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This steatite scarab is inscribed on the bottom with the "two royal aspects" title and the basic component of the unification icon (the plants of Upper and Lower Egypt). The top of the scarab is high and simple with carved details. The workmanship of the piece is good, and it is carefully made.
This amulet has kingship connotations, and was originally mounted or threaded. The royal title and the unification icon refer both the the association of the dualistic aspects of kingship and state, as well as of the whole creation. The amulet should provide its owner with royal support and guarantee a stable and well-organized environment. The unification icon also has a renewal connotation.
The combined use of the title and icon is much less common than the icon alone. The five times serration of the clypeus of the scarab is rare, and does not have many parallels.
Egyptian
H: 3/8 x W: 1/2 x L: 11/16 in. (0.9 x 1.2 x 1.8 cm)
medium: light beige steatite
culture: Egyptian
dynasty: 13th-15th Dynasty
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
The body of a snake curves around the edge of this tsuba on the right. The snake is depicted wrapping its body around a rotting tree trunk. The head and tail can be seen on the front, while the middle section of the snake is on the back. The hole for the utility knife is designed to look like a section of the tree has rotten away.
Japanese
3 3/16 x 2 7/8 x 3/16 in. (8.08 x 7.38 x 0.42 cm)
medium: copper, silver, gold, shibuichi (?)
style: Hamano School
culture: Japanese
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
The style and quality of this manuscript's decoration is typical of deluxe Parisian books made for aristocratic or royal patrons. Most of the book's decoration appears to be the work of the Master of the Boqueteaux, an artist active at the court of King Charles V (died 1380). His style was apparently shared by a number of book illuminators working in and around Paris. It is very possible that the <em>Gotha Missal</em> belonged to Charles V, but is not provable because the manuscript has no royal portraits and lacks a colophon. Given the book's magnificent decoration, however, it would seem that it was produced for a Valois prince, if not for the king himself. The manuscript receives its name from the German dukes of Gotha, its later owners.
France, Paris
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; blind-tooled leather binding
Codex: 27.1 x 19.5 cm (10 11/16 x 7 11/16 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Brush-washers for removing excess ink are essential tools in the traditional art of Chinese calligraphy and painting. These functional objects were often made into beautiful works of art through exquisite design and the use of precious materials, such as porcelain, ivory, jade, and agate. This ceramic brush-washer, made in the form of a leaf, rests on a delicate ivory and wood base.
Chinese
4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm)
medium: glazed stoneware; stand: ivory, wood
culture: Chinese
dynasty: Qing [Ch'ing] Dynasty
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
On March 22, 1848, Prince Clemens Wenzel Lothar Metternich, after having directed his efforts to maintaining stability in Europe and to preserving the power of the Hapsburg dynasty during much of the first half of the century, was ordered to leave his homeland. From April 20, 1848, to October 10, 1849, the controversial Austrian ex-diplomat and statesman sought asylum in Great Britain, resting initially in London and then continuing to Brighton and Richmond.
Phillips portrays the exiled prince seated, wearing his regalia, in much the same pose as in Sir Thomas Lawrence's celebrated portrait executed thirty-one years earlier at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. Though the subject's aquiline features had altered only slightly in the course of time the later portrait differs dramatically in its somber mood. Phillips shows the prince in a darkened interior, his fragility is readily apparent in his wan complexion and stilted pose. In contrast to the colorful dress in Lawrence's portrait, Metternich is now garbed in black. He still wears the Great Gold Civil-Honor Cross for 1813-14, the badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece suspended from his neck, and the star of the Royal Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen pinned to his breast.
Reinforcing the cryptic character of his subject, Phillips includes, on the desk in the background, an inkstand with a finial in the form of a kneeling figure holding its finger to its lips.
H: 46 1/4 x W: 35 1/4 in. (117.5 x 89.5 cm)
medium: oil on canvas
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Represented in three-quarter profile, this depiction of a young woman does not appear to have the idiosyncrasies of an actual portrait but is rather an idealized image of a “Belle Donne” (beautiful woman), a woman painted according to Renaissance ideals of female beauty. Behind her, a scroll is inscribed with the phrase, “Camilla Bella,” meaning “Beautiful Camilla.” This dish is characteristic of Renaissance “coppe amatorie” (love dishes), that often included an idealized picture of a woman with her name, followed by the word “bella” (beautiful). This dish may have been presented to a lady named Camilla, from her male admirer, or the woman and the inscription could allude to a literary figure, such as Camilla from the Roman poet Virgil’s (70-15 BCE) “Aeneid.” Dishes decorated with busts of beautiful women were extremely popular in the early sixteenth century, and were produced in great quantities in Deruta and Urbino. The back of this dish is painted bluish-white. For similar dishes, see 48.1351 and 48.1741; for more information on ‘maiolica’ in general, see 48.1336.
H: 1 3/4 × W: 9 1/2 in. (4.5 × 24.2 cm)
medium: earthenware with tin glaze (maiolica)
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Animals were popular motifs in the Geometric period. Bird ornaments often decorated horse trappings.
Greek
2 3/8 x 3 x 1 1/8 in. (6.1 x 7.6 x 2.8 cm)
medium: hollow-cast bronze
culture: Greek
Walters Art Museum, 1954, by purchase.
Calabazas, a jester in the court of King Philip IV of Spain, had physical and mental disabilities, a state that the artist emphasizes, rather than tries to hide. While the Spanish court prized and doted upon people with disabilities such as Calabazas, Velázquez transformed their depiction in portraiture. This startling work uses the format of the formal, full-length court portrait to present a type of person who was generally perceived as marginal at this point in history and profoundly humanizes him.
Spain, 17th century
oil on canvas
Framed: 199.3 x 133.1 x 12.7 cm (78 7/16 x 52 3/8 x 5 in.); Unframed: 175 x 106 cm (68 7/8 x 41 3/4 in.)
Did you know...
Calabazas holds a wind-driven pinwheel and a miniature portrait of a woman, together suggesting the inconstancy of love.
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund