Friday, April 25, 2014

Islamic Art


On October 16 we met with Amy L to discuss Islamic art at the Walters.

Amy first noted that almost all Islamic objects in the current collection were purchased by Henry Walters.  Very few have been acquired since his bequest.   A relatively small collection of 1200 objects was bequeathed, and of course not all of them are on view.  

The study of Islamic art is humbling, covering as it does a huge geography, a multitude of languages and diverse ethnic groups.  It is also misunderstood by many people, who draw conclusions based on a few known facts.   

Amy assumed that we had knowledge gleaned from reading our Art History texts, so she jumped right in.  The following are excerpts from the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History as background; many of the same points were made by Amy in her discussion:  
Born in Mecca, in western Arabia, Muhammad (ca. 570–632) received his first revelation in 610.  Muslims believe that the word of God was revealed to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel in Arabic.  These revelations were subsequently collected and codified as the Qur’an (literally "recitation" in Arabic), the Muslim holy book. As the source of Muslim faith and practice, the Qur’an describes the relationship between an almighty and all-knowing God and his creations. The Qur’an also maintains that all individuals are responsible for their actions, for which they will be judged by God, and so it provides guidelines for proper behavior within the framework of a just and equitable society. 
The term Islamic art not only describes the art created specifically in the service of the Muslim faith (for example, a mosque and its furnishings) but also characterizes the art and architecture historically produced in the lands ruled by Muslims, produced for Muslim patrons, or created by Muslim artists. As it is not only a religion but a way of life, Islam fostered the development of a distinctive culture with its own unique artistic language that is reflected in art and architecture throughout the Muslim world. 
Calligraphy is the most highly regarded and most fundamental element of Islamic art. It is significant that the Qur’an, the book of God's revelations to the Prophet Muhammad, was transmitted in Arabic, and that inherent within the Arabic script is the potential for developing a variety of ornamental forms. The employment of calligraphy as ornament had a definite aesthetic appeal but often also included an underlying talismanic component. 
Because calligraphy is so prominent in Islamic art, Amy started by discussing a Qur'an then on display.   (Qur'ans on display rotate every three months.) Because the books on display change frequently, and the pages are turned often, we discussed general principles.  The Qur'an is written in poetic prose and divided into 114 chapters, organized according to the length of each chapter (longest to shortest).  The divine words spoken to Muhammed were compiled into a book circa 650 "according to some traditions."  Muhammed believed he was a prophet, and that the divine words were a continuation of words spoken to Moses, Abraham and even Jesus.

In illuminated Qur'ans, medallions are often used to mark chapter headings and titles.  Accents and recitation marks, often in red, are marked as aids to those reading aloud.  The book should be read from right to left, and from back to front.  There were 6 main calligraphic styles.  Arabic manuscripts were often printed on paper, introduced in the 8th C. from China, as it was less expensive than parchment.

The divine words were so important to Muslims that the Qur'an was memorized, often in its entirety.  Students wrote in ink on Qur'an boards like this one.


Once a verse was memorized, the board was washed off with water, and the student could start afresh. The water was treated with great reverence, for it was believed to contain the words of God.   It was saved and used like holy water, and at times was used to ward off illnesses.

The five pillars of Islam are the foundation of Muslim life and belief.  They are: 
1.  Profession of faith
2. Ritual prayer 5x day
3. Charity to the poor
4. Fasting during Ramadan
5. Pilgrimage to Mecca if able at least once during lifetime

Islamic art is often dedicated to one of the five pillars.  For example, a mihrab is a niche in a mosque or other Muslim religious building that indicates the direction for prayer toward Mecca. It also recalls the place where the prophet Muhammad stood to lead the early Muslim community in prayer, and symbolizes both the entrance of God's presence into the place of worship and the gateway to heaven. Ceramic plaques in the shape of "mihrabs" are often found in shrines and mausoleums and on tombstones.  This mihrab plaque displays a verse that enjoins daily prayer, and marks the direction of prayer toward Mecca.  



