Museum Report

When I visited the Metropolitan Museum, my section of interest, such as Arab lands, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia were under renovation. It will open in 2011. However, I found some interesting art pieces.
Background information about Islam and its art.
Islam was found by Prophet Muhammad in the early seventh century A.D. on the Arabian Peninsula. In 622 Muhammad and his companions were forced to leave Mecca for Medina. This emigration marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. After the Prophet's death in 632, Islam spread rapidly both as a religion and a political power from Middle East and as far east as India and western China. In spite of regional and ethnic differences, the richly varied peoples were united within the religion, cultural, and political community of Islam. As the religion of Islam presents a way of life and serves as a cohesive force, the art produced by and for Muslim societies has general identifying and unifying characteristics. There are three basic components of Islamic ornaments: calligraphy, geometric patterns, and floral/vegetable designs. Arabic letters lend themselves to pleasing forms and rhythms. Various calligraphic script adorned not only Qur'an manuscripts and other written works but also formed a significant part of architectural decorative programs and the ornamentation of ceramics, metal works, glass, wood and stone objects, and textile. Geometric designs of incredible variety, subtlety, complexity, richness, and harmony proliferate in Islamic decoration. Floral and vegetable motifs, frequently used in a wide range of scrolling patterns, are essential qualities of Islamic art. In addition to calligraphy and geometric or vegetable decoration, artists employed figural and animal imagery. The ban against figural imagery does not appear in the Qur'an but grew out of the Hadith (traditions of the Prophet), spurred by the perceived danger of idolatry. However, countries or cultures that had a strong tradition of figural imagery in the arts before the advent of Islam, such as Iran, continued it afterward in a secular sphere.
The works that interested me were collected from early period of Islamic art, 650-1000 A.D. The use of bold calligraphy in copying Qur'an as well as for decorative purposes is the most important of innovations, but equally important are the technological and artistic challenges in the creation of cluster-painted ceramics, relief-cut glass, jewelry, and inscribed textiles.


This helmet was made in Iran, 18th century. It was made of steel and was decorated with a Qur'anic verses with gold as well as mention of name of God. What surprises me about this helmet is its complex design.I have cropped the picture so that you could see the Arabic calligraphy and its complexity.




















This is an astrolabe that was made in Yemen, A.D. 1291. The astrolabe is a very ancient astronomical computer for solving problems relating to time and the position of the Sun and stars in the sky. Typical use of the astrolabe include finding the time during the day or night, finding the time of a celestial event such as sunrise or sunset and as a handy reference of celestial positions. Muslims needed it the most to calculate the prayer times and the time of holy Months, such as Ramadan.












These two Qur'an manuscripts were written on two leaves. The artists used ink, gold, and colors when writing verses on the leaves. There are marks and patterns on the leaves as well. It belonged to Eastern Islamic lands, late 11th-early 12th century. It is written in a classical Arabic. Today's Qur'an are written in a simple Arabic in order to make it readable for non-Arabic speaking Muslims and nations.








This is the manuscript of the Divan ("Poetic Works") of Sultan Husain Baiqara. While writing this poetic book in Persian, the artist used ink colors, and gold on paper. What is interesting about this book is that the artist drew colorful birds and head of lion as well as flowers making the poems more interesting.

Museum Report

I have been to metropolitan museum of Art couple of times, but this time I particularly concentrated on Egyptian Section. This museum holds large variety of Egyptian art including old kingdom Egypt (2650 B.B – 2150 B.C, Egypt under Roman rule and Egypt in early kingdom. All these sections are very informative and descriptive. Since the whole Egyptian section is really big, so I decided to concentrate on Egypt in early Kingdom.

Their collection of Egyptian art in old kingdom is one of the greatest outside Cairo. More than half of the collection is derived from the archaeological excavations along the Nile between 1906-1935. Most of the collection in this section, including royal and upper class tombs at Abydos and Saqqara reveals fine production from first two dynasties. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, Egyptian Civilization, old kingdom)

This is the statue of Kaipunesut, probably from Dynasty 4. it was funded by Rogers fund in 1926. (metropolitan Museum of Art, old kingdom).

This is a structure of Tomb of Merti. Merti was a high official and provincial governor. He was very intelligent and he helped establish law and order in Egypt. It is probably from dynasty 5. Tomb of Merti was found in 1926. All the other statues relating to Tomb of Merti are representation of career, lifestyle and achievement of Merti. (old kingdom, Egyptian wing).

