This phallic representation of the god Shiva appears as a columnar head placed on a base with two rounded moldings on top of a series of square ones. His neck is fully cylindrical and the face is modeled on that cylinder. The eyes are wide open and a bow shaped eyebrow curves over them. He has a flared nose and luxuriant moustache over a narrow but full lips and a short ball like chin. A ‘U’ shaped element consisting of lines and a pearl motif probably represents his beard, perhaps held up in a tight net. His forehead is decorated with three raise lines that go straight across and his crown is basically flat over his hear decorated with a bunch of peak forms in the center with a finial surmounting the whole. His ears fan out almost like handles to a jar and are decorated with stylized arabesques. A five-headed snake hood rises behind the head and has a rib down its center and scale motives incised towards the bottom an ‘S’ shapes t denote the cobra ‘eyes’ to each side.
Subject Matter
Shiva is often worshipped in his aniconic form of the linga, a representation of the creative power of the phallus. Often the form is quite abstract, being a simple shaft with lines representing a formalized glans penis. But in many cases the shaft is decorated with a face of the god, mukha meaning head and can be seen as eka (one) or sometimes at catur (four) facing the cardinal directions: hence we find ekamukhalingas and caturmukhalingas as well as lingas that are totally plain. A snake hood acting as a canopy over the linga is also very common, adding sanctity to the image. Snake symbolism reflects ancient pre-Hindu religious practice and was absorbed into a number of religions that developed in India.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
The bull, the dog, and the serpent are three of the animals that accompany Shiva and share his nature: they are powerful and can kill; they are associated with the earth, waters, and fecundity; and they are symbols of death and destruction. Snakes, in particular, in shedding their skins, allude to resurrection and rebirth. Like Shiva in his ascetic nature, the snake neither hoards nor builds anything and wanders the mountains and forest underbrush. As such, images of the god are often cloaked in snakes, which wrap around his torso as garlands and rise over his head in the form of elaborate canopies. Here, a five-headed cobra hood rises in a wave from the back of a one-faced Shiva linga. Its concave form functions like a royal parasol, and its position relates it to the halo—two symbols used frequently in Indian art to differentiate and sanctify the space of gods and kings.
(Label for UMMA South and Southeast Asia Gallery Opening Rotation, March 2009)
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
This phallic representation of the god Shiva appears as a columnar head placed on a base with two rounded moldings on top of a series of square ones. His neck is fully cylindrical and the face is modeled on that cylinder. The eyes are wide open and a bow shaped eyebrow curves over them. He has a flared nose and luxuriant moustache over a narrow but full lips and a short ball like chin. A ‘U’ shaped element consisting of lines and a pearl motif probably represents his beard, perhaps held up in a tight net. His forehead is decorated with three raise lines that go straight across and his crown is basically flat over his hear decorated with a bunch of peak forms in the center with a finial surmounting the whole. His ears fan out almost like handles to a jar and are decorated with stylized arabesques. A five-headed snake hood rises behind the head and has a rib down its center and scale motives incised towards the bottom an ‘S’ shapes t denote the cobra ‘eyes’ to each side.
Subject Matter
Shiva is often worshipped in his aniconic form of the linga, a representation of the creative power of the phallus. Often the form is quite abstract, being a simple shaft with lines representing a formalized glans penis. But in many cases the shaft is decorated with a face of the god, mukha meaning head and can be seen as eka (one) or sometimes at catur (four) facing the cardinal directions: hence we find ekamukhalingas and caturmukhalingas as well as lingas that are totally plain. A snake hood acting as a canopy over the linga is also very common, adding sanctity to the image. Snake symbolism reflects ancient pre-Hindu religious practice and was absorbed into a number of religions that developed in India.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
The bull, the dog, and the serpent are three of the animals that accompany Shiva and share his nature: they are powerful and can kill; they are associated with the earth, waters, and fecundity; and they are symbols of death and destruction. Snakes, in particular, in shedding their skins, allude to resurrection and rebirth. Like Shiva in his ascetic nature, the snake neither hoards nor builds anything and wanders the mountains and forest underbrush. As such, images of the god are often cloaked in snakes, which wrap around his torso as garlands and rise over his head in the form of elaborate canopies. Here, a five-headed cobra hood rises in a wave from the back of a one-faced Shiva linga. Its concave form functions like a royal parasol, and its position relates it to the halo—two symbols used frequently in Indian art to differentiate and sanctify the space of gods and kings.
(Label for UMMA South and Southeast Asia Gallery Opening Rotation, March 2009)
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
This phallic representation of the god Shiva appears as a columnar head placed on a base with two rounded moldings on top of a series of square ones. His neck is fully cylindrical and the face is modeled on that cylinder. The eyes are wide open and a bow shaped eyebrow curves over them. He has a flared nose and luxuriant moustache over a narrow but full lips and a short ball like chin. A ‘U’ shaped element consisting of lines and a pearl motif probably represents his beard, perhaps held up in a tight net. His forehead is decorated with three raise lines that go straight across and his crown is basically flat over his hear decorated with a bunch of peak forms in the center with a finial surmounting the whole. His ears fan out almost like handles to a jar and are decorated with stylized arabesques. A five-headed snake hood rises behind the head and has a rib down its center and scale motives incised towards the bottom an ‘S’ shapes t denote the cobra ‘eyes’ to each side.
Subject Matter
Shiva is often worshipped in his aniconic form of the linga, a representation of the creative power of the phallus. Often the form is quite abstract, being a simple shaft with lines representing a formalized glans penis. But in many cases the shaft is decorated with a face of the god, mukha meaning head and can be seen as eka (one) or sometimes at catur (four) facing the cardinal directions: hence we find ekamukhalingas and caturmukhalingas as well as lingas that are totally plain. A snake hood acting as a canopy over the linga is also very common, adding sanctity to the image. Snake symbolism reflects ancient pre-Hindu religious practice and was absorbed into a number of religions that developed in India.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
The bull, the dog, and the serpent are three of the animals that accompany Shiva and share his nature: they are powerful and can kill; they are associated with the earth, waters, and fecundity; and they are symbols of death and destruction. Snakes, in particular, in shedding their skins, allude to resurrection and rebirth. Like Shiva in his ascetic nature, the snake neither hoards nor builds anything and wanders the mountains and forest underbrush. As such, images of the god are often cloaked in snakes, which wrap around his torso as garlands and rise over his head in the form of elaborate canopies. Here, a five-headed cobra hood rises in a wave from the back of a one-faced Shiva linga. Its concave form functions like a royal parasol, and its position relates it to the halo—two symbols used frequently in Indian art to differentiate and sanctify the space of gods and kings.
(Label for UMMA South and Southeast Asia Gallery Opening Rotation, March 2009)
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
This magnificent kimono was designed for a kabuki performer. It is decorated with two peacocks, one male and one female, amid peony blossoms and behind a red railing. Gold thread has also been used to enrich the design. The diamond-shaped checkers on the lower hem, which represent a marble floor, are all hand-tinted with ink. The coarse, white cotton fabric on which these designs are constructed is evidently hand-loomed, since the threads are not of even thickness.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
The front (obverse) of this medal represents a portrait of a man in profile wearing a papal tiara and a cope. The reverse depicts a city square dominated by an obelisk with a pair of identical domed churches in the background. Inscriptions run around the edge of the medal on both sides.
Subject Matter
A portrait of Alexander VII wearing the papal tiara graces the front of this medal. On the reverse appears the renovated Piazza del Popolo in Rome, a civic works project initiated by Alexander VII. The piazza owed its importance to the three streets that led from the square into the heart of the city. The medal anticipates the piazza’s appearance after the renovation by placing two domed churches in the middle ground with the three streets receding dramatically into the distance. The artist reinforced the symmetry of the paired churches by arranging the scene around a central obelisk, thereby heightening the sense of rational order and breathtaking grandeur imposed by the pope’s will upon the urban fabric.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
The reverse of this medal depicts another papal civic project: Alexander VII’s renewal of the Piazza del Popolo in Rome. The piazza owed its importance to the three streets that led from the square into the heart of the city. The pope sought to harmonize and aggrandize this public space by commissioning two identical churches to be built where the three streets intersected. Alexander VII did not live to see his project completed, but this medal anticipates the piazza’s final appearance; the two domed churches appear in the middle ground and the three streets recede dramatically into the distance. The artist reinforced the symmetry of the paired churches by arranging the scene around a central obelisk, which heightened the sense of rational order and breathtaking grandeur desired by the pope for the urban fabric.
Inscription
Obverse: Alex. VII Pont Max A. VIII; 1662 below truncation Reverse: Sapientia in Plateis Dat Vocem Suam; MDCLXII in esargue
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
The front (obverse) of the medal presents a profile portrait of a bearded man wearing a cassock, cap, and stole. The reverse depicts a bridge spanning a river. A winged figure flies above the bridge blowing a trumpet, while a nude male figure reclines below the bridge in the foreground and a wolf nurses at his feet. Inscriptions run around both the border edge of both sides of the medal.
Subject Matter
The front of this medal depicts Pope Clement IX, and the reverse represents one of his public works projects, the restoration of the Ponte Sant’Angelo that bridged the Tiber in Rome. The bridge appears in the center of the scene, while an angel trumpets above. A river god, representing the Tiber, reclines below the bridge while a nursing wolf--a symbol of Rome--appears at his feet.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
Continuing the papal policy of sponsoring public works, Clement IX financed the restoration of the Pont Sant’Angelo across the Tiber in Rome. The reverse of this papal medal represents the bridge along with a reclining river god and a wolf nursing Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome according to legend. The inscription is another evocation of antiquity, employing the Classical Roman name for the bridge. The bridge also evokes the pope, whose title in Latin, Pontifex Maximus, literally means “supreme bridge-builder.” Traditionally, this title referred to the pontiff’s role as mediator between heaven and earth, but here Clement IX, by literally rebuilding a bridge, also creates a span between Rome’s present and its glorious past.
Inscription
Obverse: Clemens IX Pont Max An II; on Truncation: F. Cheron F. Reverse: Aelia Ponte Exornato
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
