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In this portrait, the Ōbaku school Buddhist monk Duli Xingyi (born Tai Li, 1596–1672), whose name is pronounced Dokuryū Shōeki in Japanese, sits upon a woven mat holding a ceremonial scepter known as a <em>ruyi</em>, or <em>nyoi</em> in Japanese. Above his head is an insciption he added to the painting in 1671, the year before his death. It may be translated to read: <br><br>Contemplative emptiness: the moon suspended over the village at midnight. Suddenly my soul is startled by the howl of an ape. Who could know that it would arouse me beyond my senses, and bring me an inner vision from Mt. Sumeru.<br>(translated by Stephen Addiss and Kwan S. Wong) <br><br>Originally from what is now the city of Hangzhou in China, Duli emigrated to Japan in 1653, where he took monastic vows. His skills in calligraphy and seal carving were formidable. Painter Kita Genki combined Chinese brush styles he learned in Nagasaki with Western painting techniques to capture Duli's likeness.
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Painting: 111.4 x 50.1 cm (43 7/8 x 19 3/4 in.); Mounted: 211.8 x 63.8 cm (83 3/8 x 25 1/8 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
This armor was developed for the joust-a sporting combat between two mounted contestants. Although all of the elements of this armor date from the same period, they are not all from the same suit. This armor is thus called "composed." It also shows the asymmetry of jousting armor. The participants rode along a wall-like barrier known as a "tilt" with their left sides facing one another. Consequently, armor on that side of the body had to be thicker. Note the large plate (grandguard) over the left shoulder for extra protection. Also, the breathing holes in the helmet were placed on the right side (farthest from an opponent's lance) to avoid injuries from splinters. The bracket attached to the right breastplate is called the lance-rest, a shock-absorbing support designed to accommodate the lance when "couched" under the right armpit.
South Germany, 16th century
steel, leather straps, brass rivets
Overall: 42.3 x 32 x 14.2 cm (16 5/8 x 12 5/8 x 5 9/16 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance
This is the first of two albums boxed together with an external title reading <em>Famous Early Modern Calligraphers and Painters. </em>It begins with a lengthy inscription in Chinese by the Japanese artist Rai Sanyō (1780–1832) dated to 1817, and concludes with another, undated, by Tanomura Chikuden (1777–1835). In between, there are undated poems in Chinese by other Japanese artists, Nukina Kaioku (1778–1863), Rai Shunpū (1753–1825), Rai Kyōhei (1756–1834), and Kan Sazan (1748–1827), as well as paintings by Okada Hankō (1782–1845), Totoki Baigai (1749-1804), Nakabayashi Chikutō (1776-1853), Uragami Shunkin (1779-1846), Watanabe Kazan (1793-1841), Tsubaki Chinzan (1801-1854), and Nukina Kaikoku. While most of the paintings are not dated, those that are indicate that the group was painted over a large span of time, rather than on a single occasion. Nakabayashi Chikutō’s Chinese hermit treads a waterfall-dominated landscape dated 1808, while Nukina Kaikoku’s solitary Chinese boatman beneath a flock of geese is from 1849. The paintings are landscapes or floral images and follow recognizable Chinese brush methods transmitted to Japan through a variety of methods including printed manuals. The plants have symbolic meanings, sometimes related to their names in Chinese, which may be homonyms for terms like success or achievement. They often recall human qualities or desires, such as hardiness or longevity. The calligraphers and painters whose works are represented in the album were all deeply interested in Chinese culture. They were especially attracted to the idea they found in Chinese society of a community of educated friends who shared works in prose, poetry, and painting among one another through correspondence or gatherings. The ideal was a group who were not professional artists, creating works for clients, but a group who produced works to nurture friendships and cultivate their own minds. The cover of the album has a title slip reading <em>Album of Precious Works</em>, and is signed Chikutei Fu or Kan (竹釡 or possibly a much abbreviated 鍳), with a round, red seal reading Chikutei. This is a pseudonym used most likely by a Japanese person interested in calligraphy composed in Chinese and paintings with Chinese styles and themes. The name evokes a pavilion set in a bamboo grove, an image strongly associated with China in Japan. It is also likely that this person assembled the works into the album. Pseudonyms of this type were and continue to be used by those engaged in cultural pursuits such as poetry composition, painting, and collecting art. Having such a name takes one out of the normal business of life, and transports one to a space of creativity and aesthetic appreciation.
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
One of a pair of folding-albums; ink and color on silk and paper
Album, closed: 31 x 21 cm (12 3/16 x 8 1/4 in.)
Gift of Mary B. Lee, C. Bingham Blossom, Dudley S. Blossom III, Laurel B. Kovacik, and Elizabeth B. Blossom, in memory of Elizabeth B. Blossom
This whimsical, saddled, and fully harnessed but riderless horse was part of a larger curtain or wall hanging of a type popular in the late 5th and early 6th century.
Curtains and wall hangings were used in private homes, as well as in public and religious buildings, to prevent drafts, divide spaces, and provide privacy. The tapestry weave of this piece is ideal for such textiles, as it produces a design that can be viewed from either side.
The complete hanging likely would have had many identical roundels (one is in the Cleveland Museum of Art) in staggered rows on a background interspersed with baskets and birds. These designs are traditionally Egyptian, while the roundel borders of heart or rose petal chains and the stylized trees are adapted from imported Sassanian silks.
H: 16 1/8 x W:17 5/16 x D: 1/16 in. (41 x 44 x 0.1 cm)
medium: wool
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
This manuscript was illuminated by a circle of at least five highly organized manuscript painters active in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges. The principal illuminator was Alexander Bening, who painted the majority of the book's miniatures. Manuscripts produced by this circle of artists are renowned for the decoration of their borders, which typically feature a rich variety of realistically-painted flowers, birds, and butterflies. This prayer book, called a book of hours, was intended not for a cleric, but for the private devotions of a lay person-in this case, Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain (1451-1504). Isabella's coat of arms embellishes the book's frontispiece. It is unlikely that the book was commissioned by the Queen herself; rather, she probably received it as a diplomatic gift from someone courting her patronage, perhaps Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros. A Franciscan friar, Jimenez was dependent upon Isabella for his advancement, first to the post of Queen's confessor in 1492, and then to Archbishop of Toledo in 1495.
Flanders, Ghent and Bruges, late 15th century
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Codex: 22.5 x 15.2 cm (8 7/8 x 6 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
The Virgin kneels on a crescent moon with her hands in an attitude of prayer. Her head is uncovered, and her hair falls down her back and in tresses over her shoulders. In rendering the folds of the garments, little concession has been made to anatomy.
This piece, like 71.342, was apparently carved in the Portuguese colony of Goa, on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent by a native artist.
Devotional statuettes carved in ivory celebrating the immaculate purity of the Virgin were popular in the 1600s in Europe and this taste spread to the colonies established by Catholic countries in Asia and the Americas. The three most important locations for production of these ivories were the portuguese colonies on the Indian subcontinent (Goa, where the present piece as well as Walters 71.407 were made), the island of Sri Lanka (see Walters 71.341) and the Spanish colony of the Philippines (see for example Walters 71.322).
A square paper label with blue borders on the under surface of the statuette is inscribed in ink: "123."
H: 5 3/16 in. (13.2 cm)
medium: ivory, traces of gilding
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Wang Li Mu
13 1/2 x 11 7/8 in. (34.3 x 30.2 cm)
medium: Album leaf; ink and color on silk
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 15.97.3 1915
Rogers Fund, 1915
url from a cool talk on "Creating Alternate Realities" conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/et2007/view/e_sess/12439
Egypt, New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18, reign of Tuthmosis III (1479–1425 BCE)–reign of Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BCE)
travertine
Diameter: 9.7 cm (3 13/16 in.); Diameter of mouth: 4.5 cm (1 3/4 in.); Overall: 16.4 cm (6 7/16 in.); Diameter of lid: 6.6 cm (2 5/8 in.)
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust