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For parrying, rapiers were often made with accompanying daggers as a matched set. The aristocracy's taste for rich and intricate styles of decoration led to extravagant gilding, chiseling, piercing, enameling, and silvering. The more costly or unusual these weapons appeared, the more they were desired by the clientele who commissioned them, not only for dueling but also as the ultimate accessory.
Spain, Toledo, 17th century
Pierced and chiseled steel;
Overall: 122.9 cm (48 3/8 in.); Quillions: 26.7 cm (10 1/2 in.)
Did you know...
The guard is richly decorated with chiseled and pierced arabesques, an ornamental design consisting of intertwined flowing lines.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance
Lions are often depicted on ceiling tiles of this kind, but the stylized frontal view of the animal's head here is quite unusual and was probably influenced by similar images on glazed ceramic dishes. The piece once belonged to the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951). Nothing is known about its earlier provenance. Most comparable examples of known origin come from the town of Paterna, evidently the principal center of socarrat production.
Valencian
H: 13 7/8 x W: 17 1/8 x D: 1 in. (35.3 x 43.5 x 2.5 cm)
medium: earthenware with glaze and black paint
style: Gothic
culture: Valencian
Walters Art Museum, 1958, by purchase.
This cast silver amulet with a poor surface represents the great national god Amun, standing with the left foot directly in front of the right. The lines of his short kilt, necklace, armlets and bracelets are indicated by incision. There is a large suspension loop behind the (broken) plume on his cap. The heavy-featured face suggests this may be a provincial piece.
Egyptian
H: 1 7/16 x W: 3/16 x D: 5/16 in. (3.58 x 0.44 x 0.81 cm)
medium: cast silver
culture: Egyptian
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
India
silver
Diameter: 4.1 cm (1 5/8 in.); Pendant: 7.4 cm (2 15/16 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade
This manuscript was illuminated by a circle of at least five highly organized manuscript painters active in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges. The principal illuminator was Alexander Bening, who painted the majority of the book's miniatures. Manuscripts produced by this circle of artists are renowned for the decoration of their borders, which typically feature a rich variety of realistically-painted flowers, birds, and butterflies. This prayer book, called a book of hours, was intended not for a cleric, but for the private devotions of a lay person-in this case, Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain (1451-1504). Isabella's coat of arms embellishes the book's frontispiece. It is unlikely that the book was commissioned by the Queen herself; rather, she probably received it as a diplomatic gift from someone courting her patronage, perhaps Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros. A Franciscan friar, Jimenez was dependent upon Isabella for his advancement, first to the post of Queen's confessor in 1492, and then to Archbishop of Toledo in 1495.
Flanders, Ghent and Bruges, late 15th century
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Codex: 22.5 x 15.2 cm (8 7/8 x 6 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
Many of Goryeo period spoons like this one feature a curved handle that splits into a jagged fishtail design. This fishtail design is not unique to Korea; it was also widely used in the area under the rule of two non-Han Chinese states: Liao (907–1125) and Jin (1115–1234). These seemingly ordinary objects testify to exciting material interactions between the Goryeo dynasty and non-Han Chinese northern states, which were often omitted from the official records.
Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
bronze
Overall: 33.6 cm (13 1/4 in.)
Did you know...
Bronze spoons are the most common burial item. This particular example bears an inscription at the back of the handle end.
General Income Fund
From ancient times, a mirror assumed various roles; a ritualistic tool, a diplomatic gift, and a luxury commodity. During the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392), which saw the great advancement of metallurgy, the royal court was the center of distributing sophisticated bronze artifacts. According to historical records, on the 7th day of the Lunar New Year, the king bestowed a bronze mirror inscribed with auspicious symbols upon each court official as part of a ceremony to celebrate the Day of Humans. This explains why a large quantity of bronze mirrors were excavated from elite tombs.
Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
bronze
Diameter: 20.7 cm (8 1/8 in.)
Did you know...
Due to its origin as an important tool in religion and politics, mirrors are often mentioned in many Korean proverbs that warn certain behaviors.
Gift of N. M. Heeramaneck
Sixteenth-century Spanish hunters armed with spears and accompanied by dogs attack a wild bull. It is a dangerous pursuit, and one of the men has fallen backward over his collapsed horse. The dogs are in peril as well. Barye had access to the duke of Orléans's extensive library containing books devoted to history and travel. It was from such sources that he might have derived inspiration for his subjects. This unique lost-wax cast originally was placed next to the plinth carrying the central "Tiger Hunt" (Walters 27.176) in the Duke d'Orleans' celebrated table centre-piece.
H: 18 1/16 × W: 25 9/16 × D: 11 5/8 in. (45.8 × 65 × 29.5 cm)
medium: bronze lost-wax cast with brown varnish patina over yellow bronze with minute traces of gilding
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
7 3/16 x 9 5/16 in. (18.3 x 23.6 cm)
medium: iron gall ink and wash on slightly textured, medium-weight, cream, wove paper
Walters Art Museum, 1960, by bequest.
Five gentlemen, grouped around a table, toast the King. One page is replenishing a wine glass while another stands in attendance. Set in a Renaissance chimney piece in the right background is a marble bust of Henri IV of France. The wall at the left is covered with crimson fabric decorated with fleurs-de-lys and emblazoned with the arms of France and Navarre. Discernible on the lace-covered table is a Chinese pheasant that is being served in its skin. A large copper wine cooler dominates the right foreground.
H: 12 1/2 x W: 16 1/8 in. (31.8 x 41 cm)
Framed H: 19 7/16 × W: 22 5/8 × D: 3 1/16 in. (49.4 × 57.4 × 7.8 cm)
medium: oil on panel (mahogany)
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Spear throwers improve a spear's range and thrust. The spear was placed against the stone pivot and hurled using the thumb rest, carved as a figure with a skeletal chest, back-bent head, and a severed human head at its rear. This figure, frequent in art, is not well understood, but its appearance here suggests a connection to death. The shaft's carving makes clever use of the bone's marrow cavity.
Peru, South Coast, late Paracas or early Nasca style
bone, hematite, cotton thread, sinew
Overall: 5.8 x 2 cm (2 5/16 x 13/16 in.)
Did you know...
Spear throwers, also called <em>atlatls</em>, use leverage to propel a spear faster and farther through the air.
The Norweb Collection
This is an imaginary portrait of the mother of the Zen master Hottō Enmyō Kokushi (1203–1298), whose sculptural portrait (1970.67) can be seen in gallery 235B. That image was carved soon after the master's death. His mother's image, however, was completed several hundred years later, so the likeness is doubtful.
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
wood with polychromy and inlaid crystal and stone eyes
Overall: 60.3 cm (23 3/4 in.)
Edward L. Whittemore Fund
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
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