Object: Tomb figure

E/1960/3/1
Horse tomb figure
Chinese
Henan Province, China
T’ang Dynasty (618-906 CE)
Materials: ceramic, slip

The ancient Chinese believed the human soul had two parts. When a person died they believed that these two parts separated, with one entering into the spirit world (also known as the hun), and the other (called the po) staying here on earth inside his or her tomb. In the T’ang Dynasty the upper-classes were buried with hundreds of clay objects called mingqi. Mingqi were representations of all the things that were important to individual and could include figures of people and animals, pots and bowls, and other everyday objects. These figures would ensure that the part of the soul that remained inside the tomb would have an enjoyable afterlife. Many aspects of the tomb were regulated by the government. The size of the tomb and the number of mingqi allowed depended on the rank and status of the deceased. Higher ranking officials were able to stock their tombs with large collections of tomb figures. Popular figures included representations of servants, entertainers, horses and camels. In particular, the horse was a symbol of the aristocracy and horse tomb figures, like the one in the Sam Noble Museum collection, were placed in nearly all high-ranking tombs. [Kathryn S. (Barr) McCloud]

Object: Mummified fish

C/1957/4/1-3
Mummified fish
Ancient Egyptian
Egypt
unknown date
Materials: Fish, cloth, resin, salt or natron

Ancient Egyptian culture is best known today for its mummies but, humans weren’t the only ones being mummified in Ancient Egypt. Animals were also commonly mummified. Animals were mummified for a variety of reasons, all connected to the Egyptian belief in an afterlife. The Ancient Egyptians viewed death as the beginning of a new life in the underworld, and much like an extended vacation, in order to enjoy this new life one would need to pack accordingly. Only those items properly persevered and stored within the tomb would be available to the deceased in the afterlife, this would include one’s own body and internal organs. Some animals were mummified because they were pets, and their owners wanted them to enjoy the afterlife with them. Any item or animal that one wanted to have in the afterlife had to be included in the tomb, so some animals were mummified to become food for deceased humans in the afterlife. Other animals were mummified because they were considered sacred to a particular deity. These animals were often associated with specific religious cults throughout Egypt, like the Apis Bulls at Memphis and the crocodiles at the Kom Ombo Temple.

The mummification of fish went on throughout much of Ancient Egyptian history but is thought to have reached its peak in the Ptolemaic period. The fish were mummified by removing their internal organs through a slit in the belly of the fish and then either soaked in brine or packed with salt or natron to dry out and preserve the fish. The fish would then be either packed in mud or covered in papyrus stalks and then wrapped in linen and covered in resin. This group of fish were unwrapped after they were discovered and only part of their original wrappings can be seen, on fish C/1957/4/1.

The following video shows a modern attempt at recreating fish mummification.

[Kathryn S. (Barr) McCloud]

Object: Fragmentary figurine

C/1987/7/1
Fragmentary Phi figurine
Mycenaean
Mycenae: Greece
ca. 1400–1300 BCE
Materials: Ceramic

This object is a fragmentary female terracotta figurine from Mycenaean Greece. This type of figurine was particularly common in the late fourteenth and early thirteenth centuries BCE. They typically come in three variations the “tau,” “psi” and  “phi” figurines, each named for the Greek letters they resemble. Each type shows simple female figures, perhaps meant to be goddesses, wearing long dresses, with necklaces, long hair and sometimes wearing a headdress. They have been found in large numbers throughout mainland Greece in sanctuaries and tombs, which suggests they served as votive offerings or ritual items.

Similar, intact, figurines can be found in the Louvre, the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Wilcox Classical Museum at the University of Kansas, the Archaeological Museum at Delphi, and many others.

The Mycenaean civilization thrived on mainland Greece from ca. 1600 to 1200 BCE. It was a period of prosperity during which the fortified cities of Mycenae, Tiryns, Thebes, and Athens were built and according to legend, was also when the Trojan War took place. However, by the late thirteenth century BCE a vast majority of the Mycenaean cities had been destroyed by unknown forces and Greece entered a period called the “Greek Dark Age.”

