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Germany, Dresden (?), mid-18th century
lapis lazuli with enameled gold mounts
Overall: 2 x 7.4 x 5.3 cm (13/16 x 2 15/16 x 2 1/16 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade
France, Valenciennes or Flanders, 19th century
linen embroidered center with four narrow insertions and border of Valenciennes lace
Average: 38.5 x 37.2 cm (15 3/16 x 14 5/8 in.)
Gift of Harold T. Clark in memory of Mrs. William B. Sanders
The narrative on this basin tells the story of Saint Ursula and her 11,000 companions, who embarked on a pious journey from England to the Continent only to be met by the Huns in Cologne and slaughtered in 383 CE. Ursula was warned of her impending doom, according to the legend, but willingly accepted martyrdom to join the kingdom of heaven. The narrative is executed in a simple, engaging manner. The movement of Ursula and her companions is echoed in the narrative progression around the bowl as one turns it to follow the story. The kinetic dimension of the display would likely have made this manner of recounting the saint's legend more memorable than simple recitation. Indeed, some scholars have suggested that bronze vessels of this type might have been used for teaching, while others maintain that they might have played a role in liturgical hand-washing performed by nuns. In the latter instance, the swirling ocean crossed by Ursula must have looked quite realistic when seen through the rippling water that filled the bowl.
German
H: 2 9/16 x Diam: 11 5/16 in. (6.5 x 28.7 cm)
medium: copper alloy
style: Romanesque
culture: German
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Gandhara, a region in northwestern Pakistan, was conquered by the Greek king of Macedon, Alexander the Great, in 330 BCE. The conquest introduced Greco-Roman political and cultural ways of life, which were maintained and developed in the region by succeeding kings. Gandhara prospered from its proximity to land and sea routes that made the region a trading hub between Persia, Central Asia, China, and Africa. This Buddha’s wavy hair, his muscular arm, and the undulating folds of his robe reflect the artistic conventions of the Greco-Roman world. Specific characteristics of the Buddha’s body that signal his heightened wisdom include his cranial protuberance ("ushnisha"), the dot between his eyes ("urna"), and his elongated earlobes.
Gandharan
H: 28 x W: 21 x D: 9 in. (71.1 x 53.3 x 22.9 cm)
Base H: 2 3/4 × W: 22 3/16 × D: 8 7/8 in. (6.99 × 56.36 × 22.54 cm)
medium: schist
culture: Gandharan
given to Walters Art Museum, 2012.
Extracts from Alfred Jacob Miller’s original text, which accompanied his images of Native Americans, are included below for reference. These words, which shaped how Miller’s contemporaries viewed the watercolors, reveal the racism and sexism embedded in 19th-century exploration and colonization of the western part of what is today the United States.
"This once powerful and ambitious tribe has dwindled away to a mere shadow of what it was at the time of the Revolution. During the war between the French & English for predominance in America, each of these parties made every effort to engage this tribe as an ally." A.J. Miller, extracted from "The West of Alfred Jacob Miller" (1837).
In July 1858 William T. Walters commissioned 200 watercolors at twelve dollars apiece from Baltimore born artist Alfred Jacob Miller. These paintings were each accompanied by a descriptive text, and were delivered in installments over the next twenty-one months and ultimately were bound in three albums. Transcriptions of field-sketches drawn during the 1837 expedition that Miller had undertaken to the annual fur-trader's rendezvous in the Green River Valley (in what is now western Wyoming), these watercolors are a unique record of the closing years of the western fur trade.
H: 12 11/16 x W: 10 in. (32.3 x 25.4 cm)
medium: watercolor on paper
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Originally part of a large equestrian monument, this head allows us to imagine what was a common sight for the ancient viewer: imposing public statuary that embodied the civic values of imperial Rome. Military officials were often depicted on horseback, and the rider that was represented on the monument was likely a member of the imperial family. Such statues contained large amounts of bronze, and most were melted down for reuse in weapons and other implements in later times of crisis.
Roman
H: 24 x W: 17 15/16 x D: 7 in. (61 x 45.6 x 17.8 cm)
medium: gilt bronze
culture: Roman
dynasty: Julio-Claudian
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Each of the four gospels in this book opens on a page with brilliantly illuminated borders depicting the author of the text as well as birds-principally peacocks, symbols of the immortality of the soul-and fountains, representing the fountain of life and the salvation of the soul. This volume consists of 428 leaves with texts in Greek. Its level of sophistication suggests that it was probably written and decorated in a monastery in Constantinople.
Byzantium, Constantinople
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; leather binding
Sheet: 28 x 23 cm (11 x 9 1/16 in.)
Did you know...
Gospel Books were carried in procession through Byzantine churches.
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
John Cranch
1807–1891
5 13/16 x 4 11/16 in. (14.8 x 11.9 cm)
medium: Graphite on off-white wove paper
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 26.216.81 1926
Gift of James C. McGuire, 1926
Vishnu's main weapon is the discus, or chakra in Sanskrit. Vishnu's chakra is a wheel that is a metaphor for true knowledge, which he uses in mythic battles to slice demons who stand for ignorance and self-centered arrogance. Iconic images of Vishnu show him as four-armed, with a discus in one hand; sometimes the discus is personified. This personification, with the chakra behind his head, has broken away from the main image of Vishnu. Stylistically this sculpture retains memories of the Gupta styles, with the lush ringlets of hair curling from a central part, the relatively simple adornments, and the soft contours of the body. The exaggerated facial expression and figural proportions indicate a transition to a later period.
Northeastern India, Bihar, Aphsad, early Pala period, 7th Century
chlorite
Overall: 81.3 cm (32 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
This bell push sat on a dressing table in a wealthy household to summon a servant during the Gilded Age around 1900. Life "below stairs" wasn't as easy as movies and television have portrayed it. Servants could be summoned at all hours of the day and night, interrupting their work, and causing disruption at the whim of the wealthy owners or their guests. The House of Fabergé became the most celebrated Russian supplier of such luxury goods as servant bell pushes. As court jeweler to the Russian imperial family, the Fabergé firm created jewels and luxurious accessories both for the tsar and the Russian state as well as other European royalty and aristocrats.
Russia, St. Petersburg
silver gilt, enamel, bowenite, cabochon sapphire
Diameter: 3.5 x 5.8 cm (1 3/8 x 2 5/16 in.)
Did you know...
The advent of electricity in the 1880s made systems of buttons and bell pushes to call servants more efficient than the old lever and pully system within the wall that often broke with a vigorous tug.
The India Early Minshall Collection
Each of the four gospels in this book opens on a page with brilliantly illuminated borders depicting the author of the text as well as birds—principally peacocks, symbols of the immortality of the soul—and fountains, representing the fountain of life and the salvation of the soul. This volume consists of 428 leaves with texts in Greek. Its level of sophistication suggests that it was probably written and decorated in a monastery in Constantinople.
Byzantium, Constantinople
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; leather binding
Sheet: 28 x 23 cm (11 x 9 1/16 in.)
Did you know...
Gospel books were carried in procession through Byzantine churches.
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund