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42217.txt | Vase with Coiling Dragon
China
late 16th–early 17th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 203
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437345.txt | Cider
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
French
ca. 1864
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 800
Men grind grain while citizens of all ages prepare cider, one of the traditional beverages of the northern French province of Picardy. This painting and
The River
(on view nearby) are studies for the left and right sides of Puvis’s mural
Ave Picardia Nutrix
(
Hail, Picardy, the Nourisher
). Made for the newly constructed Musée de Picardie in Amiens in 1864, the paintings celebrate the region’s abundant natural resources and its idealized, distant past. Puvis’s decorations for the museum launched his career as a preeminent painter of murals for state buildings in France.
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471310.txt | Door Mount
French
possibly 11th century
On view at The Met Cloisters in
Gallery 01
Their utilitarian function notwithstanding, medieval door mounts are often ornately designed, with geometric and fanciful motifs. Here, the beasts resemble panthers, which according to medieval bestiaries, exuded a sweet-smelling breath that attracted animals upon which they preyed. The church dedicated to Saint Leonard of Noblat near Limoges was frequented by pilgrims who believed that the saint was particularly efficacious in liberating prisoners.
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6516.txt | Platter
James and Ralph Clews
British
ca. 1834
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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37688.txt | Temple Bell
Indonesia (Java)
ca. 11th–12th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 247
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10237.txt | Major General Philip Kearny
Henry Kirke Brown
American
Cast by
Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company
1872, cast 1900
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
While Brown was modeling a statue of Major General Philip Kearny for the United States Capitol in the early 1870s, the Kearny family probably commissioned him to execute this portrait bust (now in the Town Hall, Kearny, New Jersey). This cast of the sculpture was later ordered by Major General George B. Halstead, who once served under Kearny's command. From his first commission as 2nd Lieutenant of the 1st U.S. Dragoons to his fatal Civil War battle reconnoitering behind Confederate lines at Chantilly, Virginia, Major General Philip Kearny (1814–1862) led one of the most brilliant military careers of the nineteenth century.
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2770.txt | Cup
Chinese
ca. 1790
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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561671.txt | Crown with discs
New Kingdom, Amarna Period
ca. 1353–1336 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 122
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248912.txt | Terracotta jar with nautiluses
Helladic, Mycenaean
ca. 1400–1300 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 151
Three nautiluses, a type of marine mollusk, float among the rocks and plants of the sea floor on this large storage jar. The decoration reflects the importance of the sea for the Mycenaeans, whose goods circulated throughout the Mediterranean world. Transport vessels like this one have been discovered from Spain to the Levant, indicating the presence of an extensive trade network, but their contents—including oil, wine, and other perishable commodities—were probably the main items of exchange.
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625935.txt | Worker Shabti of Nauny
Third Intermediate Period
ca. 1050 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 126
Almost 400 small funerary figures known as shabtis were found with Nauny’s burial. These can be seen as avatars, meant to carry out agricultural labor on Nauny’s behalf in the afterlife. Of the 393 shabtis discovered, 355 were workers like this one, and 37 were overseers (see for example <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/551114">30.3.28.3</a>). Based on other assemblages from this era, Nauny originally might have had a total of 365 workers, one for each day of the year. This mummiform figure holds a hoe in each hand and has a basket on its back. The inscription on the front of the body calls Nauny an “illuminated Osiris.” This indicated that she had been transformed through the process of mummification and identified with the principal god of the dead, then reanimated by the light of the sun god as he traveled through the Netherworld each night. Nauny’s shabtis were divided between seven boxes. Five of these, with their shabtis, were given to The Met, while two were sent to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
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463714.txt | Bowl Base with Saints Peter and Paul Flanking a Column with the Christogram of Christ
Byzantine
late 4th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 300
Saints Peter and Paul are shown with the short curly hair and pointed beard typically associated with each man.
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257832.txt | Glass striped mosaic fragment
Roman
late 1st century BCE–early 1st century CE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
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198745.txt | Pluto and Cerberus
Attributed to
Tiziano Aspetti
Italian
ca. 1588
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 608
Pluto, the god of the underworld, stands with the three-headed hound Cerberus, who guards its gates. This impressive bronze group, produced in Venice under the influence of the sculptor Jacopo Sansovino, was left unfinished at several stages. First, it seems to have been interrupted when the artist was working in wax, possibly not ready to have it cast, as various areas that were left rough in this state were not effaced. Nonetheless, the sketchy wax was cast in bronze, although we do not know when. Nor was the bronze properly finished, as remnants of the casting process also remain. Finally, the sculpture was painted black to disguise the disunity of the surface. Thus this work remains a remarkable document of an interrupted sculptural project.
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548585.txt | Osiride Figure of Kenamun
New Kingdom
ca. 1427–1400 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 119
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4467.txt | Jar
19th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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549843.txt | Elbow or shoulder
New Kingdom, Amarna Period
ca. 1353–1336 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 122
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559488.txt | Siphon nozzle
New Kingdom, Ramesside
ca. 1295–1070 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 122
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21954.txt | Glaive of the Bodyguard of Giovanni Battista Bourbon del Monte (1541–1614)
Italian, Brescia
ca. 1590–1600
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 371
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9143.txt | Tumbler
Probably
Hobbs, Brockunier and Company
American
ca. 1885–87
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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195507.txt | Armchair
French
ca. 1785
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 524
This armchair, a so-called fauteuil en cabriolet, has a slightly curved medallion-shaped back to fit the human form. Made of beech wood, like most French seat furniture of this period, the chair was originally gilded and may have been part of a larger set.
Existing records document the making of seat furniture and illustrate the typical eighteenth-century division of labor in such projects. According to strict French guild regulations a menuisier (or joiner) would cut the wood to shape for the frames of the chairs and assemble them: he was not allowed to embellish the frames with more than plain moldings or simple ornament. The decorative carving, here including rosettes, acanthus, pearl motifs and coiling ribbon, characteristic for the neoclassical style, would have been done by specialist carvers or sculptors. The gilding added substantially to the overall cost while the upholstery was generally the most expensive element. If a chair bears a maker’s mark, it is usually that of the menuisier. The names of the carver, gilder and upholsterer are usually not known.
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6270.txt | Plate
Chinese, for American market
1785–90
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
This object belongs to a large dinner service (10.149.1–.248) bearing the Townley family coat-of-arms. The service, probably ordered by Justice Samuel Chase (1741–1811) of Annapolis, Maryland, displays the enamel-painted arms of Margaret Townley, Chase's aunt.
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254485.txt | Terracotta lamp
Roman
late 1st–2nd century CE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 169
The discus on the top of this lamp depicts Serapis seated on a throne, holding a long scepter. To his right is Cerberus, the mythical dog who guarded the entrance to the Underworld.
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437423.txt | The Immaculate Conception
Guido Reni
Italian
1627
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 620
Reni, during his lifetime the most celebrated living painter in Italy, was famous for the elegance of his compositions and the beauty and grace of his heads, earning him the epithet “Divine.” This altarpiece, with its otherworldly space shaped by clouds and putti in a high-keyed palette, was commissioned in about 1627 by the Spanish ambassador in Rome for the infanta of Spain. It later hung in the cathedral of Seville, where it deeply influenced Spanish painters, especially Bartolomé Estebán Murillo, whose workshop produced many iterations of this subject. The Immaculate Conception became a symbol of the universality of the Catholic Church and was used for the conversion of populations across Spain’s global empire.
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575162.txt | Staff
Middle Kingdom
ca. 1981–1975 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 105
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13058.txt | The African Sentinel
Elihu Vedder
American
1865
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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468127.txt | Pouch (Forel)
French
14th century
On view at The Met Cloisters in
Gallery 10
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22285.txt | Armored Skirt (Base)
Attributed to
Konrad Seusenhofer
Austrian
ca. 1510–15
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 374
The base was an imitation in steel of the cloth skirt that was sometimes worn over armor. The deep, arched cutouts in front and back allowed the wearer to sit on horseback; the close-set holes along these openings were for the attachment of textile decoration, probably fringe. The etching imitates the elaborate embroidery and cut velvet of fashionable court costume. Skirts of this type were a specialty of the imperial armor workshop in Innsbruck under the direction of Konrad Seusenhofer.