The following video discusses the city of Mycenae, where this figure was found, and the Mycenaean civilization. [Kathryn S. (Barr) McCloud]

Object: Funerary plaque

C/1984/4/7
Funerary plaque
Southern Arabian Peninsula
1st century BCE
Material: Alabaster

In ancient times the area of southern Arabia, in the modern countries of Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Oman, was home to a number of kingdoms that prospered through caravan trade routes with the cultures of the Mediterranean. Some of these kingdoms include: Saba (referred to as Sheba in the Bible), Hadramawt, Himyar, Qataban and Ma’in. There was often warfare between them over control of frankincense and myrrh: highly prized aromatics burnt on altars all over the ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean world. The most important deity of these kingdoms was the Moon-god. This god was known by many names but was always shown in art as a bull. The Qatabanians called this deity Amm, and thought of him as their patron deity. Bull head plaques like this one were especially popular on funerary stele at Heid ibn Aqil, the cemetery at Tamna. A similar plaque can be found in the British Museum.

The stone used to carve this plaque and many other pre-Islamic Southern Arabian sculptures is alabaster. This type of stone is sedimentary, which means it was formed when sediments were compressed together over time by water and/or other layers of sediment and cemented together by the combination of minerals and chemicals. Sedimentary rock tends to be softer and easier to carve than igneous or metamorphic types of rock. Alabaster was a popular stone for carving in ancient times and examples of it can be found in ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian arts as well as those of Southern Arabia. These ancient artists would shape the stone using stone or metal drills, chisels, saws, and hammers. While the materials used to make these tools have changed over the centuries many of the tool forms used for sculpting stone remain the same today. Below you will find a video showing modern versions of these types of tools and how they are used.

[Kathryn S. (Barr) McCloud]

Object: Figurine

C/1948/4/1
Figurine
Etruscan
Italy: Etruria (roughly equivalent to modern day Tuscany)
mid-5th century BCE
Materials: Bronze, wood (modern base)

This object is a small figure of a reclining man on a couch or kline, done in bronze and attached to a modern wooden base. We believe the figure in our collection is Etruscan in origin and was a decoration from the rim of an urn or other object. Sometime around 850 BCE the Etruscans settled in the land between the Tiber and Arno Rivers in Italy. It is not currently known where the Etruscans came from, but many suspect they may have immigrated from Asia Minor and/or the Eastern Mediterranean. While they were primarily a farming culture, the Etruscans also had a strong military that was able to dominate much of the Italian peninsula, including the city of Rome, by the sixth century BCE. This contact with the newly formed Roman state significantly influenced Roman culture. The following video will highlight some of the Etruscan’s artistic creations and their influence on Mediterranean culture.

Much of what we know about Etruscan culture comes from archaeological excavations of their settlements and tombs or tumuli. Etruscan tombs were elaborate in-ground structures covered by a large mound of earth. Inside these tombs, archaeologists have found plastered walls with detailed frescoes that provide useful details of everyday Etruscan life. One of the most popular of these scenes is the banqueting scene. These scenes show one or more people reclining, like the figurine above, on a raised couch or platform while being served food and drink. These scenes both depicted everyday life and had symbolic meaning in the funerary context. Banqueting scenes remained popular forms of funerary art throughout the Mediterranean region, even into early Christian times. In the Etruscan version of the banqueting scene it is common to see a man reclining on the kline along side a woman (presumably his wife).  Greek and Roman banqueting scenes typically show only men, as it is thought that women in these cultures generally led more sheltered and sequestered lives than their Etruscan counterparts.  [Chelsea Pierce]

Object: Cast

C/1954/6/1
Cast of the Sandal Binder relief
Greek
Acropolis, Athens, Greece (original)
421-410 BCE (original)
Materials: Plaster, metal

This is a modern plaster cast replica of the famous Sandal Binder relief from the Temple of Athena Nike located on the Acropolis in Athens.  The Athena Nike was a form of the goddesss Athena that was worshiped in Athens as a goddess of victory in war and wisdom. After nearly a century of war the great Athenian statesman Pericles to negotiate a peace with Persia in 449 BCE, called the “Peace of Callias” which finally ended the Persian Wars. Following this great victory, Athens was chosen to house the treasury for the Delian League. This influx of wealth allowed Pericles, and the leadership of Athens, to embark on a historic building project in honor of Athena, the patron goddess of Athens. That building project became what we recognize today as the Acropolis. Along with the better-known Parthenon and the Erechtheum, the Temple of Athena Nike was one of several structures built (or re-built) on the Acropolis in honor of the Athenians victory in war. The Acropolis had long been a place of worship, with structures dating back to the Bronze Age. The buildings we see today were built on the foundations of these earlier structures, many of which had been destroyed and rebuilt many times before.