This plaque was used to print a certificate indicating that the holder had gone to Mecca on pilgrimage.  The entire surface of this unusual object is reverse engraved with Qur'anic verses, prayers, and invocations to God, the prophet Muhammad, and other religious leaders. 

The three lines of Arabic writing in the upper part of this large, ceramic wall tile are from the third chapter of the Qur'an, and exhort the Muslim faithful to make the pilgrimmage to Mecca. The rest of the tile is given over to a bird's-eye representation of the Great Mosque in Mecca, with the Ka'ba, Islam's holiest shrine, in the center surrounded by various other structures, all identified in Arabic, and a rectangular portico around the courtyard. 

                                   

Amy next turned to "what is in the mosque?" and directed our attention to some objects that either depict the mosque or were used in the mosque.  The potter who decorated this plate chose to depict an architectural interior- possibly a shrine- as if it were a flat façade, with domes over the building's three principle units. The central niche probably represents a "mihrab," orienting the building to Mecca. The large lamp, rendered here in blue, is typical of traditional lighting fixtures in mosques and other religious buildings. It hangs over a low, cross-shaped bookstand intended to hold a copy of the Qur'an.


Islamic religious buildings traditionally were lit with glass lamps, generally called mosque lamps, that hung from chains. In 16th-century Turkey, it was common to make mosque lamps from glazed ceramic and to pair them with round or oval ornaments. Such ceramic pieces were of little use as lighting fixtures. They may have functioned, however, as acoustic devices, hung in groups to soften the echo of voices in the prayer hall. Mosque lamps were also symbols of divine light.


Ornamental spheres symbolized the orb of heaven and were paired with lamps. This piece once hung with a lamp, possibly in either the mosque or mausoleum of Sultan Selim I in Istanbul. The inscription around the body of the sphere is a hadith, or saying attributed to the prophet Muhammad: "The world is only one hour, so hasten to prayer before dying and hasten to repent before death."


Many beautiful items were made for secular use.  Items for secular use could include pictorial representations of animals and human figure.  The enthroned king in the center of this hammered and carved silver bowl is flanked on the right by an attendant waving a fly whisk and on the left by a noble or princely figure holding a beaded diadem. The ends of the bowl are adorned with dancing girls, whose long scarves fly backward toward the central scene.  Such silver vessels were common in Iran during the Sassanian rule, which ended in 651.  


This candlestick base from Egypt was commissioned by a royal cupbearer in the late 13th Century. Metalwork was an Islamic art form from earliest times that continued and thrived in the later years.  This piece is brass inlaid with silver, gold and copper.  


It was not unusual for Christians to patronize Islamic arts, especially luxury arts for secular use.  In the 11th - 13th Centuries, large numbers of Christians traveled in Moslem lands, as pilgrims or crusaders.  Christian communities were sometimes established in Moslem lands, and Islamic imagery often combines with Christian themes on lovely custom-made glass and metal pieces, like these beakers.  

This period is sometimes described as the Crusader period, but Amy would not go so far as to say that they were souvenirs carried back by Crusaders.  

Overall, one can be very impressed by the sophistication of Islamic culture and beauty and intricacy of the arts, especially the luxury arts.  We ran out of time in the small room dedicated to more secular works, but it is definitely worth a longer visit.  



Thursday, April 3, 2014

Dutch Cabinet Rooms and the Chamber of Wonders

On October 9, we met with Joaneath again to discuss 17th Century Dutch art and the Walters' fabulous Chamber of Wonders.

Joaneath started in the Dutch Cabinet rooms with an explanation of the "hang" at the Walters.   The 17th Century in Dutch art is considered the "Golden Age" dominated by several amazing painters - Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, for example.  The National Gallery of Art in Washington has rooms with such masterpieces.  The Walters has not one.  But, as Joaneath said, our museum is not required to put out a sign that says, "We have no Rembrandts here," so the Walters has chosen to play on its strengths and offer visitors a different sense of the past.

