

The technique is most successful with strong sunlight to emphasise the outlines and forms by shadow, as no attempt was made to soften the edge of the sunk area, leaving a face at a right-angle to the surface all around it. Some reliefs, especially funerary monuments with heads or busts from ancient Rome and later Western art, leave a "frame" at the original level around the edge of the relief, or place a head in a hemispherical recess in the block (see Roman example in gallery). Though essentially very similar to Egyptian sunk relief, but with a background space at the lower level around the figure, the term would not normally be used of such works.

COUNTER RELIEF

Sunk relief technique is not to be confused with "counter-relief" or intaglio as seen on engraved gem seals—where an image is fully modeled in a "negative" manner. The image goes into the surface, so that when impressed on wax it gives an impression in normal relief. However many engraved gems were carved in cameo or normal relief.

A few very late Hellenistic monumental carvings in Egypt use full "negative" modelling as though on a gem seal, perhaps as sculptors trained in the Greek tradition attempted to use traditional Egyptian conventions.

SMALL OBJECTS

Small-scale reliefs have been carved in various materials, notably ivory, wood, and wax. Reliefs are often found in decorative arts such as ceramics and metalwork; these are less often described as "reliefs" than as "in relief". Small bronze reliefs are often in the form of "plaques", which may be set in furniture or framed. Various modelling techniques are used, such repoussé ("pushed-back") in metalwork, where a thin metal plate is shaped from behind using various metal or wood punches, producing a relief image. Casting has also been widely used in bronze and other metals. Casting and repoussé are often used in concert in to speed up production and add greater detail to the final relief. In stone, as well as engraved gems, larger hardstone carvings in semi-precious stones have been highly prestigious since ancient times in many Eurasian cultures. Reliefs in wax were produced at least from the Renaissance.

Carved ivory reliefs have been used since ancient times, and because the material, though expensive, cannot usually be reused, they have a relatively high survival rate, and for example consular diptychs represent a large proportion of the survivals of portable secular art from Late Antiquity. In the Gothic period the carving of ivory reliefs became a considerable luxury industry in Paris and other centres. As well as small diptychs and triptychs with densely packed religious scenes, usually from the New Testament, secular objects, usually in a lower relief, were also produced. These were often round mirror-cases, combs, handles, and other small items, but included a few larger caskets like the Casket with Scenes of Romances (Walters 71264) in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. Originally there were very often painted in bright colours. Reliefs can be impressed by stamps onto clay, or the clay pressed into a mould bearing the design, as was usual with the mass-produced terra sigillata of Ancient Roman pottery. Decorative reliefs in plaster or stucco may be much larger; this form of architectural decoration is found in many styles of interiors in the post-Renaissance West, and in Islamic architecture.

* go to my pictures of:

Ajanta Caves, Ellora Caves, Angkor Wat, Angkor Tom, Borobodur, Prambanan . . .

Shaft Grave V, Grave Circle A, Mycenae. 1600-1500 BC.

National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

Gold death mask of a man, made of a gold sheet with repoussé details. The gold mask is the exclusive funerary apparel of Mycenaean males.

Once part of a large cemetery outside the acropolis walls, Grave Circle A was discovered within the Mycenaean citadel by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 under the supervision of the Greek Ephor of Antiquities Panagiotis Stamatakis.

The tombs in Grave Circle A contained a total of nineteen burials: nine males, eight females and two infants. With the exception of Grave II, which contained a single burial, all of the other graves contained between two and five inhumations.

The amazing wealth of the grave gifts reveals both the high social rank and the martial spirit of the deceased: gold jewelry and vases, a large number of decorated swords and other bronze objects, and artefacts made of imported materials, such as amber, lapis lazuli, faience and ostrich eggs. All of these, together with a small but characteristic group of pottery vessels, confirm Mycenae's importance during this period, and justify Homer's designation of Mycenae as 'rich in gold.'

Shaft Grave V contained three male burials. Two of the deceased wore gold death-masks, one of which is known as the "Mask of Agamemnon". The grave gifts included gold breastplates, elaborate bronze swords and daggers, gold and silver vessels, an ostrich egg rhyton and a wooden pyxis. There was less gold jewelry that in the female graves, but a great number of amber beads.