Located near the entrance to the acropolis, just to the south of the Propyla, the Temple of Athena Nike was one of the smaller structures on the Acropolis. The Ionic order temple was designed by Kallikrates and was completed in 420 BCE, nearly ten years after the death of Pericles. The interior of the temple once housed the cult statue of Athena Nike. An ornately carved parapet surrounded the temple and served as a type of guardrail, to keep visitors from falling down the cliff-like edges of the sanctuary. It is thought that the parapet was completed after the Temple of Athena Nike, perhaps as late as 410 BCE. We do not know the identity of the master sculptor, or sculptors, who worked on this project. The parapet was decorated with a number of scenes, including the so-called “Sandal Binder” relief shown in the cast from the Sam Noble Museum. The decoration on the parapet did not tell a continuous story, like that on the Parthenon frieze, but instead contained a number of similar but largely decorative scenes involving the winged goddess of victory, Nike. The “Sandal Binder” version of Nike is shown adjusting her sandal. This has been interpreted in a number of ways: some believe that Nike is removing her sandal before stepping on an altar; others believe she is fastening her sandal in preparation for flight. The Temple of Athena Nike has undergone many restorations, in both antiquity and during the modern era. The most recent restoration was completed over a year ago after the temple was completely deconstructed.

Replicas and casts remain important to sites such as the Acropolis. As weather and pollution pose serious threats to the structural integrity of stone, casts of the originals are placed on-site in order to protect the originals in museums. Casts are also produced for educational purposes, allowing students from around the world hands-on access to antiquities. The original marble Sandal Binder is currently housed in the New Acropolis Museum in Athens.

For more information see:
Gaifman, Milette
2006,  Statue, Cult and Reproduction. Art History, 29(2): 258-279
Koda, Harold
2000, “Classical Art and Modern Dress”. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[Chelsea Pierce]

Object: Hopi Figurine

E/1978/1/33
Hopi: Kachina Figurine
Arizona
20th century
Materials: Pottery, clay, paint

This ceramic figurine is a Hopi representation of a kachina, a spiritual being in Puebloan religions commonly referred to as kachina cults. Kachinas are messengers for the Hopi, delivering prayers and offerings to gods for fertility and health. There are several hundred different kachinas which can each be identified by their unique mask and costume. Every kachina has a specific purpose. The iconography providing evidence for the first kachinas is found in the archaeological record in northeastern Arizona, dating as far back as 1300 C.E.

Historically, kachina dolls were carved out of cottonwood by uncles in the Pueblo, to be given to their nieces during ceremonial dances. During these ceremonies, men of the pueblo wear kachina masks, fully embodying the kachina spirit itself rather than merely dressing as the kachina. The Powamuya, or Bean Dance, is an example of such a ceremony and serves as a rite of passage for young girls. The dance ensures good health for the girls and fertility for the bean seeds, which are then planted on the last day of the ceremony. For a period of sixteen days, the kachinas maintain a large fire to keep the seeds warm as they walk around inspecting, blessing and guarding the bean seeds. This continues until the sixteenth day, when the germinated seeds are distributed in a public ceremony and planted by participants, in hopes of a successful harvest.

Kachina dolls are still used today as an educational tool, telling stories to convey their role as messengers between the earth and the spirit world. Furthermore, it is now acceptable for men to give kachina dolls to children and adults alike, both male and female, and regardless of familial ties. Today, contemporary Hopi artists combine time-honored conventional techniques with personal creative license, creating modern interpretations of the tradition of crafting Hopi kachina dolls. Click here to watch a video about how kachina carving techniques have changed during the past century!

[Anna Rice]

Object: Tesuque Figurine

E/1964/21/6
Tesuque Pueblo: Seated Figurine
New Mexico
20th century
Materials: Pottery, paint

This is an effigy from one of the smaller pueblos of the North American Southwest, the Tesuque pueblo. The Tesuque pueblo dates to at least 1200 CE and is located approximately ten miles north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. This particular pueblo is most noted for its dynamic participation in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt against the Spanish colonials, and for the colorful ceramic tradition as seen in the seated figurine shown here. Tesuque figures such as this one are most commonly referred to as rain gods, and are readily identified by the tell-tale vessels depicted in their laps.

Rain gods were first made in the early 1880s to fill a need in the trade market for small portable pottery. Due to newly built railroads, there was an increase in tourists who flocked to the pueblos and desired affordable souvenirs to take home with them. Typically, rain gods they were formed in the seated position, hollow bodied, with slits to represent open eyes and mouths, and given no gender-specific characteristics. Some gods are fired without decoration, but most are slipped and painted like the one in this example.