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470783.txt | Capital
Catalan
ca. 1130–40
On view at The Met Cloisters in
Gallery 07
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450453.txt | Cross-Shaped Tile
13th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 455
This cross-shaped tile with a symmetrical leaf pattern was once part of a panel of star- and cross-shaped tiles adorning the wall of an Ilkhanid building. Probably produced in the ceramic center of Kashan in Central Iran, it displays many characteristics typical of this site, including the use of opulent luster glaze, a balanced composition, and the spirals and dots that fill the background.
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7185.txt | Sauce Dish
Richards and Hartley Flint Glass Co.
American
ca. 1888
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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245563.txt | Terracotta Hadra hydria (water jar)
Greek, Ptolemaic, Cretan
late 3rd century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
This hydria was made by a skilled craftsman: it has a thin, delicate rim, which is concave underneath; a back handle fashioned with three crisp ridges; and an elaborately turned foot, articulated with three grooves and four glazed lines. The high level of potting in conjunction with the painted decoration, which combined incision with prodigious use of added white, must have made this an object of great elegance in antiquity.
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552536.txt | Hawk
Late Period, Saite
664–525 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 130
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446231.txt | Pendant Cross
5th–7th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 300
This small cross would haven been strung on a necklace or string and worn around the neck. It is decorated with a pattern of incised circles. Similar patterns of concentric circles are found throughout early Byzantine art. These circles may have represented the reflective qualities of mirrors, which in the ancient and early Byzantine world were believed to deflect evil.
Crosses were everywhere in the early Byzantine world. They marked religious, secular, and domestic buildings, public works, clothes and jewelry, and objects in the home. The cross was a sign of Christ's triumph over death and the hope of eternal life and was frequently ascribed apotropaic, or protective, powers by the faithful.
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449102.txt | Capital with Palmettes and Leaves
late 8th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 451
This capital, carved of soft alabaster, demonstrates the emergence of the distinctive Beveled style from an earlier vegetal style in the early Abbasid period. Classical curled leaf forms on more traditionally decorated capitals gave way to the typical slant-cut and more abstract Beveled style carvings. This capital demonstrates a transition between the two styles.
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51280.txt | Notched Disk
China
Neolithic period, Longshan culture (2400–1900 BCE)
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 207
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247374.txt | Terracotta oinochoe (jug)
Attributed to the
Stuttgart Group
ca. 325–300 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 161
Nike driving a chariot preceded by Eros with a situla (bucket)
The oinochoai are open at the bottom, indicating that they were made for funerary use.
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248047.txt | Bronze coin of Cyzicus
Roman, Asia Minor
222–235 CE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 168
M AVP CEVH ALEXANDROC AV, bust of Alexander Severus/KVZIKHNWN DIC NEWKOPWN, table with imperial busts and sacrificial implements
Cyzicus (modern Erdek, Turkey)
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549670.txt | Offering table, Nefertiti cartouche
New Kingdom, Amarna Period
ca. 1353–1336 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 122
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207988.txt | Flagon (one of a pair)
Decorator
Abraham Helmhack
Hinged cover by
Jacob Pfaff
German
ca. 1690
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 533
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5792.txt | Pitcher
Fenton's Works
American
United States Pottery Company
American
1847–53
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 705
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39128.txt | Tara
North India (possibly Uttar Pradesh)
ca. 7th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 236
This elegant, full-bodied figure of a Buddhist saviouress holding a long-stemmed lotus suggests affiliations with Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. The highly modeled jeweled girdle and flowing sashes hanging free of the body point to a seventh-century date, placing her among the earliest representations of Tara known from North India. The closest analogy is a bejeweled Gaja Lakshmi depicted on a copper seal with Brahmi script datable to the sixth or seventh century, excavated near Haridwar, in Uttar Pradesh.
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550321.txt | Scarab of Ramesses II
New Kingdom, Ramesside
ca. 1295–1070 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 122
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557328.txt | Amulet of Harpokrates ?