I gathered some of my older beads for this necklace to celebrate the brilliant autumn colors-- my little Bumblebeads, Czech glass, jasper, a polymer owl pendant by Tesori Trovati and all supporting the wonderful repousse copper pendant by my husband, Douglas.

For more on my process, visit my blog:

storiestheytell.blogspot.com

The Magnificent and beautiful lady, the Statue of Liberty, Liberty Island, New York City. I was so moved by her stunning beauty and impressed by the absolute perfection of this marvelous representation of liberty. 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

The Newar people or Newars (/nɪˈwɑrz/; Newar: नेवार) are the historical inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley and its surrounding areas in Nepal and the creators of its historic civilization.

The valley and surrounding territories constituted the former Newar kingdom of the Nepal Mandala. Unlike a common-origin ethnic group, Newars are a good example of a nation-community with relic-identity of a previously existing country. Newar community within it consists of various strands of ethnic, racial, caste and religious heterogeneity, as Newars of today are descendants of the diverse group of people that have lived in Nepal Mandala since prehistoric times. Indo-Aryan immigrants like the Licchavis and Mallas that arrived at different periods eventually merged with the local indigenous population by adopting their language and customs. These immigrants retained their Indic heritage and brought with them their Sanskritic languages, social structure, Vedic religion and culture which has profoundly altered the history of Newar civilization. Newar rule in Nepal Mandala ended with its conquest by the Gorkha Kingdom in 1768.

Today, Newars are a linguistic and cultural community of primarily Indo-Aryan and Tibeto-Burman ethnicities following Hinduism and Buddhism with Nepal Bhasa as their common language. Unlike other ethnic or caste groups of Nepal, they are a linguistic and cultural community that transcends religion, caste, ethnicity and cultural distinctions. Scholars have also described the Newars as a nation. They developed a division of labour and a sophisticated urban civilization not seen elsewhere in the Himalayan foothills. They are known for their contributions to art, sculpture, architecture, culture, literature, music, industry, trade, agriculture and cuisine, and left their mark on the art of Central Asia.

According to Nepal's 2011 census, the 1,321,933 Newars in the country are the nation's sixth-largest ethnic group, representing 5% of the population. Recent mass migration into the Kathmandu Valley has resulted in the Newars becoming a minority in their homeland. Despite the high level of development, Newar culture and language are both under threat today.

HISTORY

For about a thousand years, the Newari civilization in Central Nepal preserved a microcosm of classical North Indian culture in which Brahmanic and Buddhist elements enjoyed equal status. Snellgrove and Richardson (1968) speak of 'the direct heritage of pre-Islamic India'.

The different divisions of Newars had different historical developments. The common identity of Newar was formed in the Kathmandu Valley. Until the conquest of the valley by the Gorkha Kingdom in 1769, all the people who had inhabited the valley at any point of time were either Newar or progenitors of Newar. So, the history of Newar correlates to the history of the Kathmandu Valley prior to the establishment of the modern state of Nepal.

The earliest known history of Newar and the Kathmandu Valley blends with mythology recorded in historical chronicles. One such text, which recounts the creation of the valley, is the Swayambhu Purana. According to this Buddhist scripture, the Kathmandu Valley was a giant lake until the Bodhisattva Manjusri, with the aid of a holy sword, cut a gap in the surrounding hills and let the water out. This apocryphal legend is supported by geological evidence of an ancient lakebed, and it provides an explanation for the high fertility of the Kathmandu Valley soil.

According to the Swayambhu Purana, Manjusri then established a city called Manjupattan (Sanskrit "Land Established by Manjusri"), now called Manjipā, and made Dharmākara its king. A shrine dedicated to Manjusri is still present in Majipā. No historical documents have been found after this era till the advent of the Gopal era. A genealogy of kings is recorded in a chronicle called Gopalarajavamsavali. According to this manuscript, the Gopal kings were followed by the Mahispals and the Kirats before the Licchavis entered from the south. Some claim Buddha to have visited Nepal during the reign of Kirat king Jitedasti. The Licchavi dynasty ruled for at least 600 years, followed by the Malla dynasty in the 12th century AD.

Newar reign over the valley and their sovereignty and influence over neighboring territories ended with the conquest of the Kathmandu Valley in 1769 by the Gorkhali Shah dynasty founded by Prithvi Narayan Shah. Systematic brutal suppression of the Newar people was pursued for generations during early dynastic rule in order to discourage them from any political aspiration.

