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This ceremonial axe (<em>gano</em>) showcases its maker’s skill in using different materials. The crescent-shaped blade was likely locally forged; braided wires and a Swiss pocket watch fragment on the handle were imported. Like the headrest nearby, gano were gendered female; a small headrest is carved at top. Too fine for battle, a man may have held it as a status or ancestral symbol during rituals or dancing. Though made for centuries, religious use of knives and axes waned due to early 20th-century Christianity and government laws. Rising independence-era Zimbabwean nationalism (1960s–70s) revived tradition-based religion and associated objects like the gano.
Southern Africa, Zimbabwe, Shona-style blacksmith-carver
Iron, wood, and metal
Overall: 15.8 cm (6 1/4 in.)
Did you know...
This ceremonial axe has a half-moon piece of metal nailed to it, marked "EKB Depose." It is part of the mechanism for a pocket watch made by Edward Kummer of Bettlach, whose Swiss factories marked watches with his initials between 1888 and 1932.
Gift of the African Art Sponsors of Karamu House
Japan, possibly Edo period (1615-1868)
Average: 6.1 x 6.7 cm (2 3/8 x 2 5/8 in.)
Gift of D. Z. Norton
Similar plaques of whale bone carved with confronted monster heads are found frequently in the graves of wealthy Viking women in Norway. The monster heads, similar to the figureheads attached to Viking ship prows, are typical of Viking decoration. The function of these plaques is not clear; it has been suggested that they were used as ironing-boards or for pleating linen (by folding and winding it around the board while wet and then leaving it to dry), or as trenchers for serving food.
Viking
8 11/16 x 7 3/16 x 5/16 in. (22 x 18.3 x 0.8 cm)
medium: whale bone
culture: Viking
Walters Art Museum, April 1983, by purchase.
Naturalistic scarabs, which exhibit a beetle-formed underside instead of a flat bottom with additional motifs, became popular in the late Third Intermediate and Late periods. They were attached to the mummy bandages and were part of the amulet set. There are two varieties of such scarabs: red carnelian and blue-green faience scarabs. It is likely that the blue-green scarabs focus only on the renewal aspect, while the red carnelian scarabs were related to the sun rise/set aspect and gave special protection at the critical transition phase.
Egyptian
H: 7/16 x W: 3/4 x L: 1 1/8 in. (1.1 x 1.9 x 2.8 cm)
medium: Egyptian faience with blue-green glaze
style: Saitic
culture: Egyptian
dynasty: 26th Dynasty
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Dogs were kept in the Mughal imperial palace and attentively cared for by one keeper for every two hunting dogs. Akbar’s biography notes that the emperor liked dogs so much he imported different breeds from distant lands, and Jahangir requested English hunting dogs from the ambassador Sir Thomas Roe. The tradition of collecting and keeping dogs was continued by the succeeding emperors and vassal kings.
India, Rajasthan, Ajmer, probably Sawar school, 18th century
Gum tempera and ink on paper
Image: 22 x 16.5 cm (8 11/16 x 6 1/2 in.); Overall: 18.7 x 25 cm (7 3/8 x 9 13/16 in.)
Did you know...
The newborn puppies are still too young to open their eyes.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Ward in memory of her father, Charles Svec
7th MAY, LONDON – The London Pyramid Group meet to discuss URL Dispatch and look at how Pyramid matches URLs to views using simple pattern matching. Then having a look at some basic traversal and resource trees. See future London Pyramid Group meetups at: skillsmatter.com/user-group/ajax-ria/ldn-pyr
Iran, early Islamic period
bone, incised
Overall: 0.8 x 2.9 x 2.9 cm (5/16 x 1 1/8 x 1 1/8 in.)
Gift of Edward Gans
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This seal, depicting a human-headed griffin attacking a horse, has the detailed modeling of musculature characteristic of Middle Assyrian period art. The use of an empty background highlights the drama of the contest and marks a turning point in Assyrian art later expressed on a large scale in carved palace reliefs. The cuneiform inscription records the owner's name: "seal of Silliya."
Cylinder seals are cylindrical objects carved in reverse (intaglio) in order to leave raised impressions when rolled into clay. Seals were generally used to mark ownership, and they could act as official identifiers, like a signature, for individuals and institutions. A seal’s owner rolled impressions in wet clay to secure property such as baskets, letters, jars, and even rooms and buildings. This clay sealing prevented tampering because it had to be broken in order to access a safeguarded item. Cylinder seals were often made of durable material, usually stone, and most were drilled lengthwise so they could be strung and worn. A seal’s material and the images inscribed on the seal itself could be protective. The artistry and design might be appreciated and considered decorative as well. Cylinder seals were produced in the Near East beginning in the fourth millennium BCE and date to every period through the end of the first millennium BCE.
Assyrian
H: 1 9/16 x Diam: 9/16 in. (3.9 x 1.5 cm)
medium: violet and white stone
culture: Assyrian
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Pierre Jean David d'Angers
French, Angers 1788–1856 Paris
Diameter: 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)
medium: Bronze, brown patina, hollow cast
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 98.7.48 1898
Gift of Samuel P. Avery, 1898
This textile fragment, possibly made from linen, is densely embroidered with silk threads in various shades of pink, red, yellow, and blue. The design is organized as a series of nested squared and some of the bands are patterned with repeating designs that somewhat resemble letters of the Arabic alphabet. The artist didn't use silk thread to make these, but instead stitched around the desired shapes. The letter-like patterns are thus actually parts of the plain base fabric showing through.