These are some of Egyptian manuscripts of Old Egyptian Kingdom. They represent some of the noble people in Egyptian society. Underneath those manuscripts are some jewels used by Egyptian. During this time papyrus was invented and as a consequence writing was used as an administrative tool of government.

The other important figures in Egyptian old kingdom are Kings of Sumer and Akkad

Overall, i really enjoyed my visit because it helped me gather more information about Egyptian lifestyle. Egyptians contributed a lot in early civilization thats why its important to learn about their lifestyle, success and their leaders. Old kingdom holds very descriptive information. I choose old kingdom because this is a point where Egyptian civilization began.

The Met

I have been to the Met a few times before this assignment but I mostly saw the Greek and Roman sculptures and some of the Italian renaissance paintings. This time however, I planned on venturing off into a different wing of the museum, the Asian wing.

Right away after stepping foot into the wing you could feel a different presence. The corridor was lit by bright natural lighting and was full of statues and sculptures. Most of these sculptures were of the bodhisattvas who were the enlighten men of the Buddhist philosophy. These were meant to be displayed around varies areas. Some were meant for public display while others were more inaccessible in remote caves meant for monks.

This statue is of one of the most widely known bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara, carved out of limestone from the 7^th century. The name translates to “Lord who looks down” or observes the world. He is considered to have all the passion of the other entire bodhisattvas combined. Often he is depicted to have many arms from one Buddhist story of never vowing to rest until everyone has been saved from samsara, or daily suffering.

This is a head of bodhisattvas from the Shan Xi providence of China. It was part of a much bigger sculpture carved out of wall that was part of a cave. Before visiting the museum I never really understood why Buddhist statues were in various positions or were holding a lotus but after looking at these statues and reading more about the philosophy I am beginning to understand the strong, religious meanings behind them.

My findings and the Met

Before my visit to the Metropolitan Museum, I had no specific interest in a time period. As i wandered around the Medieval sculptures and art, I noticed to many mother and child works of art and sculptures of the saints, which of course was normal for that time. I wanted to search for artifacts that we don't readily equate with the Medieval period. While reading Dante's Inferno we learned of the significance of animals. I've always been fascinated with animals and their symbolic role in literature. I was glad to find several artifacts of animals used in religious context. Here they are:




This is a sculpture of Trumpet blowing angels heralding the last Judgement. You can't see them, but the angels are to the left & right of the statue. The figure is the angel of St. Matthew, to his left is the ox of Luke and to his right is the Lion of Mark. This statue supported an eagle lecturn. (pictured below)

Below is the head of a Crozier with a serpent devouring a flower. The crozier conveyed authority of the bishop. The Serpent and flower are frequently combined. They allude to the rod of Moses that turned to a serpent and to the flowering rod of Aaron, symbol of his election to the priesthood of God.

These are two Appliques from a Book Cover: Ox of St. Luke & Lion of St. Mark

Eucharistic Dove

This dove would've hung over an altar asan evocation of "holy spirit". A tear shaped door on its back conceals a small cavity used to hold the bread of the Eucharist.

I enjoyed my trip to the Met. I felt I wasn't able to absord all of the artifacts.

(of course this musuem is huge) I was glad to soak up the culture. It really helps to visually see pieces of history and not only read about it.

Roman's Museum Project

I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Friday for the first time. I focused more on the Italian Renaissance Art, but I wish I would have done my blog project earlier in the semester, while we were reading the Iliad. I found that the Greek Art was much more intriguing to me. I guess this might be because I did prefer reading the Iliad than any of the other stories we read.

The photo "Saint John the Baptist Bearing Witness" you see above was first said to be painted by Francesco Granacci, a Florentine Renaissance painter but after doing some research on this photo Everett Fahy, former head of European paintings at the Met, says it is the work of the Renaissance genius Michelangelo. Regardless of who was the painter of this photograph is , I feel that it is very beautiful the details in this photograph are simply amazing. To me the details on this photograph make it come to life. The photograph illustrates the life of Saint John the Baptist.

The sculpture you see to the left I encountered as I walked

through the museum little did I know is that this sculpture is that of
Ugolino and His sons. It was sculpted by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux.

The story of the Pisan traitor Ugolino, imprisoned with his sons and condemned to starvation, was told by Dante in The Inferno canto 23. Carpeaux shows the anguished father resisting his sons' offer of their own bodies for his sustenance.

Overall these two works really caught my attention, my visit to the Museum was a great experience, the visit helped me actually have a visual image of everything we read throughout the semester.