Prior to the Gorkha conquest, which began with the Battle of Kirtipur in 1767, the borders of Nepal Mandala extended to Tibet in the north, the nation of the Kirata in the east, the kingdom of Makwanpur in the south and the Trishuli River in the west which separated it from the kingdom of Gorkha.

ECONOMY HISTORY

Trade, industry and agriculture have been the mainstay of the economy of the Newars. They are made up of social groups associated with hereditary professions that provide ritual and economic services. Merchants, craftsmen, artists, potters, weavers, dyers, farmers and other castes all played their part in creating a flourishing economic system. Elaborate cultural traditions which required the use of varied objects and services also fuelled the economy. Towns and villages in the Kathmandu Valley specialized in producing particular products, and rich agriculture produced a surplus for export.

For centuries, Newar merchants have handled trade between Tibet and India besides exporting locally manufactured products to Tibet. Rice was another major export. Porters and pack mules transported merchandise over mountain tracks that formed the old trade routes. Since the 18th century, Newars have spread out across Nepal and established trading towns dotting the midhills. They are known as jewelry makers and shopkeepers. Today, they are engaged in modern industry, business and service sectors.

RELIGION

According to the 2001 Nepal Census, 84.13% of the Newars were Hindu and 15.31% were Buddhist, but most of the Newars practice both Hinduism and Buddhism. These days Christianity, Islam, and other religions are also followed.

Out of the three main cities of the Kathmandu Valley which are historically Newar, the city of Patan is the most Buddhist containing the four stupas built by Indian emperor Ashoka. Bhaktapur is primarily Hindu, while Kathmandu is a mix of both. Generally, both Hindu and Buddhist deities are worshiped and festivals are celebrated by both religious groups. However, for ritual activities, Hindu and Buddhist Newars have their own priests and cultural differences.

Religiously, the Newars can be classified as both Hindu and Buddhist. The major cults are Vajrayana Buddhism and Tantric Hinduism. The former is referred to as Buddhamarga, the latter as Sivamarga. Both creeds have been established since antiquity in the valley. Both Buddhamargi and Sivamargi Newars are Tantricists, i.e., one believes that the union of male and female powers moves the universe. In this regard the cult of the mother Goddesses and their consorts, the Bhairavas, is particularly important. The most important shrines in the valley are Swayambhunath (Buddhist) and Pashupatinath (Hindu). Different castes worship different deities at different occasions, and more or less intensively. Only the higher echelons in the caste system claim to be exclusively Buddhist or Hindu. The Vajracharyas, Buddhist priests, will adamantly maintain that they are Buddhists, and so will the Bare and the Uray, whereas, the Deobrahman, the Jha, and the dominant Shresthas will maintain that they are Hindus. Further down in the caste hierarchy no distinction is made between Buddhists and Hindus. Hindu and Buddhist alike always worship Ganesh first in every ritual, and every locality has its local Ganesh shrine (Ganesh Than).

Although Newar Buddhism (Vajrayana) had been traditionally practiced in the Kathmandu Valley, Theravada Buddhism made a comeback in Nepal in the 1920s and now is a common form of Buddhism among Buddhamargi Newars.

LANGUAGE

Newars are bound together by a common language and culture. Their common language is Nepal Bhasa or the linguistic progenitor of that language. However, despite a government directive that the name Nepal Bhasa should be used, the Central Bureau of Statistics has not been doing so.

Nepal Bhasa already existed as a spoken language during the Licchavi period. Inscriptions in Nepal Bhasa emerged from the 12th century, the palm-leaf manuscript from Uku Bahah being the first example. Nepal Bhasa developed from the 14th to the late 18th centuries as the court and state language. It was used universally in stone and copper inscriptions, sacred manuscripts, official documents, journals, title deeds, correspondence and creative writing.

In 2011, there were approximately 846,000 native speakers of Nepal Bhasa. Many Newar communities within Nepal also speak their own dialects of Nepal Bhasa, such as the Dolakha Newar Language. Nepal Bhasa is of Tibeto-Burman origin but has been heavily influenced by Indo-Aryan languages like Sanskrit, Pali, Bengali and Maithili.

SCRIPTS

Nepal script is a group of scripts that developed from the Brahmi script and are used primarily to write Nepal Bhasa and Sanskrit. Among the different scripts, Ranjana, Bhujinmol and Prachalit are the most common. Nepal script is also known as Nepal Lipi and Nepal Akhala.

Nepal script appeared in the 10th century. For a thousand years, it was used on stone and copper plate inscriptions, coins (Nepalese mohar), palm-leaf documents and Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts. Devanagari began to be used to write Nepal Bhasa in the beginning of the 20th century, and Nepal script has limited usage today.

LITERATURE

Nepal Bhasa is one of the five languages in the Sino-Tibetan family with an ancient literary tradition. Literature in Nepal Bhasa began as translation and commentary in prose in the 14th century AD. The earliest known document in Nepal Bhasa is called "The Palmleaf from Uku Bahal" which dates from 1114 AD during the Thakuri period.

Classical Nepal Bhasa literature is represented by all the three major genres-prose, poetry and drama. Most of the writings consist of prose including chronicles, popular stories and scientific manuals. Poetry consists of love songs, ballads, working songs and religious poetry. The earliest poems date from the 1570s. Epic poetry describing historical events and tragedies are very popular. The ballads Sitala Maju, about the expulsion of children from Kathmandu, Silu, about an ill-fated pilgrimage to Gosaikunda, and Ji Waya La Lachhi Maduni, about a luckless Tibet trader, are sung as seasonal songs.

The dramas are based on stories from the epics, and almost all of them were written during the 17th and 18th centuries. Nepal Bhasa literature flourished for five centuries until 1850. Since then, it suffered a period of decline due to political oppression. The period 1909–1941 is known as the Nepal Bhasa renaissance period when writers defied official censure and braved imprisonment to create literary works. Modern Nepal Bhasa literature began in the 1940s with the emergence of new genres like short stories, poems, essays, novels and plays.

DANCE

MASKED DANCE

Newar dance consists of sacred masked dance, religious dance without the use of masks known as Dyah Pyakhan, dance performed as part of a ritual and meditation practice known as Chachaa Pyakhan (Newar: चचा प्याखं) (Charya Nritya in Sanskrit) and folk dance. There are also masked dance dramas known as Daboo Pyakhan which enact religious stories to the accompaniment of music.

DHIME DANCE

The dance done in the tune of Dhime are Dhime dance.

MUSIC

Traditional Newa music consists of sacred music, devotional songs, seasonal songs, ballads and folk songs. One of the most well-known seasonal songs is Sitala Maju. The ballad describes the expulsion of children from Kathmandu in the early 19th century. Another seasonal song Silu is about a pilgrimage to Gosaikunda that went wrong. Ji Waya La Lachhi Maduni is a tragedy song about a newly married couple. The ballad Rajamati about unlucky lovers is widely popular. In 1908, maestro Seturam Shrestha made the first recording of the song on gramophone disc in Kolkata.

Common percussion instruments consist of the dhimay, khin, naykhin and dhaa. Wind instruments include the bansuri (flute), payntah (long trumpet) and mwahali (short trumpet), chhusya, bhusya, taa (cymbals), and gongs are other popular instruments. String instruments are very rare. Newa people call their music Dhime Baja.

The musical style and musical instruments are still in use today. Musical bands accompany religious processions in which an idol of a deity is placed in a chariot or portable shrine and taken around the city. Devotional songs known as bhajan may be sung daily in community houses. Hymn societies like Gyanmala Bhajan Khala hold regular recitals. Dapa songs are sung during hymn singing seasons at temple squares and sacred courtyards.

Gunla Bajan musical bands parade through the streets during Gunla, the 10th month of the Nepal Sambat calendar which is a holy month for Newar Buddhists. Musical performances start with an overture which is a salutation to the gods.

Seasonal songs and ballads are associated with particular seasons and festivals. Music is also played during wedding processions, life-cycle ceremonies and funeral processions.

POPULAR TRADITIONAL SONGS

Ghātu (summer music, this seasonal melody is played during Pahan Charhe festival)

Ji Wayā Lā Lachhi Maduni (tragedy of a merchant)

Mohani (festive joy, this seasonal tune is played during Mohani festival)

Rājamati (about young lovers)

Silu (about a couple who get separated during a pilgrimage, this seasonal music is played during the monsoon)

Sitālā Māju (lament for children expelled from the Kathmandu Valley)

RELIGIOUS MUSIC

Gunlā Bājan

ART

The Newars are the creators of most examples of art and architecture in Nepal. Traditional Newar art is basically religious art. Newar devotional paubha painting, sculpture and metal craftsmanship are world-renowned for their exquisite beauty. The earliest dated paubha discovered so far is Vasudhara Mandala which was painted in 1365 AD (Nepal Sambat 485). The murals on the walls of two 15th-century monasteries in the former kingdom of Mustang in the Nepal Himalaya provide illustrations of Newar works outside the Kathmandu Valley. Stone sculpture, wood carving, repoussé art and metal statues of Buddhist and Hindu deities made by the lost-wax casting process are specimens of Newar artistry. The Peacock Window of Bhaktapur and Desay Madu Jhya of Kathmandu are known for their wood carving.

Building elements like the carved Newar window, roof struts on temples and the tympanum of temples and shrine houses exhibit traditional creativity. From as early as the seventh century, visitors have noted the skill of Newar artists and craftsmen who left their influence on the art of Tibet and China. Newars introduced the lost-wax technique into Bhutan and they were commissioned to paint murals on the walls of monasteries there. Sandpainting of mandala made during festivals and death rituals is another specialty of Newar art.

Besides exhibiting a high level of skill in traditional religious art, Newar artists have been at the forefront in introducing Western art styles in Nepal. Raj Man Singh Chitrakar (1797-1865) is credited with starting watercolor painting in the country. Bhaju Man Chitrakar (1817–1874), Tej Bahadur Chitrakar (1898-1971) and Chandra Man Singh Maskey were other pioneer artists who introduced modern style paintings incorporating concepts of lighting and perspective.

TRADITIONAL PAINTING

Paubhā

ARCHITECTURE

There are seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites and 2,500 temples and shrines in the Kathmandu Valley that illustrate the skill and aesthetic sense of Newar artisans. Fine brickwork and woodcarving are the marks of Newar architecture. Residential houses, monastic courtyards known as baha and bahi, rest houses, temples, stupas, priest houses and palaces are the various architectural structures found in the valley. Most of the chief monuments are located in the Durbar Squares of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, the old royal palace complexes built between the 12th and 18th centuries.

Newa architecture consists of the pagoda, stupa, shikhara, chaitya and other styles. The valley's trademark is the multiple-roofed pagoda which may have originated in this area and spread to India, China, Indochina and Japan. The most famous artisan who influenced stylistic developments in China and Tibet was Arniko, a Newar youth who traveled to the court of Kublai Khan in the 13th century AD. He is known for building the white stupa at the Miaoying Temple in Beijing.

SETTLEMENTS

Durbar squares, temple squares, sacred courtyards, stupas, open-air shrines, dance platforms, sunken water fountains, public rest houses, bazaars, multistoried houses with elaborate carved windows and compact streets are the characteristics of traditional planning. Besides the historical cities of Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Madhyapur Thimi and Kirtipur, small towns with a similar artistic heritage dot the Kathmandu Valley where almost half of the Newar population lives.

Outside the valley, historical Newar settlements include Nuwakot, Nala, Banepa, Dhulikhel, Panauti, Dolakha, Chitlang and Bhimphedi. The Newars of Kathmandu founded Pokhara in 1752 at the invitation of the rulers of Kaski. Over the last two centuries, Newars have fanned out of the Kathmandu Valley and established trade centers and settled in various parts of Nepal. Bandipur, Baglung and Tansen in west Nepal and Chainpur and Bhojpur in east Nepal contain large Newar populations.

Outside Nepal, many Newars have settled in Darjeeling and Kalimpong in West Bengal, Assam, Manipur and Sikkim, India. Newars have also settled in Bhutan. Colonies of expatriate Newar merchants and artisans existed in Lhasa, Shigatse and Gyantse in Tibet till the mid-1960s when the traditional trade came to an end after the Sino-Indian War. In recent times, Newars have moved to different parts of Asia, Europe and America.

FESTIVALS

Newar religious culture is rich in ceremony and is marked by frequent festivals throughout the year. Many festivals are tied to Hindu and Buddhist holidays and the harvest cycle. Street celebrations include pageants, jatras or processions in which a car or portable shrine is paraded through the streets and sacred masked dances. Other festivals are marked by family feasts and worship. The celebrations are held according to the lunar calendar, so the dates are changeable.

Mohani (Dasain) is one of the greatest annual celebrations which is observed for several days with feasts, religious services and processions. During Swanti (Tihar), Newars celebrate New Year's Day of Nepal Sambat by doing Mha Puja, a ritual in which a mandala is worshipped, that purifies and strengthens one spiritually for the coming year.Similarly, Bhai Tika is also done during Swanti. It is a ritual observed to worship and respect a woman's brothers, with or without blood relation. Another major festival is Sā Pāru (Gai Jatra) when people who have lost a family member in the past year dress up as cows and saints, and parade through town, following a specific route. In some cases, a real cow may also be a part of the parade. People give such participants money, food and other gifts as donation. Usually, childrens are the participants of the parade.

In Kathmandu, the biggest street festival is Yenya (Indra Jatra) when three cars bearing the living goddess Kumari and two other child gods are pulled through the streets and masked dance performances are held. The two godchild are Ganesh and Bhairav. Another major celebration is Pahan Charhe when portable shrines bearing images of mother goddesses are paraded through Kathmandu. During the festival of Jana Baha Dyah Jatra, a temple car with an image of Karunamaya is drawn through central Kathmandu for three days. A similar procession is held in Lalitpur known as Bunga Dyah Jatra which continues for a month and climaxes with Bhoto Jatra, the display of the sacred vest. The biggest outdoor celebration in Bhaktapur is Biska Jatra which is marked by chariot processions and lasts for nine days. Sithi Nakha is another big festival when worship is offered and natural water sources are cleaned. In addition, all Newar towns and villages have their particular festival which is celebrated by holding a chariot or palanquin procession.

CLOTHING

Western wear is the norm as in urban areas in the rest of the country. Traditional costumes consist of trousers (suruwā) and long shirts (tappālan) for men, blouse (misālan) and saris (parsi) for women and ankle-length gowns (bhāntānlan) for girls. Ritual dresses consist of pleated gowns, coats and a variety of headresses. Similarly, a shawl (gā) are worn by women. Traditionally, newar women wear a shoe made out of red cloth. It is decorated with glitters and colorful beads (potya). One of the major part of newari dressup is bracelets (chūra).

CUISINE

Meals can be classified into three main categories: the daily meal, the afternoon snack and festival food. The daily meal consists of boiled rice, lentil soup, vegetable curry and relish. Meat is also served. The snack generally consists of rice flakes, roasted and curried soybeans, curried potato and roasted meat mixed with spices.

Food is also an important part of the ritual and religious life of the Newars, and the dishes served during festivals and feasts have symbolic significance. Different sets of ritual dishes are placed in a circle around the staple rice flakes to represent and honour different sets of deities depending on the festival or life-cycle ceremony.

Kwāti (क्वाति soup of different beans), kachilā (कचिला spiced minced meat), chhoyalā (छोयला water buffalo meat marinated in spices and grilled over the flames of dried wheat stalks), pukālā (पुकाला fried meat), wo (वः lentil cake), paun kwā (पाउँक्वा sour soup), swan pukā (स्वँपुका stuffed lungs), syen (स्येँ fried liver), mye (म्ये boiled and fried tongue), sapu mhichā (सःपू म्हिचा leaf tripe stuffed with bone marrow), sanyā khunā (सन्या खुना jellied fish soup) and takhā (तःखा jellied meat) are some of the popular festival foods. Dessert consists of dhau (धौ yogurt), sisābusā (सिसाबुसा fruits) and mari (मरि sweets). Thwon (थ्वँ rice beer) and aylā (अयला local alcohol) are the common alcoholic liquors that Newars make at home.

Traditionally, at meals, festivals and gatherings, Newars sit on long mats in rows. Typically, the sitting arrangement is hierarchical with the eldest sitting at the top and the youngest at the end. Newar cuisine makes use of mustard oil and a host of spices such as cumin, sesame seeds, turmeric, garlic, ginger, mint, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, chili and mustard seeds. Food is served in laptya (लप्त्य plates made of special leaves, held together by sticks). Similarly, any soups are served in botā (बोटा bowls made of leaves). Liquors are served in Salinchā (सलिंचाः bowls made of clay) and Kholchā (खोल्चाः small metal bowls).