Morocco, Moghrebin, 17th-18th century
embroidery, silk
Average: 97.8 x 42.6 cm (38 1/2 x 16 3/4 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade
Intricate surface patterning characterizes Maori wood carvings. The swirls and spirals covering the face on this canoe prow replicate traditional facial tattoo patterns. Similar designs were used for post and gable figures that adorned both dwellings and compounds.
Polynesia, New Zealand, Maori people, 19th century
wood with haliotis (pearl) shell inlay
Overall: 35.3 cm (13 7/8 in.)
The Mary Spedding Milliken Memorial Collection, Gift of William Mathewson Milliken
This plaque is probably one of several that decorated the side of a throne. The man's hair and costume are similar to those on the huge wall relief, and they are probably about the same date.
Assyrian, Iraq or possibly Syria
bronze, solid cast
Overall: 7.3 x 3.8 cm (2 7/8 x 1 1/2 in.)
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
This drawing records a grand procession through Venice's Piazza San Marco on the penultimate day of the 1782 celebrations for the visit of the Russian Grand Duke Paul (Pavel) Petrovitch and his wife Maria Feodorovna. Francesco Guardi was likely commissioned by the Venetian state to document the ducal visit. Drawing from the vantage point of the Procuratie Nuove (a palace on one side of the piazza), Guardi sketched five carriages festooned with allegories, which were meant to celebrate the governments of Catherine the Great and Venice. In order to include as much of the procession as possible, he manipulated the perspective of the buildings on the right side of the square.The loose handling and lively immediacy of the pen work suggests he executed it on the spot. One drawing (Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin) and two oil paintings (private collections, Venice and Milan) of the same scene survive. Cleveland’s sheet likely preceded these more detailed and polished compositions.
Italy, Venice, 18th century
pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash
Sheet: 25.9 x 36.8 cm (10 3/16 x 14 1/2 in.)
Did you know...
Before entering the museum's collection, this sheet may have been cut on the left, possibly to eliminate a sixth carriage that does not appear in Guardi’s other representations of the procession.
John L. Severance Fund
Eugène Isabey began his career assisting his father, the miniaturist J. B. Isabey, with illustrations for a travel book on Italy. In 1825, Isabey made a trip to England, where he was profoundly influenced by the latest trends in watercolor painting. On his return, he specialized in coastal scenes of Normandy, in the north of France. Here, Isabey depicts the luminous atmospheric effects at the meeting of sea, shore, and sky with the consummate skill that earned him a reputation as one of the leading Romantic watercolorists.
H: 7 11/16 x W: 13 9/16 in. (19.5 x 34.5 cm)
medium: watercolor heightened with white and gum on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
[1] The Diary of George A. Lucas, p. 178.
Intimate shrines for personal meditation practices contained scenes from the life of the Buddha. In an episode just prior to his achievement of enlightenment, the Buddha sat in meditation and faced personifications of the final obstacles. In this exquisite rendering derived from the Greco-Roman realism of Gandharan art, demons attack him in an attempt to scare him off the path. Seductive women do their best to distract him. He remains placid and firm in his conviction that these beings have no inherent reality, and he renders them powerless.
Northern India, Kashmir, 8th century
ivory with gold and polychrome
Overall: 13 x 8.9 cm (5 1/8 x 3 1/2 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Morris sought to produce textiles that could function as he imagined medieval wall hangings had, bringing warmth to stone-cold rooms. Boldly designed with soothing colors in thick wool,<em> Peacock and Dragon</em> is the closest Morris came to achieving this ideal. In the same year he designed this textile, Morris visited the shop of the London dealer Vincent Robinson, where he saw a room re-created from Damascus, “all vermillion and gold and ultramarine, very beautiful, and is just like going into the Arabian nights.” It partly inspired the exotic motifs seen here. This design was one of the most popular among Morris’s customers; it was available in five colorways.
England, Surrey, Merton Abbey
weft-faced compound twill; wool
Overall: 206.6 x 174.7 cm (81 5/16 x 68 3/4 in.)
Gift of Mrs. Philip White
Go to Page 346 in the Internet Archive
Title: Studies of childhood [electronic resource]
Creator: Sully, James, 1842-1923
Creator: Lewis, Aubrey, Sir, 1900-1975 former owner
Creator: King's College London
Publisher: London : Longmans, Green, and Co.
Sponsor: Jisc and Wellcome Library
Contributor: King's College London, Foyle Special Collections Library
Date: 1896
Language: eng
Description: Includes bibliography and index
This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London
King’s College London
If you have questions concerning reproductions, please contact the Contributing Library.
Note: The colors, contrast and appearance of these illustrations are unlikely to be true to life. They are derived from scanned images that have been enhanced for machine interpretation and have been altered from their originals.
Read/Download from the Internet Archive
The elegant works of Jean-Marc Nattier exemplify mid 18th-century French portraiture. Although he was admitted to the Académie Royale (Royal Academy) as a painter of historical subjects (then ranked as the highest category of painting), Nattier specialized in the less prestigious genre of portraiture. Though he worked at the court of Louis XV, he broke with the baroque tradition of grandiose portraits. Instead, he produced naturalistic paintings of Queen Marie Leszczynska and her daughters, as well as Madame de Pompadour and other members of the nobility.
The subject of this light-hearted, informal portrait is currently unknown. Previous scholarship, however, identified the young woman as the wife of Antoine-René de Voyer d'Argenson, marquis of Paulmy, who was minister of war under Louis XV and French ambassador to Poland. The museum continues to research this painting and its sitter.
H: 39 15/16 x W: 31 11/16 in. (101.5 x 80.5 cm)
medium: oil on canvas
reign: Louis XV (1715-1774)
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.