Middle Kingdom
ca. 1850–1640 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 109
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623377.txt | Worker Shabti of Henettawy (C), Daughter of Isetemkheb
Third Intermediate Period
ca. 990–970 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 126
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207036.txt | Cup with cover
French
ca. 1650–60
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 540
The flame finial and band of cabochon-cup gems of carnelian, a reddish variety of chalcedony, set in bands of black and white and translucent green-enameled gold, identify this exquisite object as one of the French royal treasures listed in an inventory made during the reign of King Louis XIV (1643–1715). Daniel Alcouffe has recognized that the majority of the objects made of polished hardstone formerly in the collection of King Louis XIV and now in the Louvre, Paris, were, in fact, purchased by the king from the estate of his first minister, Cardinal Mazarin, at the time of the cardinal’s death in 1661.[1] The published inventory of the cardinal’s possessions, made in 1653 and describing in detail his extraordinary collection of painting and sculpture, as well as household furniture, plate, and goldsmiths’ work, makes no mention, however, of this object. While it is not possible at present to be certain whether or not the cup was a later addition to the cardinal’s collection, the close resemblance of the enameled gold mounts to the mounts of a group of objects shown to have been in the collection and illustrated by Alcouffe strengthens the supposition that it was.[2]
The similarity of the leaf-motif ornament of the cup’s mounts to the ornament that adorns the mounts of many of the objects in Alcouffe’s group also permits their attribution to a seventeenth-century French goldsmith. It is an attribution based on the internal evidence provided by the group. The sensuous beauty of colored hardstone has been highly prized in a great many civilizations, and the cardinal’s collection contained finely cut and polished hardstone objects of widely different origin and date. A number of such pieces belonging to the group, mounted with similar enameled-gold ornament, can thus be recognized as having been embellished about the middle of the seventeenth century, when the cardinal was collecting them, and, in all probability, by local goldsmiths.
Not only the mounts but also the hardstone components of the Linsky cup and cover seem likely to have been the products of a lapidary workshop that was both local and contemporary. The separate pieces of translucent reddish-brown carnelian that were used for the foot, baluster stem, bowl, and cover, as well as the twelve cabochon gems, are of similar hue and finish, and they display a unity of style, both with one another and with their mounts, that is seldom found in objects assembled from components of widely divergent origins.
[Clare Vincent, The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1984, p. 178, no. 94]
Footnotes:
1. D. Alcouffe, “The Collection of Cardinal Mazarin’s Gems,” Burlington Magazine CXVI (1974), pp. 514–26.
2. Ibid., fig. 19, opp. p. 517.
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241063.txt | Terracotta female head
Cypriot
2nd–1st century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
The head is mold-made and hollow. Only the front of the head and neck are preserved.
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2943.txt | Cup Plate
American
1825–60
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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561842.txt | Linen mark (Type IV)
Middle Kingdom
ca. 1961–1917 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 106
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251270.txt | Terracotta vase in the form of a hare
Greek, Corinthian
1st half of the 6th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
Hares represent one of the most common types of Corinthian plastic vases. They appear either as seated on all fours, as here, or with the body extended, as dead game.
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625706.txt | Worker Shabti of Nauny
Third Intermediate Period
ca. 1050 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 126
Almost 400 small funerary figures known as shabtis were found with Nauny’s burial. These can be seen as avatars, meant to carry out agricultural labor on Nauny’s behalf in the afterlife. Of the 393 shabtis discovered, 355 were workers like this one, and 37 were overseers (see for example <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/551114">30.3.28.3</a>). Based on other assemblages from this era, Nauny originally might have had a total of 365 workers, one for each day of the year. This mummiform figure holds a hoe in each hand and has a basket on its back. The inscription on the front of the body calls Nauny an “illuminated Osiris.” This indicated that she had been transformed through the process of mummification and identified with the principal god of the dead, then reanimated by the light of the sun god as he traveled through the Netherworld each night. Nauny’s shabtis were divided between seven boxes. Five of these, with their shabtis, were given to The Met, while two were sent to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
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767247.txt | Document Sealing With the Throne Name of Amenhotep III
New Kingdom
ca. 1390–1352 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 120
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546225.txt | Pectoral of Wedjahor
Third Intermediate Period or later
ca. 1070–664 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 130
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247412.txt | Terracotta relief detached from a funnel-jar
Italic-Native, South Italian (Canosan)
late 4th–early 3rd century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 162
Figure of a youth removed from funnel-jar 06.1021.248 a, b
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549116.txt | Fragments of Malachite
New Kingdom
ca. 1479–1458 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 116
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248721.txt | Terracotta guttus (flask with handle and vertical spout)
Greek, South Italian, Campanian
ca. 250–150 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
The flask is in the form of a comic actor, a slave, seated on an altar.
