#MetalMonday :
Ritual #ox tripod (niuding)
China, Northern Song Dynasty, 1114
Copper alloy
Hebel Museum, Shillazhuang
Now on display at “Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100–1900” @ The Met
#ChineseArt
![photo of the ritual ox tripod and its gallery label on display at museum…big! “北宋政和 銅牛鼎 Ritual ox tripod (niuding) Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), 1114 Copper alloy Hebel Museum, Shillazhuang This large cauldron was cast for Emperor Huizong's use at the altar of the Grand Chamber (Taishi), the Imperial Ancestral Temple. Its three-legged shape and the stylized wave pattern encircling its body emulate an archaic bronze, while ox heads atop each of the legs reference a contemporary ritual practice recorded in the tenth-century manual Sanli tu (Illustrations to the three classics on rites): it describes three types of cauldrons (with animal-head ornaments) as containers for the three sacrificial animals-ox, lamb, and pig. The vessel demonstrates that, in addition to rigorously studying past models, Emperor Huizong's craftspeople incorporated design elements that reflected contemporary conventions. Inscription 惟甲午八月丙寅，帝若稽古，筆作宋器，審厥象，作牛鼎，格於太室，迄用享，億寧神休，惟帝時寶，萬世其永賴。 On the bingyin day of the eighth lunar month of the jiawu year [of the Zhenghe reign], the emperor investigated antiquity and took the initiative to make ritual vessels. He described the appearance of an "ox" ding tripod and made this for the Great Chamber to be used for offering peace and blessings. May it be eternally treasured and used for all time.”](https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/220/082/247/381/469/original/59c16e18e1e428c4.png "photo of the ritual ox tripod and its gallery label on display at museum…big! “北宋政和 銅牛鼎 Ritual ox tripod (niuding) Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), 1114 Copper alloy Hebel Museum, Shillazhuang This large cauldron was cast for Emperor Huizong's use at the altar of the Grand Chamber (Taishi), the Imperial Ancestral Temple. Its three-legged shape and the stylized wave pattern encircling its body emulate an archaic bronze, while ox heads atop each of the legs reference a contemporary ritual practice recorded in the tenth-century manual Sanli tu (Illustrations to the three classics on rites): it describes three types of cauldrons (with animal-head ornaments) as containers for the three sacrificial animals-ox, lamb, and pig. The vessel demonstrates that, in addition to rigorously studying past models, Emperor Huizong's craftspeople incorporated design elements that reflected contemporary conventions. Inscription 惟甲午八月丙寅，帝若稽古，筆作宋器，審厥象，作牛鼎，格於太室，迄用享，億寧神休，惟帝時寶，萬世其永賴。 On the bingyin day of the eighth lunar month of the jiawu year [of the Zhenghe reign], the emperor investigated antiquity and took the initiative to make ritual vessels. He described the appearance of an \"ox\" ding tripod and made this for the Great Chamber to be used for offering peace and blessings. May it be eternally treasured and used for all time.”")
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#MetalMonday :
Mirror stand in the shape of a #rabbit
China, Ming dynasty, 16th-17th c.
Parcel gilt copper alloy
Capital Museum, Beijing
Now on display at “Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100–1900” @ The Met
#ChineseArt
#MetalMonday :
#Elephant form ritual vessel (xiangzun)
China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Qianlong mark and period (1736-95)
Copper alloy
The Palace Museum, Beijing
Now on display at “Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100–1900” @ The Met
#ChineseArt
#MetalMonday :
#Ox Form Ritual vessel (xizun)
China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Qianlong mark & period (1736-95)
Copper alloy
The Palace Museum, Beijing
Now on display at “Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100–1900” @ The Met
“This magnificent ox-shaped wine container is one of the ritual vessel types newly designed under the order of the Qianlong emperor. Made for springtime sacrificial ceremonies, it is a fanciful archaistic hybrid.”
#ChineseArt
#MetalMonday :
Hanging Lamp in the Form of a #Peacock
Byzantine, 6th-7th c.
Copper alloy, cast
On display at Metropolitan Museum of Art (61.111a, b)
“Conjuring images of the garden of paradise and heavenly splendor, the peacock became a Christian symbol in the 300s.”
#BirdsInArt #ByzantineArt
#MetalMonday:
Gold Ring with #Parrot
Mughal India, 18th c.
Dia. 2.5 cm
#BirdsInArt
https://www.bonhams.com/auction/18801/lot/344/a-gold-mughal-ring-with-parrot-india-18th-century/
#MetalMonday :
Sahumador (incense burner) in the form of an #armadillo
Huánuco, Peru, 19th c.
Silver, 24 x 34 x 15cm
Colección Barbosa-Stern https://barbosa-stern.org/siglo-xix-plateria/
#MetalMonday:
Fabergé jeweled gold and silver-mounted charka shaped as a #bird
Workmaster's mark of Anna Ringe, St. Petersburg, c. 1896
H 2in. (5.1cm.)
engraved with the Russian inscription 'Christmas Tree, 4 January 1897'
#BirdsInArt
https://www.christies.com/lot/a-jewelled-gold-and-silver-mounted-charka-shaped-3898010/
#MetalMonday :
Akan weights in the form of #mudfish
Ghana / Côte d'Ivoire, 18-19th c.
