Sculpture
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The goddess wears an intricate headdress with a serpent emerging from the center rearing its head. This iconography is also known as a uraeus and is a symbol of Egyptian royal power and the pharaohs. The uraeus emerges from a globe and is flanked by two ears of corn. Corn is a symbol of fertility and abundance. Other attributes here that are characteristic of Isis are her fringed shawl, which is tied in a special knot, known as the nodus isiacus, at her front, and her unique hair style. [1] Her hair falls into thick “sausage curls” on the sides of her head and ends in a chignon, or bun, in the back. These characteristics can be also seen in other depictions of Isis.
The rest of the headdress on the goddess Isis' head has broken off. Despite the damage, this remains a well-preserved example of an Isis bust surviving from the Roman period. [2] The bust itself is supported and appears to be ‘blooming’ from a three-leaf calyx, which is the green base of a flower between the stem and the petals. This ‘flower’ of a bust is then emerging from a globe. The pupils on this bust are now hollow but may have once been inlaid with a dark stone or glass. The face of the goddess in this representation is very Hellenic in character with serene and idealized features. Her low forehead, large features proportional to the face, and broad jaw are characteristics of "Hadrianic Hellenizing" works. [3] The bust of Isis sits upon a round, flat-topped, and simple base. |
Small bronze and silver busts of deities, like this depiction of Isis, were often placed in small shrines called lararia together with sculptures of associated gods and were referred to as lares. Lararia were household shrines that housed the domestic deities of the home. The domestic cult of the Roman Empire was unique and personalized to the individual. These shrines were tended to daily and on special holidays. Members of the household would pray and make offerings such as grains, fruits, wine, honeycombs, and even blood offerings. [7] Lararia were sometimes included lares of foreign gods, especially Egyptian deities. [8] Click here to read about another lar at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum.
The Isis might have had a pendant god, Serapis. Serapis is a Greco-Egyptian deity of the Sun that later became a god of healing and fertility when his cult established itself in the Roman Empire. [9] Serapis was associated with Jupiter and along with Isis worship in a lararium with Apis, the Egyptian bull god. These Egyptian deities were popular among slaves in Italy who were originally from the East. Serapis and presumably Isis were either shown standing or “abbreviated with just the head and shoulders shown.”[10] He can often be seen depicted alongside the goddess within Roman contexts. |
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All lararia have two major features: images of the deities and provisions to be sacrificed before the images. Lararia came in different forms including niches, aediculae, and wall paintings. [5] Niches were very simple and blended in well with walls. Wall-painted lararia were flat and accompanied by a small portable altar. Lararia in the aedicula style were more intricate and looked like modern shrines. Both niche and aedicula lararia included small statuettes like this one.
There was a highly personal aspect to lararia. The lares would have been changed out, moved, or lares added over generations. [6] This being said, no two lares were the same and a variety would have been worshiped at the same time. Typical lar types would have been worshiped alongside gods and goddesses of the Roman religion, family ancestors, animals, and even foreign deities from Egyptian, Far Eastern, Oscan, and Italic traditions. Lares were often found in pairs, whether they were statuettes or painted. To learn more about an Egyptian lar of the goddess Isis, found also at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, click here. |
The female figure wears a huipil, or loose fitting tunic, that is traditional garment worn by women in the Central American region (see right). In addition, this figure also wears two beaded necklaces, earplugs, a nose piercing. Detailed scarification can also be seen on her face, particularly prominent down the middle of her forehead and nose. Her hair is stacked high into a dome with a projecting forelock and terraced bangs.[1] On the top of her head this figure wears a tall headdress with small tassels and rosettes. This hair style and elaborate headdress both emphasize this woman’s position in Maya society.
