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"The Feasting Scene" constitutes a unique sculptural ceramic of exceptional quality produced by the Jalisco ceramicists of ancient West Mexico. Four female figures kneeling around a male figure comprise the sculptural assemblage. The figures are arranged on a circular bench supported by six cylindrical legs. The central figure, an imposing chief or cacique holds a tube or pestle in his left hand and an "hacha" or ceremonial axe in his upraised right hand. One female figure, directly facing the "cacique," holds a small shallow bowl in her right hand and a baton in her left hand. Two of the female figures rest a hand on the "cacique," a gesture indicating relatedness. A third figure, to the "cacique's" right, rests one hand on the chief's shoulder and the other on his elbow. The assemblage has been painted with a red and cream clay slip; details on each of the figures are rendered in resist-paint.
Conventional to the Jalisco figural style are elongated faces, full rounded legs and torsos, erect posture, and vacant, staring eyes. The figures represent elite persons of West Mexico society as indicated by their ornate crested helmets, shoulder scarification, body and facial tattoos, and ear disks. Their position on a raised bench mirrors the context of circular, elevated platforms characteristic of Jalisco ceremonial architecture. These platforms were also painted red and white. Shaft-and-chamber tombs of high-ranking families have been found below the circular structures. A sculptural ceramic such as this would have been placed in mausolea of this type. This sculptural assemblage likely represents an elite family feasting ritual or commemorates an ancestral tradition. Such rituals involved consumption of fermented beverages by a select few. Sculptures depicting group rituals are extremely rare among the corpus of West Mexico ceramics. "The Feasting Scene" therefore represents a remarkable exception to Jalisco visual art conventions.
Jalisco
H: 20 1/4 x W: 19 3/4 x D: 17 in. (51.4 x 50.2 x 43.2 cm)
medium: earthenware, red-slipped resist painting, appliqué
style: Jalisco
culture: Jalisco
Walters Art Museum, 2003, by gift.
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At the center of this small-scale triptych, Saint John and the deacon Prochorus sit in a cave on the island of Patmos where John transcribed the Book of Revelation. With one hand on his text, John looks over his shoulder to receive the Word of God from heaven above. The saint conveys the text inscribed on the page, “In the beginning was [the Word],” to Prochorus, who copies it onto a scroll. This is the opening line of the Gospel of John, also composed by the Evangelist. The outer wings depict the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel, at left, told the Virgin Mary, at right, that she would give birth to Christ. The angel blesses Mary, and she raises her right hand in acceptance of his message. Their gestures and direct eye contact suggest that they converse across the painting. The Virgin also holds a thread that she spins from the hank of wool in her left hand. This detail alludes to a story from the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James, which describes how Mary was among eight virgins selected to weave cloth for the Temple veil. When the Archangel arrived to deliver his message to the Virgin, he found her spinning the purple thread assigned to her. This scene of Mary spinning appears frequently in Byzantine art, both in grand frescoes and mosaics found in churches, and in smaller panel paintings and illuminated manuscripts. The diminutive size of this triptych indicates that it was used for individual, private devotion. The hinged wings fold inward over the central panel, making it compact and portable. The outside of the wings are painted with a large cross that spans the two wings, set against a red background. The abbreviation for “Jesus Christ is victorious” (IC XC NIKA) is written above and below the arms of the cross.
Orthodox Eastern
H: 5 13/16 x W: 8 1/4 in. (14.7 x 21 cm)
medium: tempera and gold on panel
style: Post-Byzantine
culture: Orthodox Eastern
by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
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.
Egypt, First Intermediate period (2123–2040 BCE)
bone
Diameter: 1.7 cm (11/16 in.)
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
Ancient Egyptians believed the goddess Taweret, whose name translates as "the Great One," offered protection to women during pregnancy and childbirth. She is represented as a hippopotamus with a swollen belly, pendulous human breasts, the limbs of a lion, and the back and tail of a crocodile. Taweret was a benevolent deity and was commonly depicted on amulets. Underscoring her function as a protector, she holds the hieroglyph "sa," meaning protection, in each hand, (the cartouches on her shoulders were added at a later date, and have so far escaped a definitive reading). Although her cult gained great importance, she had no temples of her own.
Egyptian
H: 20 7/8 x W: 8 7/16 x D: 9 3/4 in. (53 x 21.5 x 24.7 cm)
medium: red granite
culture: Egyptian
dynasty: Ptolemaic Dynasty
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Teti the priest was the principal owner of this group statue. In keeping with artistic conventions, he is placed in the center, larger than the two other figures, and receives their supportive gestures. The smaller man is Teti's father, also named Teti, while the woman is the elder Teti's wife, Meket. The reference to the god Ptah of ancient Memphis in the inscription on the front of the younger Teti's kilt suggests that the sculpture may have been dedicated in a temple there. This association with Memphis might also account for the statue's unusual pyramid-like shape, as a similarly shaped sacred monument, called the "benben," was worshiped in the region.
Egyptian
21 5/8 x 13 3/4 x 7 5/16 in. (55 x 35 x 18.5 cm)
medium: carved granodiorite
culture: Egyptian
dynasty: 18th Dynasty
reign: Thutmosis IV (1397-1388 BC)
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.