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.
Standing gilt bronze Buddha with glass inlay in royal costume. Stands on a lotus pedestal with both hands raised in abhaya mudra.
Subject Matter
Buddha in intricate costume standing on a lotus pedestal. Such elaborate decoration has come to characterize Thai Buddhist imagery of the 19th and 20th centuries. Hands form double abhaya mudra (the gesture of reassurance), called “calming the ocean” by Thais.
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 bronze statue depicts a female figure kneeling and bending forward with her arms outstretched. She grasps a long piece of cloth which is stretched on the ground in front of her. She looks directly at the cloth with an intent expression. The woman is wearing a long skirt which covers her legs and feet and swirls around her on the ground. Her blouse has flowing sleeves that end at the elbows, leaving her forearms bare. Her hair is pulled back and gatherred into a knot. The bronze has a dark green patina and the surface of the statue is smooth and polished.
Subject Matter
When Maillol first began to concentrate on sculpture, he created many small statues of female figures, usually nudes. (See 1985/1.27) This example is unique because it depicts a clothed figure engaged in a particular task -- a laundress. He also used this subject matter in painting, drawing, prints and wood carving. His treatment of the folds and swirls of her clothing shows his interest in the expressive quality of line.
Inscription
Inscribed front c: M (in circle) 1/6 Foundry mark interior rear of skirt: .Alexis Rudier. / .Foundeur.Paris.
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19.37 cm x 16.51 cm x 13.97 cm (7 5/8 in. x 6 1/2 in. x 5 1/2 in.)
Physical Description
A round and squat kettle made of iron. It has a tall, arching handle which is tapered at the ends of attachment and the handle on the cover is decorated with cut-outs.
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 bronze light fixture consists of a central circular celestial motif from which extend twelve arms in a radial pattern. Six of these arms, embellished with maltese crosses, end in omega-shaped terminals. These decorated arms alternate with six unadorned arms that terminate in rings designed to hold glass oil lamps. The entire disk is suspended from three bronze chains joined to a large hook.
Subject Matter
This remarkably well-preserved bronze polycandelon from Coptic Egypt features six rings around its circumference that were designed to hold conical or beaker-shaped glass oil lamps. Similar bronze polycandela were common throughout the eastern Mediterranean and were used to light the interiors of both sacred and domestic structures, but the maltese crosses on six of the radial arms of this polycandelon suggest that it originally hung in a church. Another repeated Christian motif occurs around the edge of the polycandelon where the six rings for the oil lamps alternate with six terminals in the shape of an omega--the last letter of the Greek alphabet, which was associated with Christ who declared "I am the Alpha and the Omega" (Revelation 1:8 and 22:13). These Christian symbols together with the celestial motif at the center of the polycandelon might have imbued the light cast by this fixture with a religious significance beyond its solely utilitarian function.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
This beautifully preserved Coptic polycandelon (a type of chandelier) features six rings that were designed to hold conical glass oil lamps. Similar polycandela were common throughout the eastern Mediterranean and were used to light the interiors of both sacred and domestic structures, but the crosses on six of the radial arms of this example suggest that it originally hung in a church. Another repeated Christian motif occurs around the edge, where the six rings for the oil lamps alternate with six terminals in the shape of an omega—the last letter of the Greek alphabet, which was associated with the Christian god, who declared “I am the Alpha and the Omega” (Revelation 1:8 and 22:13). These Christian symbols, together with the celestial motif at the center, might have imbued the light cast by this fixture with a religious significance beyond its utilitarian function.
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.
Bronze oval cup with a rounded base supported on three slender legs of triangular cross section; each leg tapers to a point. The vessel has one loop handle attached to the side, a long pouring spout with a U-shaped channel on one side balanced by a pointed tail on the other, and a pair of capped finials rise from the rim. The piece has a rich green patina and minimal surface decoration.
Subject Matter
The “jue” cup was the main drinking utensil during the Bronze Age. It is found in a tomb paired with the “gu” wine container. The earliest known “jue” were cast from multipart piece molds. The form of the vessel is complex, and the lack of symmetry is relatively unusual among ritual bronzes. Unlike other tripod food and wine vessels, the three legs of the “jue” are not evenly spaced around the bottom, instead, the two legs opposite the handle are a little closer together and a little more vertical. To balance the handle visually as well as to support its weight the leg under it is slightly longer and sticks out at more of an angle. How this type of cup was used and the function of the two knobs on the rim is still not clear. The long spout is impractical for drinking.