LIFE-CYCLE CEREMONIES

Elaborate ceremonies chronicle the life cycle of a Newar from birth till death. Hindu Newars consider life-cycle rituals as a preparation for death and the life after it. Macha Janku, the rice feeding ceremony, is performed at the age of six or eight months for boys and at the age of five or seven months for girls. As a male child approaches puberty, the Kayta Puja, a rite of initiation, is performed. Shakyas and Bajracharyas perform Bare Chhuyegu which is initiation into the monkhood. The boy disrobes and goes back to being a layman after four days.

For a female child, Ihi (also called Bel Bibaha) is performed between the ages of five to nine. The next ceremony is Baray when a girl approaches puberty. She is kept in a room for 12 days hidden from the sun and generally taught domestic sciences. At the end of the retreat, a service is held. The next ceremony is marriage. Janku is an old-age ceremony which is conducted when a person reaches the age of 77 years, seven months and seven days. Further Janku ceremonies are performed at similar auspicious milestones after which the person is accorded deified status. The Sagan ceremony where auspicious food items are presented is an important part of life-cycle rituals.

All Newars, except the Laakumi and Jogi caste, cremate their dead. The Jogis bury their dead. As part of the funeral, offerings are made to the spirit of the deceased, the crow and the dog. The crow and the dog represent ancestors and the god of death. Subsequently, offerings and rituals are conducted four, seven, eight, 13 and 45 days following death and monthly for a year and then annually.

Buddhist Newars also make a mandala (sand painting) depicting the Buddha on the third day after death which is preserved for four days.

SUB-COMMUNITIES

Newar people are divided into various endogamous clans or groups on the basis of their ancient hereditary occupations, deriving its roots in the classic late-Vedic Varna model. Although first introduced in the time of the Licchavis, the Newar caste system assumed its present shape during the medieval Malla period.

NEWAR GAMES

The games which had been played by prasanga people from their ancient time can be classified as Newa games.

Kana kana pichha (Blindfold game), Piyah (a game played with stone by pushing stone within the marks drawn in ground), Gatti (another game played with stone by hand), pasa are some games played by newar people since ancient time.

WIKIPEDIA

family and cultural treasures: golden repousse amulet prayer-boxes have fantastic details and expression. created by tibetan and nepali goldsmiths by hammering the metal from both sides, these treasured possessions are only worn on the most ceremonial non-religious occasions, and passed down the family generation by generation. full of religious symbolism and monumental in scale, they are believed to provide protection from evil

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Ornaments make up most of the life savings of many Khampa families, and so play an important role in Tibetan families' lives as well as in announcing the social status of the wearers. They are saved up for over many years and handed down for centuries from generation to generation within families. Until very recently, these families were nomadic and have to move every few months because of the snowy seasons in the Himalayas, so Khampas have always needed to store their wealth in portable form. So being unable to store wealth in the form of estates or houses or land or in a bank, for millenia wealth has been stored in art, precious fabrics, and particularly into ornaments.

Their culture is very conservative about the type of ornaments favored: for thousands of years jewelry made from amber, turquoise and coral have been worn because the stones are believed to hold spiritual power. Gold and silver and also naturally found in Tibet, and the use of these metals by the wealthy also goes back thousands of years. Their ornaments are very chunky, bold and colorful. While the gold earrings that Khampa women wear may have cost them a year or maybe several year's of their salary, ornaments carry so much social status in their society that probably didn't have to think twice about the purchase.

To the Khampa people these ornaments have the utmost sentimental value and significance, because they are the physical remnants of generations of their ancestors hard work or success. what these people are wearing is not just their life savings, but also their family history and treasure. this culture has been around for millenia - archeological finds from the 1st century AD in the khampa area unearthed ornaments that are essentially the same in design and materials as today's are. there are also beliefs that the stones provide good luck and protection to disease. dyed red coral is the most sought after stone, but interestingly tibet is very very far from any oceans - all the coral is imported by traders! Religious symbols from Tibetan Buddhism frequency form the designs of pieces, however archeological finds show that the role of ornaments in Tibetan society and peoples' lives long predate the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet. Indeed the beliefs of spiritual protection being provided by coral, amber and turquoise probably originate from the ancient shamanic Bon religion.