In the early years of crafting gods, the Tesuque created several types including gods of pain and gods of hunger, which are seen holding their heads, stomachs or other body parts. However, ultimately the gods of rain proved to be the tourist favorite and therefore other gods largely fell out of circulation. By the turn of the century as the rain gods’ popularity continued to grow, they were decorated for the purpose of individual artistic expression. Less emphasis was placed on meeting the tourists’ tastes, and Tesuque members produced rain gods with more careful attention to fine craftsmanship and an adherence to symbols found on other more traditional ceramic forms.

By the 1930s, artists took pride in creating elaborate and unique patterns to set their gods apart from others, maintaining conventional rain symbolism all the while. Like other forms of aboriginal symbols, symbols commonly seen on rain gods have multiple meanings, include semi-circles to represent clouds, zigzagged lines to represent lightening, and serial triangles to represent water serpents. In the last fifty years, the mass market demand for private collectors seeking rain gods has sharply decreased. This gives artists greater freedom to continue the shift towards creating figurines for personal and tribal fulfillment rather than needing to meet the preferences of the public audience.

[Anna Rice]

Object: Bronze Lion Statuette

C/1957/14/8
Gilt bronze lion
Ca. 17th Century
Italian
Materials: bronze, gilt

The lion–the king of the jungle–has been the symbol of power and bravery for centuries, dating to 675 BCE with the Lion Gate of Mycenae. Also known as the conquering lion, this symbol is known cross-culturally in contexts of astronomy, politics, and military. Displaying a lion statuette can indicate power and wealth, provide decoration, and invoke fear in its viewers. In the figure pictured above, the lion is protectively laying his right front paw on an orb, another timeless heraldic symbol. Generally the orb is a symbol for the universe. This small lion statuette holds a much larger meaning: protecting the universe.

This particular lion figure is very small, measuring 1.5 inches high by 2 inches long and is more likely to have been used as decoration in a smaller home. Generally, these figures were displayed guarding the gates to a home garden or city-state. The gilt bronze lion statuette was made using the lost wax bronze casting technique. This method can be broken down into thirteen major steps beginning with making the mold and ending with polishing the figure. The following video demonstrates how contemporary sculptors follow similar steps to create a statue in the same way that the lion would have been made back in the 17th century.

Bronze is a melted combination of copper and tin, but gilding bronze adds a few materials. This additional step increases the value of the object by adding ground gold and mercury to the materials. The gold remains with the other metals while the mercury evaporates. This golden outer shell gives the appearance of a solid gold statue. Due to the materials and the small size of the statue pictured above, it was probably owned by someone who was trying to reflect great wealth without possessing it. Someone who could afford to own any piece of art in the seventeenth century sent the message to others that they had enough money to afford luxury goods.

[Anna Sauer]

Object: Ivory Figurine

E/1954/18/9
Ivory Carving of Man
Ca. 1920s-1940s
India
Materials: Ivory and black teak wood

Ivory is a precious raw material that is used in many applications, including miniature statues and large intricate figures. Ivory comes from animals in the family Elephantidae and it is harvested from the tusks of this species. Ivory tusks are the only incisors that this species posses.  The object above is from southern India, and it may be a chess piece known as a rook. Three countries primarily contribute to the ivory industry: Japan, China, and India. Ivory carving dates back to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties, as well as prehistoric Inuit, even though they use walrus ivory. These traditions are usually carried on through the families and are considered to be ancient.

Ivory does not just come from elephants but various animals as well. Since 1973 an organization known as CITES, placed both the African and Asian Elephants on their list of various species that can no longer be killed for their ivory. Many ivory carvers and local shops were forced to close due to the ban of ivory trading. Substitutes of ivory sources are walrus, narwhal, hippopotamus, mastodon ivory, and cow bones have been used.  Mastodon ivory is considered to be the best substitute for elephant ivory. Mastodon Ivory, also known as fossil ivory can be found in Russia and Alaska. Most of the time when prehistoric animals die they turn to fossils, however, when the mastodons are frozen they do not fossilize. Instead, the ice protects animal from this process.  After the permafrost has melted away, ivory hunters and paleontologist can find and remove the ivory from its site.

Mastodon ivory has a natural earthy brown hue to its appearance, and it is easy to tell the difference from the whiter, Elephant ivory. An etching technique, also known as scrimshaw, brings our the color in the ivory. The tusk itself has a blue center, and after being heated, the exterior of the tusk changes to a turquoise color. Mammoths and mastodons differ in many ways biologically, but according to CITES these species are preferred over the killing of the present day elephants because retrieving raw materials poses no threat to the extinct species.  It is unknown, however, how much more mammoth and mastodon fossil ivory remain.

[Constance Clark-Lecona]