Copper alloy
On display at Smithsonian National Museum of African Art
Symbols of: wealth, power, transformation, resilience
#AfricanArt
See ALTs for more info!
![“Cast copper alloy figurative weight in the form of a coiled mudfish with raised dot pattern.” photographed on display at museum in 2020 H x W x D: 0.6 x 4.1 x 3.2 cm (1/4 x 1 5/8 x 1 1/4 in.) National Museum of African Art 68-36-67 “Visually, [Akan] weights fall into two distinct categories: geometric and figurative. Stylistically they are divided into early (c. 1400-1700) and late (c. 1700-1900) periods. During the late period, figurative weights increased in both number and variety, although geometric weights were still made. Generally, late-period figurative weights have added details and textures beyond the basic form that would identify the subject.” “Some weights’ forms were selected just for their beauty or to display the owner’s status. Many, however, evoke Akan proverbs, whose meanings vary with time and place—more than one interpretation can apply. Hence water creatures were popular weights, with their associations of fluidity, flexibility, and movement between worlds.” “Th[ese] weight[s] [are] in the form of mudfish, a symbol of wealth and transformation. The mudfish lives when ordinary animals would die, surviving the loss of water.” Info via Smithsonian NMAA](https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/113/943/461/618/400/034/original/dbd19079b79756c5.png "“Cast copper alloy figurative weight in the form of a coiled mudfish with raised dot pattern.” photographed on display at museum in 2020 H x W x D: 0.6 x 4.1 x 3.2 cm (1/4 x 1 5/8 x 1 1/4 in.) National Museum of African Art 68-36-67 “Visually, [Akan] weights fall into two distinct categories: geometric and figurative. Stylistically they are divided into early (c. 1400-1700) and late (c. 1700-1900) periods. During the late period, figurative weights increased in both number and variety, although geometric weights were still made. Generally, late-period figurative weights have added details and textures beyond the basic form that would identify the subject.” “Some weights’ forms were selected just for their beauty or to display the owner’s status. Many, however, evoke Akan proverbs, whose meanings vary with time and place—more than one interpretation can apply. Hence water creatures were popular weights, with their associations of fluidity, flexibility, and movement between worlds.” “Th[ese] weight[s] [are] in the form of mudfish, a symbol of wealth and transformation. The mudfish lives when ordinary animals would die, surviving the loss of water.” Info via Smithsonian NMAA")
#MetalMonday: check out this BIG blue #gorilla sculpture by Don Kennell at Philadelphia Zoo made out of car hoods!
#ZooArt
“Our big blue gorilla sits 13-feet tall and 12-feet deep! It's constructed from around 55 salvaged car hoods. These car parts retain their original factory paint - only a UV resistant clear coat was added.”
#MetalMonday :
Oil Lamp (samai) Finial in the Form of a #Rooster
India, Deccan, 17th c.
Copper alloy, 6 1/4 x 2 1/2 x 6 3/4 in. (15.88 x 6.35 x 17.15 cm)
LACMA AC1993.152.1 https://collections.lacma.org/node/175002
#BirdsInArt #IndianArt
#MetalMonday:
Ritual Wine Vessel (gong) in the Shape of a #Ram 青銅羊觥
China, Yangzi River region, Late Shang Dynasty 1200s–1000s BCE
Bronze, 22 cm (8 11/16 in.)
On display at Cleveland Museum of Art
“Did You Know?
While the craftsman embellished the vessel with fantastic forms and symbolic patterns, the design also captures anatomical features of a real ram, such as its ‘comma’-shaped nostrils, eyes with elongated orbits, and horns with parallel ridges.”
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/3.2023
#MetalMonday :
#Lion Aquamanile, c.1200–1250
Germany, Lower Saxony, Hildesheim, Gothic period
Bronze: cast, chased, punched
26.4 x 29 x 15 cm (10 3/8 x 11 7/16 x 5 7/8 in.)
On display at Cleveland Museum of Art 1972.167
“An aquamanile is a water vessel used for washing hands both at church altars and at the dinner tables of upper-class patrons. They often took the form of fantastic beasts such as dragons and unicorns or animals such as horses, birds, dogs, and lions, like this one.”
#MetalMonday :
Ángel Botello (b. Spain, d. Puerto Rico, 1913-1986)
Egyptian Cat, n.d.
Bronze
On display at University of Delaware Museum’s new exhibit “Sight, Sound, and Motion: The Dimensions of Sculpture”
#CatsInArt
#MetalMonday :
Caparisoned #Elephant
China, Liao dynasty, ca. 11th c.
Gilt bronze, 8.5 cm (7 5/16 in.)
The Cleveland Museum of Art 1980.24
For #MetalMonday :
Deborah Butterfield (USA, b. 1949)
Riot, c. 1990
Steel, 81.5 × 120 × 34 in. (207 × 304.8 × 86.4 cm)
On display at Delaware Art Museum DAM 1991-126
“Deborah Butterfield used found objects - scraps of metal, including letters from discarded movie theater signs - in her sculpture, Riot. Butterfield's work drew its title from the letters she featured.”
#horse
