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This long, straight pin may have been used by a Jewish woman to fasten her clothing, or to ornament her hair. In earlier periods, in ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, pins like these were used to fasten cloaks. These pins have been found with a variety of decorative forms (such as circles and swirls) at the top.
Jewish
H: 7 7/8 x W: 2 3/8 x D: 1/4 in. (20 x 6 x 0.7 cm)
medium: bronze
culture: Jewish
Walters Art Museum, 1998, by gift.
This box is a "pandan," a container for "betel"- thin slices of the nut of the areca palm mixed with spices and lime paste made from ground seashells and wrapped in a leaf of the betel tree. Betel, chewed after meals to help with digestion, was very popular in the Punjab region. This box is inscribed with the name of its owner, Abu'l-Kharid Nur al-Hasan Khan.
H: 3 3/4 × W: 6 × L: 6 7/8 in. (9.5 × 15.3 × 17.5 cm)
medium: brass
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 1988, by purchase.
These screens recall a painting style so closely identified with Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716) that it is called Rinpa, or “Rin School,” after the ideograph “rin” in his name. The highly stylized background accentuates floral groupings that have been groomed so as to appear utterly artificial, like the synthetic arrangements available today. Kōrin's genius derived in large measure from natural phenomena painstakingly observed and then manipulated to create compositions of startling refinement and sparkling isolation. This process may have grown out of Kōrin's early immersion in the family textile business, a medium that encourages such dramatic distillations of form: the stream's gold-crested waves bring to mind traditional kimono robe designs of Kōrin's era. Works with the signature seen on this painting, including a style name, or persona suggested to Kōrin by his brother Kenzan (1663–1743), are sometimes considered to have been produced either in the last year of his life, when he was very ill, or after his death. In both scenarios, the lion’s share of the work would have been done by studio assistants, but little is truly known of his studio practice. Given the regularity of the gold waves on the stream, and the tension in the arrangement of the chrysanthemums, it is also possible that the screens were made in emulation of Kōrin's designs by a later artist.
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
One of a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on gilded paper
Image: 163.2 x 369.9 cm (64 1/4 x 145 5/8 in.)
Did you know...
The signature used on these screens may indicate paintings made in the last year of the artist's life, or works completed by his studio after his death.
Gift of the Hanna Fund
Henry Inman
American, Utica, New York 1801–1846 New York
3 1/4 x 2 5/8 in. (8.4 x 6.8 cm)
medium: Watercolor on ivory
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 2006.235.312 2006
Gift of Gloria Manney, 2006
Designs cast in sunken relief.
Chinese
5 5/8 x 7 9/16 in. (14.3 x 19.2 cm)
medium: bronze
culture: Chinese
dynasty: Western Zhou [Chou] Dynasty
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
This precious volume was obviously highly prized by its owner, the French-born King of Navarre, who had his coat of arms painted on no less than twenty folios. Rather than directly commissioning this manuscript from a specific workshop, it seems that Charles the Noble acquired his book of hours -- perhaps ready-made for the luxury market -- while on a trip to Paris in 1404-05. A collaborative effort, six painting styles are evidenced within the pages of this codex, those of two Italians, two Frenchmen, and two Netherlanders. The painter who was responsible for the planning and decoration of the book, and who produced seventeen of the large miniatures, was a Bolognese artist known as the Master of the Brussels Initials. His principal assistant, responsible for most of the borders, was a Florentine who signed his name "Zecho" da Firenze on folio 208 verso.
France, Paris
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Codex: 20.3 x 15.7 x 7 cm (8 x 6 3/16 x 2 3/4 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Hunt was one of the first American artists to draw with charcoal rather than chalk or graphite pencil. In 1877, he visited North Easton, Massachusetts to paint a portrait of the financier and art patron, Oliver Ames. At this time Hunt made several drawings of the town of North Easton, viewed from across a millpond. This drawing portrays the scene around mid-afternoon.
William Morris Hunt (American, 1824–1879)
America, 19th century
charcoal; framing lines in charcoal
Sheet: 26.5 x 41.5 cm (10 7/16 x 16 5/16 in.); Image: 25.4 x 40.5 cm (10 x 15 15/16 in.)
Gift of Mrs. G. Tappan Francis
The Moche were unique in ancient Peru in creating realistic human portraits, usually in the form of ceramic vessels. This large example may represent an important captive who, like some Moche prisoner figures, wears double earrings and a hank of hair over the forehead.
Peru, North Coast, Moche style
earthenware with colored slips
Overall: 30.5 x 28.9 x 25 cm (12 x 11 3/8 x 9 13/16 in.)
Gift of Guerdon S. Holden
Since the 1500s, Hopi women made big-bellied canteens, based on Spanish prototypes, and used them to carry water. By the late 1800s, canteens became popular with Euro-American tourists, who increasingly flocked to the Southwest in search of encounters with “exotic” Native American cultures. Thus, Hopi artists embellished their wares to improve their appeal, here with graceful abstract forms.
Native North America, Southwest, Arizona, Pueblo, Hopi
ceramic, slip
Overall: 20 x 24.5 cm (7 7/8 x 9 5/8 in.)
Gift of the Smithsonian Institution
Long, rectangular tables were often placed against a wall to hold candlestands, flower vases, or incense burners. It was customary to hang ancestor portraits, images of religious figures, or seasonal paintings above the table that would convey auspicious wishes and blessings to the family. <br><br>The high legs show stylized cloud-shaped spandrels. At each end of the table, between the recessed legs, are carved openwork panels with a lively dragon motif.
China, Ming dynasty (1368-1644) or Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
Rosewood (huanghuali)
Overall: 86.4 x 199.4 x 41.9 cm (34 x 78 1/2 x 16 1/2 in.)
Did you know...
The table top is made of a single plank of wood.
Severance and Greta Millikin Collection
A wide bowl like this example was especially suitable for drinking powdered tea shaved from a compressed tea cake, the most commonly enjoyed type during the Goryeo period. The image of flying parrots incised on the inner wall of this tea bowl must have made the moment of drinking tea more enjoyable and even magical.
Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
celadon ware with incised decoration
Diameter of mouth: 10.9 cm (4 5/16 in.); Overall: 6 cm (2 3/8 in.)
Did you know...
As early as the seventh century, the practice of drinking tea and wine became an important part of elite leisure culture in Korea.
Gift of John L. Severance
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Incorporating the first three letters of the city name—ΑΘΕ—with then-iconic images of the patron goddess Athena and her owl, the Athenian tetradrachm was among the most widely traded and most recognizable coins of the ancient world. The olive leaves on Athena’s helmet and the small crescent moon behind the owl date this coin after the Persian Wars.
Greek, minted at Athens (Attica)
silver
Overall: 2.4 cm (15/16 in.)
Did you know...
The three letters on the reverse—ΑΘΕ—mark this as an Athenian coin.
Gift of Harold W. Parsons