My Trip To the Metropolitan Museum

This past week I went to the Metropolitan museum of Art to look at some Italian Renaissance artwork. I was skeptical of going to the museum at first, mainly because it would take away from the stuff i would rather be doing. However, once I got there and actually experienced the artwork firsthand, I can honestly say that I was amazed at the beauty of the artwork of the Italian Renaissance.
The first painting that really caught my attention was Madonna and child by Titian (Tiziano Vecellio).The term Madonna is an old Italian word for a noble woman and is used in reference to images of the Virgin Mary. It's a really old painting dating back to 1510. It is also very similar to a work done by Caravaggio called The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist. They both depict the virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, and an infant Jesus. Paintings like this were very popular around that time, mainly because the church was of vital importance to people living in Europe. Famous artists were propositioned to paint pictures incorporating the virgin Mary and Jesus.

Another interesting painting from the Italian Renaissance which incorporates Mary and Jesus is Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints by Raphael.
This important early altarpiece was painted for the small franciscan convent of Sant'Antonio in Perugia and hung in a part of the church reserved for nuns. Some say it was the nuns that had asked Raphael to draw the Infant Jesus and the Infant Saint John the Baptist fully clothed.
Finally, the last painting I looked at was called The Holy Family with Saints Francis and Anne and the Infant Saint John the Baptist by Peter Paul Rubens.

Again, you can clearly see that the Virgin Mary and Jesus were the main focus of this picture. Its safe to say that a lot of art that came out of the Italian Renaissance focused on the images of Mary and baby Jesus.

All in all, I enjoyed my trip to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I got to see some beautiful Italian artwork and ,at the same time, learned something new about the artwork from that time period.

Jonathan's Museum Report

During my visit to the Met, I focused on the Italian Renaissance portion of all the art work displayed. I personally have a thing for love and any/all art that has anything to do with it. So the three paintings below are just some of the ones that really stood out for me and spoke to me in ways other paintings did not.

The Painting above is called Venus Blindfolding Cupid by Tiziano Vicellio. One thing that really struck me about this painting is how everyone is looking in a different direction. There is not one individual who has their respective eyes focused on a similar area as the other individuals in the artwork. Another thing that caught my attention immediately after reading the title of this piece, the fact that "Cupid" is so hidden. He is on the lap, of whom im assuming is Venus, where she is blindfolding him. he is barely visible within this piece yet he carries such a great significance. One thing i realized is how Cupid is portrayed to be a child. This could symbolize many things. For one, i believe the reason this artist portrayed Cupid as a mere child, is to basically express the innocence one has as a child, and due to this innocence, a child can easily play "matchmaker" and see who belongs with whom. Blindfolding him would just represent the taking away of any bias. He can use his innocence by feeling the connection between two individuals instead of seeing which two look good together. Having Venus, Goddess of Love, Beauty, and fertility, as the one to blindfold cupid allows this painting to tie together.
The painting above is called The Adimari Cassone by Giovanni de Ser Giovanni Guidi. From this oil painting many things can be see. For one, everyone within the artwork is paired off with another individual where it being female or male. Looking at this painting, I noticed how it was a very long piece and was originally made as four different panels of which was connected at some point. This shows the symmetry used by the artist in effort to express the balance of love. In the two center panels, one group is seemingly interacting with one another in the form of dance and the other group seems to be a bit less enthusiastic, which causes to just take a stroll. The panel on the far left represents the older love lives. And the panel to the right, in my opinion, represents the other side of love that is "hidden" which is love of the same sexuality. There seems to purpose to why these panels were placed in this order. The Adults, in the first panel, are sitting and relaxing and enjoying the view rather than "being" the view. The second panel are the young energetic couples of whom love to have fun rather than be as their elders are. The third panel, has couples strolling around the area which represents "coming of age" and basically shows that they are one step behind sitting down as the elders would. And as for the fourth panel, i believe this symbolized the fact that they were not accepted in a sense. They were hidden from the big image and thats basically what society did to them in reality. If you notice, the last panel really has nothing to do with the rest of the art work, and yet the artist still included it. This is A Portrait of a Woman and a Man at a Casement by Fra Filippo Lippi. As i walked around all the oil paintings, for some odd reason, this one just stood out to me the most. The strong facial expressions which are being held by both individuals tells so many stories and so many secrets. It seems as if the woman and the male have a secret love interest for each other but they are hiding it from others. Possibly, the woman is married to a high official and the man is but a normal citizen. With this, they are having an affair which no one but these two individuals know about. They make no contact but their body language speaks to one another. They both have the kind of look which says "we will meet again."