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16875.txt | The Brook in the Woods
Worthington Whittredge
American
ca. 1885–86
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
Whittredge, as a colleague of the second-generation Hudson River School artists John Frederick Kensett and Sanford R. Gifford, specialized in views of the Catskill Mountains, New England, and the American West. His later works, however, demonstrate his growing interest in the poetic landscapes of the French Barbizon painters as well as the evocative canvases of George Inness, who worked in Montclair, New Jersey, not far from the home Whittredge occupied in Summit from 1880 until his death in 1910. "The Brook in the Woods" is a fine example of his Barbizon-inspired mode. Thickly painted and coloristically subtle, it evokes a silent, mossy forest interior, one of the artist’s favorite subjects.
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452522.txt | Beaker with Relief-cut Decoration
9th–10th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 453
In its size, state of preservation, and fineness of execution, this piece has few parallels in Islamic relief-cut glass. The decoration consists of a band of palmettes, half-palmettes, and floral motifs on two scrolls between two horizontal ridges. Early Islamic carved rock-crystal vessels reputedly produced in Egypt demonstrate a close similarity in technique and design.
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200981.txt | Vase with cover (part of a garniture)
Factory
Bow Porcelain Factory
British
Probably decorated by
James Giles
British
ca. 1765–70
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 512
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231584.txt | Écuelle
Abraham Drentwett IV
ca. 1743–45
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 551
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1292.txt | Candlestick
ca. 1810
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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449664.txt | Key
9th–10th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 453
This key, which came with a ring attached, terminates in a flat disk with two square holes and a square indentation that would have served to release a lock.
The key was excavated at the site of Qanat Tepe in Nishapur. Nishapur was a vital city in the early and middle Islamic periods, located along one of the main trajectories that connected Iran and West Asia Islamic lands with Central Asia and China. The term "Silk routes" often refers to these itineraries, but these were, in fact, crucial to the movement of constellations of materials and objects, as well as people and ideas. The diverse population of Nishapur and its surroundings, from the better-researched elite groups of merchants, land-owning aristocracy, and literates, to the lesser-known artisans, farmers, miners, and servants, were instrumental to adapting global cultural trends that led to the creation of a distinctive visual language. This is seen in the material remains of everyday life in medieval Nishapur – from pots and pans to lighting devices, inkwells, textiles and trimmings, jewelry, games and toys, talismanic devices, weapons, coins, and architectural fragments.
Nishapur lost its political prominence due to a series of earthquakes and invasions that peaked in the thirteenth century. Today, the medieval city is a vast archaeological area, while the relatively small modern city is situated to its north. Instead, Mashhad, a major pilgrimage site, emerged as a significant prosperous metropolis in the region. Between 1935 and 1948, the "Persian Expedition" of the Metropolitan Museum of Art excavated at several sites at Nishapur under an agreement with the Iranian authorities. The recovered artifacts were divided in half between the two countries, resulting in a repository of over four thousand objects at the Met today.
As part of the larger "Persian Expedition" project at Nishapur, American archaeologists and hundreds of Iranian workers excavated a mound they named Qanat Tepe, where an accidental finding of painted plaster solicited further investigation. The area showed several centuries of occupation, which the excavators were unable to fully explain. Most of the uncovered buildings were medium-sized residential structures, rooms with plain, plastered floors, and fireplaces and wells. In three of these rooms semi-circular niches puzzled the archaeologists, who associated them with mihrabs. They may have been used as wall storage or to display objects. Archaeologists also discovered a multi-period mosque in the northwestern area of the Qanat Tepe. It had a square mihrab flanked by engaged columns with colorful painted patterns of rosettes and quatrefoils, for which a very tentative tenth-century dating was suggested.
Both the northern and the southern areas of the Qanat Tepe provided more reliable evidence of its twelfth-century function. On the north, production debris such as wasters and glass slags indicated the presence of a kiln (likely disappeared due to modern activities at the site). The presence of stone paste, including high relief, glazed architectural tiles, and sphero-conical vessels support this suggested function. To the south of the mound, a bathhouse with multiple rooms, pools, and hot water areas, bore evidence of constant repainting of its walls, which were made with a hydraulic plaster suitable for such a humid environment. Amongst the many sophisticated and large-sized depictions were those of a horseman, a fox, or a dog, as well as innumerable fragments depicting animals and human figures.
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572180.txt | Foundation Deposit Mat
New Kingdom
ca. 1479–1458 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 116
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554621.txt | Fragment of a Magic Knife
New Kingdom
ca. 1550–1295 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 117
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255016.txt | Marble head from a herm
Greek
probably late 5th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 156
The flat area at the back of the neck and the coarse, grooved treatment of the hair reveal this to be a herm head, the terminal of a rectangular pillar. Like most herms, it probably represents Hermes, guardian of roads and doorways.
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9816.txt | Window
American
ca. 1800
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 750
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1286.txt | Candlestick
American
1845–70
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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552244.txt | Lintel and Relief from the Tomb of the Overseer of Priests and Keeper of the sacred Cattle Mereri, Describing His Exemplary Life
First Intermediate Period
ca. 2100–2030 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 103
After the weak 8th Dynasty, no pharaoh claimed to rule over the whole country. Historians call the ensuing phase of Egyptian history the First Intermediate Period. At the root of the decline in political cohesion were serious economic problems. The ancient Near East underwent climatic changes at this time, and Egypt became increasingly arid. Particularly low annual flooding of the Nile exacerbated the situation. Credit for the eventual recovery goes to local leaders, who dealt with the difficulties region by region and instituted new methods of irrigation. Eventually, two major power centers emerged: a northern center governed from Heracleopolis Magna (Ehnasya el-Medina) just south of the Fayum entrance (Dynasties 9 and 10), and a southern center based at Thebes in Upper Egypt (Dynasty 11). Both entities managed to gain the allegiance of neighboring regions, and the Nile Valley became politically split in half, with the border fluctuating to the south and north of Abydos. Dendera was in the Abydos region and evinces shifting allegiances.
Mereri's titles indicate he had roles of some importance in the cult of Hathor of Dendera, including responsibility for the clothing for attiring the cult image. He built a very large mud brick mastaba at the site. The eastern facade had a single register autobiographical frieze as a cornice. The entrance, surmounted by an inscribed architrave, led via a passage decorated with relief into a long rectangular room where there were thirteen niches with stelae. The owner's false door was located in an inner offering room. From the north side of the mastaba an entrance accessed the burial chamber through a vaulted tunnel.
This fragment depicts Mereri himself holding his staff and a scepter. It is thought to have been placed in the passage leading into the first chamber, probably belonging with two registers of cattle being led into the tomb.
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544426.txt | Scarab with the Name of the Hyksos King Khayan
Second Intermediate Period
ca. 1620–1581 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 111
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9802.txt | Whiskey Taster
1840–60
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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255002.txt | Glass portrait head of a woman
Roman
1st half of 2nd century CE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 168
Semi-opaque streaky blue.
Hollow block pressed into an open mold with irregular tooling marks on inside and ground flat edges around top of head.
Shaped by mold and then details added by carving: long flowing headdress in two folds above hair, falling onto shoulder; hair parted at the center and arranged in flowing locks to either side; arched brows; well-defined eyes with eyelids and upward-looking pupils; straight nose with flaring nostrils; small mouth with pursed lips; small chin; part of dress visible on proper right collar.
Broken across bottom and up proper left side; pinprick and some larger bubbles; pitting of surface bubbles and patches of creamy brown weathering.
