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A feathered serpent carved in stone represents the Plumed Serpent, god of storm and wind. An image referring to the Year 1 Reed appears on the back of the serpent’s head. According to the ancient Mexican calendar, Quetzalcoatl was born in Year 1 Reed. Hernán Cortes and his Spanish army arrived in Mexico in 1519, which corresponded with the Mexican calendar’s Year 1 Reed. The Aztecs, who had risen to power in the Valley of Mexico by the fifteenth century, interpreted Cortes’ arrival as the return
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Earthenware with decoration carved through a white slip and coloring under a transparent glaze | Size: H: 7.4 W: 19.6 cm
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Stone-paste painted under and over transparent glaze | Size: H: 8.5 W: 20.3 D: 20.3 cm
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Ganesha's trunk symbolises the fact that the wise person has both immense strength and fine discrimination. Ganesha has large ears. The wise person hears all. He has four hands. In one hand he holds a lotus, the symbol of enlightenment. In the other hand he holds a hatchet. That is, the old karma, all your sanskars, the accumulated good and bad of past deeds get cut when enlightenment comes.
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The crowned centaur (undoubtedly Chiron, the king of centaurs) appears about to slay the dragon attacking his left side with the sword wielded in his right hand. Already representing a fantastic, composite beast, the form of this aquamanile is further enriched by the dragon whose head and neck, grasped in the centaur's left hand, form the spout. A second dragon forms the handle on the centaur's back. The vessel was filled through a hole in the top of the centaur's head.
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This majestic falcon has been associated with the Hohenstaufen emperors, whose rule extended over much of modern Germany and Italy. As symbols of their authority, they carried staffs surmounted by eagles, but the heavy bronze of this example may indicate that it decorated a throne or other piece of furniture. The falcon, which appears to be a specific type called a gerfalcon, suggests a link to Emperor Frederick II, who wrote the standard medieval treatise on the art of falconry, an aristocratic
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Among the Greek scientific texts that appealed to the Arab translators and artists of Baghdad, a center for manuscript production in the thirteenth century, were herbals and bestiaries. They described the appearance, habitat, salient characteristics, and uses of various plants and animals, a tradition going back to late antiquity, but pictorially were more often influenced by the art of Byzantium. Particularly popular was the treatise of Dioscorides, a Greek physician working in the Roman army i
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Ancient Chinese. Polychrome horse on a terracotta base. Covered in a heavy runny glaze of tan, amber and beige with traces of white.
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Photographed at the Asian Museum of Art. San Francisco, CA.
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During the Kamakura Period (1185-1336 CE) and Muromachi Period (1336-1568 CE) we see the rise of the 6 Ancient Kilns (Seto, Bizen, Tamba, Shigaraki, Echizen, and Tokonome). These are place names referring to the sites of these pottery making villages. The earliest examples from all these kilns are very similar, featuring coarse, heavily thrown, ash glazed storage vessels made of stoneware. This example from Tachikui, one of the Tamba sites, is representative. Tamba is the name of an old province
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Effigy Vessel Anasazi culture Cibola Branch 1250-1300 CE Ceramic Cibola White Ware Arizona United States
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In the ancient world, the mythical beasts called griffins were symbols of royalty and protectors of the dead. They continued to play these roles for Christians. A legend popular in the Byzantine era told of griffins carrying Alexander the Great through the heavens so he could view his vast realm. Carved griffins such as the one illustrated here are found on later Byzantine tombs, where they may have been placed to identify the dead of royal status and to afford them protection. The design of the
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The expressive features of this face reflect the influence of the last phase of the Khmer style of Angkor, the Khmer capital. Throughout the 11th and 12th centuries, when Thailand formed part of the Khmer Empire, Lopburi was a chief seat of Khmer power. Cambodian influences continued to be felt there even after its political domination was broken early in the 13th century.
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Mongols under the command of Hulagu Khan sacked Baghdad, destroying the House of Wisdom, the leading library in the leading intellectual center of the Arab world. The House of Wisdom, founded in the eighth century, contained countless precious documents accumulated over five hundred years. Survivors said so many books were thrown into the river that the waters of the Tigris ran black with ink; others said the waters were red from blood.
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Stone-paste painted under clear glaze | Size: H: 8.0 W: 19.4 cm
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This bronze candlestick has been produced in the form of an elephant carrying a castle. The crenellated top of the castle tower contains the spike on which the candle would have been placed. To the modern viewer the body of the creature most closely resembles a horse, rather than an elephant. The latter would, after all, have been a much more exotic and less familiar creature to the maker. Exotic and fantastic creatures were frequently depicted in medieval and Renaissance art, and some real ones
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Rectangular shaped carved variegated light green jade head rest with rounded edges, Chinese inscriptions to the center, a row of intricately carved designs of dragons and dragon heads surrounding the inscriptions.
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The glass beaker known as the Luck of Edenhall was made in Egypt or Syria, probably in the 13th century. At the time the Arab lands produced the world's finest glassware, which was decorated with enamelled and gilded designs. It was traded from Ireland to China. Early in its history, the beaker was brought to England, most likely by an Italian merchant. In the 1200s and 1300s centuries, the north of the country was troubled by border raids, during which the gold and silver vessels used in churc
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Reims Cathedral, jamb figures of the Annunciation and Visitation, south side of the central portal, 13th century, High Gothic sculpture, France ARTIST: GIOVANNI PISANO
LOCATION: PISTOIA, ITALY
MEDIUM: MARBLE -
Stained glass.
Westminster Abbey -
Cimabue (Italian: [tʃimaˈbue]; c. 1240–1302),[1] also known as Bencivieni di Pepo or in modern Italian, Benvenuto di Giuseppe, was a Florentine painter and creator of mosaics. Cimabue is generally regarded as one of the first great Italian painters to break away from the Italo-Byzantine style, although he still relied on Byzantine models.[2] The art of this period comprised scenes and forms that appeared relatively flat and highly stylized. Cimabue was a pioneer in the move towards naturalism,
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This spouted vessel in the form of a crouching figure represents an important aspect of Mesoamerican religious practice—deity impersonation—by which the gods were brought directly into the world of experience. The disguise portrayed in this piece is a double one, however: warrior and rain god. In the ancient shamanic traditions of western Mexico, this crouching figure is a shaman warrior, positioned as if ready to leap. He holds a club in his right hand and has a shield attached to his left wris
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Reconstruction of the temple of Jerusalem. From William of Tyre, Histoire d'Outremer. France, Rouen, XVe siècle Artiste : Maître de l'Échevinage Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits Français 2629, folio 17
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This sculpture represents the Mexica god Quetzalcoatl. His name in Nahuatl, the language spoken by the Mexica, means Feathered (quetzal feather) Serpent. The serpent's coils of the sculpture are covered with feathers and the face of the god (or an impersonation) emerges wearing the curved shell ear ornaments characteristic of representations of this god. The cult of Quetzalcoatl was widespread throughout Mesoamerica, although it was known by different names at different periods. While his vario