One can see that traces of red, white, and yellow paint but these colors have largely faded away. The only color that remains clearly visible is the Maya Blue pigment. This sky blue can be seen still in on this figure’s headdress, jewelry, and her clothing. The diagonal stripe across the huipil is either a decoration on the textile or used to indicate another garment. [2] This block of blue could represent a faja, or sash. The back and bottom of this figure are plain with no decoration or color. Maya Blue was associated with rain and sacrifice deities, specifically Chaak and was very vivid, durable, and fade-resistant. [3] |
Jaina figurines were most likely not made on the island but manufactured in larger workshops on the mainland because of their great numbers. There is also no evidence of a workshop on Jaina. According to chemical analysis, the clay was from Northern Tabasco and southwestern Campeche.[8] Molds create a common base, after which features like the face were individually hand-sculpted. Typically buff clay was cast into two sides of the mold. They were then filled with small clay pellets and the undecorated back was added by hand.
The Maya Blue pigment was only recently chemically detected. For a long time archaeologists and scientists were unable to identify what the additional ingredients were in the pigment to give it is bright color and lasting vividness. The pigment was thought to be made up of indigo plant leaves extract a clay mineral called palygorskite, and a mystery ingredient. After studying some pottery found at the bottom of a well in Chichén Itzá in the Yucatán Peninsula, scientists discovered the additional ingredient. |
As early at the fifth century, Southeast Asian empires were greatly influenced by Indian culture and thus the practice of Buddhism spread throughout the region. During the late thirteenth century two Thai kingdoms, the La Na in northern Thailand and the Sukhothai kingdom in central Thailand, formed as the Khmer empire declined in power. These kingdoms eventually combined during the mid-fourteenth century into the kingdom of Ayutthaya which reigned for a period of nearly 400 years. [2] During the later years of the Sukhothai period and throughout the Ayutthaya period, the people of this region followed a more conservative form of Buddhism. As Sri Lanka was the oldest center of this form, artistic inspiration was taken from the Sri Lankans. The later Thai styles usually involved abstract human forms and other various elements. These images became symbolic and detached from the observed world. Spiritual aspects of the Buddha were emphasized while anatomical details varied in realism. [3]
During the Sukhothai period, which lasted from the mid 13th to the mid 15th century CE, the kingdom was known for craftsmanship.Sawankhalok, part of the Sukhothai kingdom for a for around 200 years, is a town located in northern Thailand along the Yom River. The city was known for its ceramics and sculpture manufacture. “Graceful” bronze sculptures of the Buddha in various positions, particularly in the walking position, were typical for this period and were exported throughout Southeast Asia. [4] The sculptures coming out of this region had a variety of influences. This particular Buddha at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum most likely had strong influences from Hindu traditions and old Khmer styles. |
After 509 BCE, Rome developed from a city-state ruled by kings to a new form of government known as the Republic. The power rested in the hands of a privileged class of Roman citizens, the patricians. The patricians had control over all religious offices and had had the final say on decisions made by the Roman popular assemblies. Due to an unfair distribution of public land and rising debts owed to the patrician class, the lower class Roman citizens, the plebians, formed their own assembly and set up their own cults. [2] After the Conflict of Orders in 287 BCE, the plebian class achieved political equality and a power-sharing partnership. This continued into the late first century BCE where it concluded with the dictatorship of Julius Caesar and his assassination in 44 BCE. [3]
Roman portraiture is distinct because of the hyper-realistic treatment of facial features and distinct depiction of one’s character. Natural features were exaggerated often to the point of absurdity. [4] Known as veristic portraits, they highlighted signs of aging to show the wisdom that comes with experience, the hardships of a politician, and a concern for the well-being of the Republic. The physical traits of a veristic portrait were meant to convey virtue and seriousness associated with ones’ public career. [5] |
On his head is the atef crown, a conical Upper Egyptian headdress flanked by two plumes of ostrich feathers on either side rounding at the top, like flaps. The left end of the side plume is broken off, leaving one rounded piece on the right. On the tip of the atef is a large flat solar disk. Down the center of the atefabove Osiris’ forehead is an uraeus, a snake symbol of power and the Pharaohs. To see another uraeus but in a Roman context, check out the Bust of Isis.
A calm expression graces his face. His facial features are rounded and his ears protrude out beneath his atef on his small head. He wears a long false beard that extends downward from the tip of his chin to just above his right hand. |