This portrait, in glass imitating rare and valuable lapis lazuli, was made by pressing the glass into an open mold. It probably represents the goddess Juno (Greek Hera), the consort of Jupiter Capitolinus, and must have been set up in either a public temple or a rich private sanctuary.
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560590.txt | Vase fragment
Middle Kingdom
ca. 1981–1640 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 109
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453628.txt | Corbel with Human Bust and Acanthus Leaves
5th–6th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 302
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3491.txt | Easy Chair
American
1760–90
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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551995.txt | Ichneumon on a papyrus-shaped pillar
Late Period–Ptolemaic Period
664–30 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 130
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207022.txt | Two Landsknechts
German, probably Nuremberg
mid-16th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 537
The two landsknechts, varying slightly in height and in costume, originally served as candle holders; candles were inserted in the holes in their raised hands. Bronze projections from the insteps of the taller soldier indicate that the figures belong to a common sixteenth-century type, of brass as well as of bronze, in which the feet often stood on flared stems riding from circular bases.[1] The folkloric designs were popular again in the nineteenth century; a thinly cast copy of one of our landsknechts appears on a candlestick in the reserves of the Louvre, paired with a variant model.[2]
[James David Draper, The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1984, p. 165, nos. 82, 83]
Footnotes:
[1] V. Baur, Kerzenleuchter aus Metall, Munich, 1977, pls. 58–61; E. Turner, An Introduction to Brass, London, 1982, pl. 13.
[2] G. Migeon, Catalogue des bronzes et cuivres du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes, Paris, Musée National du Louvre, 1904, no. 119.
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623363.txt | Worker Shabti of Henettawy (C), Daughter of Isetemkheb
Third Intermediate Period
ca. 990–970 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 126
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561856.txt | Linen mark (Type XIII)
Middle Kingdom
ca. 1961–1917 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 106
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2957.txt | Cup Plate
Probably
Boston & Sandwich Glass Company
American
1832
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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246718.txt | Terracotta kyathos (cup-shaped ladle)
Attributed to the
Group of Vatican G.57
ca. 530–500 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 154
Between eyes, a youth reclining
At the handle, sphinxes
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251264.txt | Terracotta covered bowl with one handle
Greek, Attic
ca. 450–400 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
Although it is covered, as in a pyxis, and has one handle, as in a skyphos, this vase is a practical but rare combination of the two shapes.
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247406.txt | Terracotta fish-plate
Attributed to the
Bastis Painter
ca. 375–360 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
Although this plate is among a group of similar fish-plates by the Bastis Painter, certain features are different. On this piece, the body of the fish is outlined in white, not black, the mouth, eyes, and dots on the body are drawn differently, and the decoration around the central depression is a band of strokes, not the usual wave-pattern.
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546231.txt | Khnum (?) amulet
Late Period–Ptolemaic Period
664–30 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 134
The amulets 44.4.23-44.4.28 have a uniformity of size and detailing that constitutes a stylistic relationship. Possibly they were made in related workshops.
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767253.txt | Document Sealing With the Throne Name of Amenhotep III
New Kingdom
ca. 1390–1352 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 120
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625712.txt | Worker Shabti of Nauny
Third Intermediate Period
ca. 1050 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 126
Almost 400 small funerary figures known as shabtis were found with Nauny’s burial. These can be seen as avatars, meant to carry out agricultural labor on Nauny’s behalf in the afterlife. Of the 393 shabtis discovered, 355 were workers like this one, and 37 were overseers (see for example <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/551114">30.3.28.3</a>). Based on other assemblages from this era, Nauny originally might have had a total of 365 workers, one for each day of the year. This mummiform figure holds a hoe in each hand and has a basket on its back. The inscription on the front of the body calls Nauny an “illuminated Osiris.” This indicated that she had been transformed through the process of mummification and identified with the principal god of the dead, then reanimated by the light of the sun god as he traveled through the Netherworld each night. Nauny’s shabtis were divided between seven boxes. Five of these, with their shabtis, were given to The Met, while two were sent to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
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768160.txt | Terracotta fragment of a krater (deep bowl)
Greek, South Italian, Lucanian
late 5th/early 4th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 157
Head and neck of a helmeted Athena? to left, with a round shield and spear
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248735.txt | Terracotta relief probably from a funnel vase
Greek, South Italian, Apulian, Canosan
late 3rd–early 2nd century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
This is one of four reliefs with two-figure compositions depicting a combat between two warriors, likely a Gaul and a Greek. Several reliefs probably decorated a large funerary jar. They rested on a shelf-like projection from the body of the vase and were secured by dowels through the holes in the plaque. In this episode, one rider has fallen creating a contrast between the rearing horse and the three enmeshed figures behind him.