Label Copy
The "chüeh" cup was the main drinking utensil during the Bronze Age. It was found in the tomb paired with the "ku" wine container. How this type of cup was used is still not clear. The long spout is impractical for drinking. The function of the two knobs on the rim is also undetermined.
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Metalworking emerged around 2000 BCE in China, with bronze vessels appearing around 1600 to 1500 BCE in what is known as the Shang dynasty (DATES). Shang society followed the Neolithic societies of Northern China and is the first historically recorded civilization of China. Chinese writing was invented by the Shang and the short inscriptions they left on oracle bones and bronze vessels, along with extensive excavations, show a complex and highly organized society headed by a king and his family, administered by officials, and serviced by craftsmen, slaves, and prisoners of war. The dynasty occupied three capitals in Henan province, the last of which, Anyang, (ca. 1300-1050 BCE) was located south of present-day Beijing. It was in Anyang that some of the world’s greatest masterpieces of bronze art came into being.
The jue drinking cup is probably the earliest vessel type to be cast in bronze. Its eccentric shape, with two large knobs on the lip and a long spout that seems impractical for drinking, is derived from pottery cups of the late Neolithic period. Bronze casters also depended on the older ceramic industry’s knowledge of high temperatures and kiln environments to control the smelting and pouring of bronze metal (an alloy of copper and tin). Potters also made the ceramic piece-moulds required to create the form and decoration of their bronze vessels and weapons.
(Label for UMMA Chinese Gallery Opening Rotation, March 2009)
Inscription
Inscription under handle cast in intaglio, probably a clan sign.
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.
Circular tsuba, made of iron. It has two holes in the middle. There are two openwork motifs of mushrooms on the lower left. Rusts on some parts of the piece.
Subject Matter
Tsuba (sword guard) is inserted between a sword handle and blade to protect hands from sharp blades. The center hole is where the sword is placed. The smaller hole is to insert kougai, a spatula-like stick which is said to be used for itching hair underneath hats or helmets. Mushrooms were thought to have a magical power in East Asia.
This tsuba is in the Kotosho style, which means "old swordsmith". They are usually thinly hammered and decorated with one or two pierced designs. Kotosho fate from Kamakura to early Muromachi period.
Label Copy
Tsuba are intended to protect the user’s hand, first by shielding it against a blow from the opponent’s blade, and second by preventing it from slipping onto the razor-sharp edge of the weapon being wielded. Until the early seventeenth century, simply designed iron tsuba were dominant, as seen in the example here bearing a mushroom motif. When the Tokugawa regime required samurai warlords to travel regularly to the capital, Edo, and mandated that their wives and children reside there, considerations of urban fashion became more influential than battlefield practicalities in samurai attire and accessories. The tsuba became more an object of display than a functional item—a trend that further intensified when affluent merchants were permitted to carry swords in public and also began to demand attractive tsuba.
As is well represented by this collection, there was great artistic creativity at play in tsuba-making during the Edo period. The newly developed shakudô (a copper–gold alloy of a lustrous purple–black color) was used to create relief designs. Openwork chiseling was a versatile method for creating dramatic representations of family crests or light, airy, and elegant plant motifs.
(Label for UMMA Japanese 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.
A small, biomorphically abstract sculpture of bronze grows from a wooden base. Bulbous at the bottom, the shape stretches and narrows in the middle and then expands into a larger shape from which two rounded points rise.
Subject Matter
An example of Jean (Hans) Arp's interest in biomorphic abstraction. In its attention to basic, generic biomorphic shapes the piece is a kind of study of primordial organic forms, forms suggestive of all manner of life but not representing anything specifically.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
Fellow Surrealist artist Max Ernst characterized Arp’s work as embodying a sense of primal truth; his sculptures speak, he said, a “hypnotic language [that] takes us back to a lost paradise, to cosmic secrets, and teaches us to understand the language of the universe.” Arp himself makes reference to the idea of a lost paradise in the title of this piece, Pre-Adamic Fruit. When the biblical Adam and Eve tasted the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, their mortal sin caused the fall of mankind and they were expelled from paradise. Afterwards they knew pain, want, and shame at their nakedness. Arp’s “primal” fruit has features suggestive of both the feminine and the masculine; its androgyny may be the artist’s attempt to represent a return to innocence.
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.
Brass female figure, kneeling with buttocks on the heels, atop an iron staff. The protruding eyes, nose, and mouth convey a serene, dignified and somewhat withdrawn look. The figure has a beard around the face; she wears ornamentation in small holes atop the ears, cone-shaped headgear, and an elaborate necklace; there is a small spiral motif on the forehead, and two larger spiral motifs on the sides of the body. The hands are held in closed fists in front of the body, the left hand on top of the right.
Subject Matter
The anthropomorphic brass staffs and figures of the Ogboni society usually come in male-female pairs and are called "Edan." This example is female, as indicated by the breasts and genitals. Female "edan" have beards, too, like their male counterparts-- the beard signifying old age, experience, and wisdom. The staff is an emblem of membership in the Ogboni society of the Yoruba peoples of southwestern Nigeria; the gesture of the hands made by the figurine on top shows the way members greet each other (with fists clenched, left hand over the right: representing the supremacy of the earth). The Ogboni society (also called the Oshugbo society) is a council made up of male and female elders proven to have high integrity and mature judgement. In precolonial times, and to a lesser extent today, this council fulfilled a number of political, judicial and spiritual functions, including the selection and removal of kings and punishment of serious offenders.
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.
A small polished bronze sculpture of a biomorphic form rising gracefully from a small base. Where it contacts the base, the form stands on two leg-like structures. The form rises from there, narrows, then opens up into a wider, more oblong shape at the top.
Subject Matter
An early example of Jean (Hans) Arp's interest in biomorphic abstraction. In its attention to basic, generic biomorphic shapes the piece is a kind of study of primordial organic forms, forms suggestive of all manner of life but not representing anything specifically.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
In the spring of 1915 Arp sought refuge from World War I in Zurich, where he met fellow artist (and his future wife) Sophie Taeuber. Her abstract compositions of squares and rectangles greatly impressed Arp, and he soon abandoned the figurative style of his early work. He went on to become a founding member of Dada, an international “anti-art” movement militantly opposed to tradition and convention; he also participated actively in Surrealism, which turned away from external reality and nature to the exploration of the human subconscious.
During his Surrealist period, Arp’s investigation of biomorphism, which takes its name from the organic forms that seem to have been shaped by the forces of nature, proved to be a fertile soil for the evolution of his distinctive style. He arrived at undulating, fluid shapes such as this one, later referred to as “moving ovals,” through the Surrealist technique of automatic drawing, in which the hand moved “randomly” across the paper without conscious thought—a technique the Surrealists believed would reveal the contents of the subconscious mind. Arp’s biomorphic distortions are amplified by the polished surface of the bulbous curves of the sculpture, which distort the reflected image like a funhouse mirror.
Inscription
Inscribed inside rear face of base: HA Inscribed inside left face of base: 3/3
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A native of Shanghai, Zhang Gunian (Chang Ku-nien) first studied painting at the age of nine under the tutelage of his uncle. His work clearly embraces the free brushwork that flourished in Shanghai painting circles in the early part of the twentieth century. After his move to Taiwan, he frequently did scenes that reflected the accomplishments of the Nationalist Government in creating a modern China. He organized a group of like-minded colleagues as the "Seven Friends of Painting and Calligraphy," and together they often did collaborative works. His paintings and calligraphy were much admired in Taiwan and Japan in the second half of the twentieth century, although less known in the West. A major donation to UMMA of nearly forty paintings by Zhang Gunian, given by his son and daughter, will allow for serious study of this artist's work in North America.
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.
Gilt bronze statue of monk with a begging bowl over his shoulder. This is Phra Malai, who achieved extraordinary powers through his accumulated merit and was able to visit numerous hells and heavens and then travel back to report on what he had seen. Phrai Malai has elongated ears and stands on a wooden base wearing a detailed robe.
Subject Matter
Monk with a begging bowl over his shoulder. This is Phra Malai whose story was immensely popular in the nineteenth century. He was a Buddhist monk who had achieved extraordinary powers through his accumulated merit and was able to visit numerous hells and heavens and then travel back to report on what he had seen. His accounts of heaven and hell offer vivid reminders of the inevitable results of one’s actions and his story was widely used as a preaching text at funerals.
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.
141.29 cm x 92.39 cm x 37.15 cm (55 5/8 in. x 36 3/8 in. x 14 5/8 in.)
Physical Description
A chest in three pieces, all stacked on top of on another. The two chest pieces feature small center doors with decorative iron fittings around the handles and the hinges. Decorative iron fittings are added at each wood inlay location.
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.
Sadanobu was the son of an Osaka textile merchant who specialized in wrapping cloths (chakin and fukusa). As a youth he was always drawing and obviously not suited to inherit the business, so he was sent to study with Ueda Hironaga, and later studied with the Ukihoe print artist Sadamasu. He enjoyed an exceptionally long career as a print artist himself, with his period of production extending frm 1823 to the 1875, when he bestowed the Sadanobu name to his eldest son, Konobu. He died in 1879 at 71 sai. See Matsudaira Susumu, Kamigata ukiyoe no sekai (2000), 83 ff.—Maribeth Graybill, Senior Curator of Asian Art, 7/24/2003
It is a round, openwork tsuba, in the design of three interconnected bamboo leaves. It has the signature: Kishû jû, Sadanobu.
Subject Matter
Tsuba (sword guard) is inserted between a sword handle and blade to protect hands from sharp blades. The center hole is where the sword is placed. The smaller hole is to insert an ornamental stick called kozuka.
Label Copy
Tsuba are intended to protect the user’s hand, first by shielding it against a blow from the opponent’s blade, and second by preventing it from slipping onto the razor-sharp edge of the weapon being wielded. Until the early seventeenth century, simply designed iron tsuba were dominant, as seen in the example here bearing a mushroom motif. When the Tokugawa regime required samurai warlords to travel regularly to the capital, Edo, and mandated that their wives and children reside there, considerations of urban fashion became more influential than battlefield practicalities in samurai attire and accessories. The tsuba became more an object of display than a functional item—a trend that further intensified when affluent merchants were permitted to carry swords in public and also began to demand attractive tsuba.
As is well represented by this collection, there was great artistic creativity at play in tsuba-making during the Edo period. The newly developed shakudô (a copper–gold alloy of a lustrous purple–black color) was used to create relief designs. Openwork chiseling was a versatile method for creating dramatic representations of family crests or light, airy, and elegant plant motifs.
(Label for UMMA Japanese 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.
A small crowd of figures gathers around the body of a dead man and a fainting woman in the center of this bronze panel. The dead man's body and the two men holding his burial shroud appear in the foreground, while the fainting woman and the three women and the man who support her are positioned immediately above and behind them. Another woman with loose, flowing hair leans forward to kiss the left hand of the dead man, uniting the two parts of this central group. Four other male figures, rendered in slightly smaller scale and lower relief, look on from the sides. Three crosses provide the backdrop to the drama. The central cross is empty, yet two twisting nude males are suspended from the crosses on either side.
Subject Matter
This bronze panel depicts the removal of Christ from the cross, which looms empty in the background. His muscular body, held by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, lies in calm repose at the center of a storm of grief. Mary Magdalene, her hair unbound, leans sharply forward to kiss Christ's left wrist, while the Virgin Mary falls back in a faint into the arms of three women and St. John the Evangelist. Great sweeps of drapery augment the impassioned responses of the figures. Four onlookers stand to the sides and the two thieves, their bodies naked and twisted, still hang on their crosses.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
A contemporary of Michelangelo (1475–1564), Guglielmo della Porta benefited from lucrative papal commissions secured with the influence of his more successful peer. Della Porta probably designed this panel for a door commissioned by Pope Pius IV in 1564 for the church of St. Peter in Rome. The project, however, never achieved fruition. Undaunted, della Porta almost certainly offered the same design in the mid-1570s as part of a proposed tomb for Pope Gregory XIII, which, again, was never realized. The rim around this relief indicates its intention for one of these unfinished projects.
The panel depicts the lifeless body of Jesus being lowered from the cross, which looms above the crowd of mourners. The descent of Christ’s body to the ground is echoed by the figure of the Virgin Mary, who falls back, grief-stricken, into the arms of two women and John the Evangelist. Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’s devoted followers, lunges forward with her hair streaming behind her to place a kiss on his wrist. The dynamic swirls of drapery around the figures amplify the rhythm of these movements and also suggest the liquid quality of molten bronze.
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.