There are two Dutch Cabinet rooms, designed to show how such rooms in the Dutch Republic would have looked in about 1690.  Even the walls and woodwork are characteristic of 1690.  Joaneath noted how the molding on the dark colored walls creates frames, and noted how the Dutch at this time were developing a sense of "decor" new to sensibilities at the time.  Paintings within a "frame" created by the molding tended to stick with a theme, and the organization of paintings gave the patron an ability to be a bit creative.

Holland was ruled by William and Mary in 1690, and English things would have been coming into the country.  At this time in history, Protestant courts and countries stuck together, as did Catholic courts and countries, and the "twain" did not often meet.  The Protestantism of the Dutch Republic was highly influential on its art.  The Dutch, particularly, were seagoing people and explorers.  Thus, a Dutch merchant's home would likely have contained Chinese porcelains, and it was a major shift to see such porcelains used purely for decorative purposes.


Joaneath pointed out the chest, which was made by a Dutch craftsman and decorated with a Westerner's view of Eastern subjects.  From the catalog:
This cabinet was made by a Dutch craftsman to imitate the expensive lacquered Chinese and Japanese chests imported by the Dutch East India Company. The painter adapted some motifs, such as the pagodas on the drawer fronts, from Chinese porcelains, but the figures are only Asian by virtue of their long embroidered coats with sashes. The headwear, including feather headdresses, is completely fanciful. Some figures are actually Native Americans, adapted from engravings of 1584 reporting English explorations of Virginia. On the exterior side panels are remarkable adaptations of engravings recording a French expedition of 1564 to Florida. Young "Floridians" play competitive games while beautiful birds imaginative renderings of the bird of paradise from the East Indies swoop around them. The maker surely hoped that his customers would just enjoy the exotic details.


Also part of the new emphasis on "decor" was the introduction of the practice we would now call "tablescaping," designed to showcase objects not just for their aesthetic beauty but to create a pesonal narrative for the owner of the home.  So for example, this Russian drinking cup might show that the merchant had frequent trade in Russia, an important trading partner of the Dutch at the time.   

During the early 1600s, Dutch merchants were in Moscow actively pursuing the Russian fur trade. They brought gifts for the court that apparently included Dutch metalwork, which influenced the style of local craftsman. Their work, in turn, would have been prized as gifts to be taken back to Holland. This characteristic "bratina" (from the Russian "brat," meaning brother) was to be passed around at feasts. The embossed, chased decoration with masks and flowing forms draws on the work of Dutch silversmiths at mid-century, epitomized by Johannes Lutma.


Although Russia may have been considered the "wild west" at the time, the Dutch developed good relationships with the Kremlin.   The Kremlin now has a large collection of Dutch silver made by Dutch craftsmen for Russian tastes.  Small objects traveled easily and became part of a culture of mercantile gift exchange. 

And this covered cup, with its "extraordinary curvilinear style," is indicative of an interest in the underwater world (important for the seafaring Dutch) and the more natural forms found in nature and in the human body.


 The Dutch imposed their own ideas of beauty on foreign things, such as this carving and casing for an exotic coconut shell from a foreign clime.  The inscription read "drunkenness is the root of all evil." There are also incriptions indicating that the shell was carved by a father and mounted in silver by his daughter in his honor.


On to the paintings.  

The first Dutch room is somewhat dominated by this painting of Prince Maurits with his horse and groom.  While it may seem odd to focus so much on the horse, Joaneath noted that Prince Maurits was successful as the commander of the republic's military forces and as a breeder of horses.  Maurits is depicted in a field in a kind of "double portrait" with an immense dapple-gray war horse that he is training.  It may be the offspring of a prize dapple-gray Spanish war horse (a breed famous since antiquity), captured by Maurits's forces from the Spanish Habsburg commander Archduke Albert, bred with a heavier northern European war horse.  Thus, the horse represents a trophy.