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549102.txt | Scarab Inscribed with a Geometric Pattern
New Kingdom
ca. 1479–1458 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 116
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198962.txt | Bacchus
Domenico Poggini
Italian
1554
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 534
This statue, the earliest signed and dated work by Poggini, is cited in an inventory of 1560 of the possessions of Duke Cosimo I de' Medici (1519–1574).
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38222.txt | Panel of a Portable Shrine
Pakistan (ancient region of Gandhara)
5th–6th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 236
Such portable shrines from Gandhara have been found in Khotan, providing a rare glimpse into how style and religious iconography traveled into Central Asia. The upper register in the interior illustrates the Buddha’s miraculous birth and the lower presents the Parinirvana, his death.
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5786.txt | Pitcher
Designed by
Charles A. Cornwall
American
Manufactured by
Redwood Glass Company
American
1828–68
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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549664.txt | Pillar perhaps attached to statue, name of Akhenaten, epithets of Aten
New Kingdom, Amarna Period
ca. 1353–1336 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 122
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248053.txt | Silver antoninianus of Philip I
Roman
248 CE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 168
OTACIL. SEVERA AVG, bust of Otacilia Severa, wife of Philip I, with crescent/SAECVLARES AVGG IIII, hippopotamus. One of a series of coins depicting animals from the games to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the foundation of Rome.
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547649.txt | Toe stall
New Kingdom
ca. 1479–1425 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 118
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454621.txt | Standing Figure with Feathered Headdress
12th–early 13th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 453
The ornamented headdress, arms, and rich vestments of this figure suggests that figures like this one most likely represent a sovereign’s personal guard, viziers or amirs. Probably meant to decorate the reception hall of a ruler’s court, be it the Seljuq sultan or one of his local vassals or successors, they would parallel and enhance actual ceremonies in the very setting in which they took place. Recent analyses have proven that a traditionally-made gypsum plaster is consistently employed on these figures and on archaeological stuccoes. The figures also display integrated restoration of the first half of the twentieth century, including additions in a more refined gypsum, and modern pigments (some of the reds and synthetic ultramarine blue).
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#6691. Two Royal Figures, Part 1
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6691. Two Royal Figures, Part 1
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4498.txt | Jar
American
1830–70
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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506173.txt | Lukombé (slit drum)
Tetela, Kasai or Kusu
ca. 1900
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 681
Slit drums (which acoustically function as bells) are found globally. Logs hollowed into cylindrical, trapezoidal, or zoomorphic shapes are used for sending messages or, as with this one, played in ensembles to accompany dance. Strapped to the player and held at an angle, the instrument is struck on both sides, producing from four to six tones.
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470797.txt | Spandrel with Sections of an Arch
Catalan
ca. 1130–40
On view at The Met Cloisters in
Gallery 07
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255764.txt | Terracotta statuette of a goddess
Greek, Boeotian
early 6th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 171
The tall headdress distinguishes the figure as a goddess.
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7191.txt | Sauce Dish
Probably
New England Glass Company
American
after 1883
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 774
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544340.txt | Shabti of Senebimi
Middle Kingdom
ca. 1981–1802 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in
Gallery 112
Funerary figures known as shabtis first appeared during the early Middle Kingdom. When the deceased was called upon to carry out obligatory labor in the next world, these magical images were supposed to act in his or her place. Their traditional form is that of a wrapped mummy, initially represented as seen here, without defined arms or hands. The gessoed body of this early specimen is inscribed with a simple offering formula and the owner’s name.
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Subsets and Splits