Pierre-André Lablaude est architecte en chef des monuments historiques et inspecteur général des monuments historiques. Depuis 1990, il est responsable du parc de Versailles et des bâtiments qui s'y rattachent. Il a bien voulu, très gentiment, répondre à mes questions sur l'avancé des travaux. La remise en place de "l'araignée" est interrompue pour l'instant. Des analyses sont en cours pour savoir si le système hydraulique sera conservé dans l'état d'origine. Les tuyaux de plomb qui avaient été moulés dans du sable de Fontainebleau, se sont altérés avec le temps. Les pierres du centre du Bassin ne sont donc pas en place. Les essais de remontage des marbres ont commencés.

La mise en eaux prévue initialement pour la fin du mois d'octobre serait repoussée au printemps 2015.

Shaft Grave V, Grave Circle A, Mycenae. 1600-1500 BC.

National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

Wooden hexagonal pyxis (Greek for box) decorated with repoussé gold plate depicting lions chasing a deer.

Once part of a large cemetery outside the acropolis walls, Grave Circle A was discovered within the Mycenaean citadel by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 under the supervision of the Greek Ephor of Antiquities Panagiotis Stamatakis.

The tombs in Grave Circle A contained a total of nineteen burials: nine males, eight females and two infants. With the exception of Grave II, which contained a single burial, all of the other graves contained between two and five inhumations.

The amazing wealth of the grave gifts reveals both the high social rank and the martial spirit of the deceased: gold jewelry and vases, a large number of decorated swords and other bronze objects, and artefacts made of imported materials, such as amber, lapis lazuli, faience and ostrich eggs. All of these, together with a small but characteristic group of pottery vessels, confirm Mycenae's importance during this period, and justify Homer's designation of Mycenae as 'rich in gold.'

Shaft Grave V contained three male burials. Two of the deceased wore gold death-masks, one of which is known as the "Mask of Agamemnon". The grave gifts included gold breastplates, elaborate bronze swords and daggers, gold and silver vessels, an ostrich egg rhyton and a wooden pyxis. There was less gold jewelry that in the female graves, but a great number of amber beads.

Chased and repousse 18K gold panel is framed by a blackened silver frame and filigree details.

The Philharmonic Dining Rooms is a public house at the corner of Hope Street and Hardman Street in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and stands diagonally opposite the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building

The interior is decorated in musical themes that relate to the nearby concert hall. These decorations are executed on repoussé copper panels designed by Bare and by Thomas Huson, plasterwork by C. J. Allen, mosaics, and items in mahogany and glass. Two of the smaller rooms are entitled Brahms and Liszt. Of particular interest to visitors is the high quality of the gentlemen's urinals, constructed in "a particularly attractive roseate marble'

One of the staff offered to accompany me to the gents to photo those but I declined - I so regret not taking him up on it .

The ebonised table cabinet created in c.1875 from earlier elements, in the Drawing Room at Hinton Ampner, Hampshire. The repousse silver plaques of reclining figures, in the style of the school of Fontainebleau were made in Augsburg c.1580.

Victorian or steampunk? This piece started with a section of a Ceylon Green Tea tin which I formed in the hydraulic press. I then riveted it to a silver-toned bottom of a vintage watchmaker's parts storage tin which I had previously cut and formed. I added a wonderful verdigris beetle and a little turtle for good luck--they are securely riveted in place. It all dangles lightly from the 18" remainder of a defunct rosary.

An intensely green patina on this bronze repoussé relief depicting Dionysus and Ariadne. From an hydria (water jar), fragments of which were found with the relief.

Dionysus, on the left, is holding a cornucopia in his right hand, and leaning on something (an altar?) with his left hand. He is naked, save a himation, which has fallen from his hips, exposing his nudity. He is staring at Ariadne, on the right, who is holding her veil open and looking back towards her husband.

Hellenistic, from Chalke (Chalki, Χάλκη), near Rhodes, 325-300 BCE

British Museum (GR 1889.11-12.2, Bronze 311)

Photo: my own

The Statue of Liberty is one of the earliest examples of curtain wall construction, in which the exterior is not load bearing, but instead supported by an interior framework. The statue features includes two interior spiral staircases which visiotrs can user to reach observation points in the crown.

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)