Animal subjects were  becoming more popular in the 17th C.  As religious art declined in Protestant Holland, painters chose other ways to show that the message of God can be found all around.  Other new subjects included landscapes and, particularly for the Dutch, seascapes.  The sea was a source of wealth and pride for the Dutch, as well as a source of death and danger, and their art reflected it.  By the end of the 17th C., landscapes reflected an emphasis on the enormity of sea and sky, and thus the fragility of life.  Diagonal lines draw the eye up to the sky, which takes up 2/3 of the painting.  


Moral lessons were imparted through paintings, just not with religious subjects.  For example, the painting below warns of the dangers of sloth, one of the seven deadly sins.  The devil, identified by his horns and tail, sows weeds (or tares) in the field where wheat has been planted, while the lazy peasants are sleeping. The dovecote (a birdhouse to attract doves or pigeons that can be trapped for food without the bother of raising them) was associated with the morally lazy who take the easy way. The goat, known for its lust, alludes to self-indulgence, and the peacock, to pride. The artist, Bloemaert, was gifted in depicting natural detail, but he never painted pure landscapes, preferring pictures with a lesson.


It was in the Dutch Republic that the family portrait first became a significant subject, particularly among the middle class. This is due, in part, to the important role of women in Dutch society as well as to the prosperity and political power of the middle class. The seated parents are surrounded by their children, who stand in respect. The souls of infants who died young or were stillborn hover above. The rural setting indicates that the family has property; however, their attire is sober, excepting the lustrous, East-Indian pearls worn by the girls, possibly to suggest the dowries they will bring to marriage. In addition, the two girls of marriageable age carry roses - they are "ripe for the picking." The boys have one hand on the hip, a gesture of determination, associated in portraiture with the man "on guard," ready to defend the family. Maybe the family members did all look alike, but, more likely, this provincial artist was unable to register the distinctions.


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Finally, we were on to the Chamber of Wonders.

The entrance to the suite of rooms containing the Chamber of Wonders is designed to be typical of Northern Renaissance mansions.  In the North, it was typical to show the arms and armor of your ancestors, and collectible items acquired on campaign.  Turkish armor might have been taken from dead enemies; Japanese armor may have been acquired as diplomatic gifts.  By the 16th and 17th C., firearms were also part of the regular arsenal, but tournament armor remained important.  Boys' armor was designed to look like their fathers', and boys participated in tournaments.

Off to the side is the collector's study, where the wealthy scholar would retreat to literally "study" objects collected by or for the scholar.  Collectors at this time developed a passion for organizing their objects, but without much information they resorted to grouping them by material or type.  "Study" was done by a process of compare and contrast.  In this room, that convention has been followed, so there are cases of objects in metals, in glass or rock crystal, in ivory, and in wood, to name a few.  Around the top of the room are portraits of inspiring people.  Commonly found in such studies were watches and timepieces, which were objects of wonder, as well as skulls and "memento mori" to remind the scholar that while genius lives on, all else is mortal.


The Chamber of Wonders is literally a "crown jewel" of the Walters.


There is an important wunderkammer tradition, and books aplenty have been written about it.  According to Joaneath, it can be described as a tradition of exploration and wonder.  In other words, things come to you, you value those things for what they can teach you, and you wonder - where did it come from?  What does it mean? What is happening?  In an age upset by the notion that the sun is the center of the universe, God's plan was not clear.   Those who cultivated their chambers of wonders believed that God revealed Himself in the extra-ordinary - miracles, omens, signs.  To study these one must bring together extraordinary things and try to create a sense of order.   Extraordinary things from nature, from human achievement, from the heavens, all were studied for the purposes of drawing connections and making sense of the world.  What makes a group?  Things that fly?  What about a flying squirrel (or a square mouse, as they called it)?

Paintings recorded these attempts.  And paintings also recorded virtuosity, the hand of the artist.  There are many paintings of things that scholars wished to study.  So, for example, this Panorama of the Abduction of Helen Amidst the Wonders of the Ancient World by Heemskerck is an homage to ancient art in Rome.  16th- or 17th-century Europeans could call on this celebration of ancient ingenuity to validate their own. In 1535, when Heemskerck painted this panorama, scholars were still disputing which of these monuments were the most marvelous. This luminous panorama is one of the most famous Northern landscapes of the 1500s; its array of ancient marvels and evidence of antiquity's greatness provided a picture-puzzle for the viewer, challenging him to locate and identify the pieces.   The point of studying these wonders is not to know that they were beautiful but to wonder:  How did they do it?


Joaneath was very excited to show us this remarkable portrait of a wealthy man of African ancestry from Renaissance Europe.  She noted that the chain he wears is of the type usually received as a gift for service in a royal Court, marking this individual as someone of rank and privilege.  It must have been possible for a person of African descent to rise to social heights in the age of wonders and marvels.    


On to a painting that we have seen before, and will use often on tours.  Joaneath's description matched almost precisely this description from the catalog:  

This painting of a private gallery or cabinet of a Flemish collector depicts a visit by Archdukes Albert and Isabella, the Habsburg governors of the Southern Netherlands. Isabella is seated, while her husband stands to her right and their unidentified host, behind. The walls are covered with paintings by Flemish artists [but other small objects in the room are from all over the world]. The sculpture displayed throughout is from various schools, but includes the bronze "Allegory of Architecture" by Giambologna, a Flemish sculptor who made his fortune in Florence. A painted "Allegory of Iconoclasm," depicting people who destroy art as animals, rests against a chair. Visitors examining paintings and objects on the tables draw the viewer's attention to these objects, as well as shells and a stuffed bird of paradise, from the Spice Islands. Pets include a monkey, kept out of mischief on a chain, and a dog, apparently with two heads (an alteration by the artist that has "bled" through). The globe-like object on the table at the left is one of Cornelis Drebbels' attempts at a perpetual-motion clock; the principles which ran it are now lost. Albert's and Isabella's role as rulers and patrons of the arts is celebrated here in an unprecedented way. The immense vase of flowers by Jan Brueghel, the greatest Flemish flower painter, is crowned by a large sunflower. This South American flower which could grow to be 14 feet tall and could turn toward the sun, was first seen by Europeans in the mid-1500s. It had been illustrated as a New World wonder in botanical treatises, but this is its earliest inclusion in a painting and its earliest use as a symbol of princely patronage. In turning to the sun (but here toward Albert and Isabella), it symbolizes the way that the arts grow and blossom in the light and warmth of princely patronage.


Joaneath compared the use of the sunflower in our painting to the famous self-portrait by Van Dyke with the sunflower turning to its source of life, the painter.  [This painting is now in a private collection.]  


She also noted the symbolism of another flower in the arrangement, the Crown Imperial, also evoking royal patronage.

In general, artists in the age of "wonders" enjoyed painting impossible arrangements of flowers, using flowers from different countries, even continents, and from different seasons.  It was almost like saying the artist had more power than God, but not quite.

Finally, Joaneath told us a series of amusing stories about acquiring the natural specimens in the room.  Chambers of wonders almost always included "natural wonders" and the Walters Chamber had to have a lot.  Still, there was no budget for acquiring things that were not "art."  Joaneath set about a program to acquire each of the natural history specimens using no museum funds.  Some she did purchase on eBay, then compiled a list for private donors to reimburse her.  But she also contacted hunters, asking for specimens they shot.  She scoured sources for confiscated items.  The great sea turtle shell had been confiscated by the government and was being held in a warehouse in Denver - the government agreed to donate that, and other things, provided only that any object must fit into a FedEx box.

The sawtooth on the wall had an especially interesting story.   Joaneath despaired of finding one because of legal limitations on the catching and use of such objects.  When she had almost given up, she attended a crafts fair on her own time and came upon a stall of "nautical art."  There, with a lovely painting across it, was the sawtooth she'd been looking for.  She ascertained that it was legal to buy (it was, having been caught long before the ban) and purchased it.  The lovingly-executed painting by an unknown nautical artist is turned to the wall, so that the Walters visitors may enjoy the "wonder" of this exotic sea specimen.

There is so much to see in and to say about the Chamber of Wonders.  It is one of the best places in the museum.

Next week, on to Islamic art.