SET G

Artist: Le Corbusier Culture/Period: Modernism Title: Notre-Dame du Haut, exterior Date: 1950-1954 Location: Ronchamp, France Material: masonry faced with sprayed concrete (Gunite), whitewashed - The organic forms of Le Corbusier's mountaintop chapel present a fusion of architecture and sculpture. The architect based the shapes on praying hands, a dove's wings, and a ship's prow. - Completed in 1955 at Ronchamp, France, the chapel attests to the boundless creativity of this great architect. A fusion of architecture and sculpture, the small chapel, which replaced a building destroyed in WWII, occupies a pilgrimage site in the Vosges Mountains. The impression of Notre Dame du Haut seen from afar is deceptive. Although one massive exterior wall contains a pulpit resembling a balcony that faces a spacious outdoor area for large-scale open-air services on holy days, the interior holds at most 200 people. - The intimate scale, stark and heavy walls, and msyterious illumination give this space an aura reminiscent of a sacred cave or a medieval monastery. Its structure may look free-form to the untrained eye, but Le Corbusier, like the designers of Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals, based it on an underlying mathematical system. The pilgrimage church has a fram eof steel and metal mesh, which the builders sprayed with concrete and painted white, except for the two interior private chapel niches with colored walls and the roof, which le Corbusier wished to have darken naturally with the passage of time. - The roof appears to float freely above the worshipers in their pews, intensifying the quality of mystery in the interior space. In reality, a series of nearly invisible blocks holds up the roof. The mystery of the roof's means of support recalls the reaction to Hagia Sophia's miraculously floating dome. Le Corbusier's sketches for the building indicate that he linked the design with the shape of praying hands, with the wings of a dove, and the prow of a ship. He hoped that in the mystical interior he created and in the rolling hills around the church, worshipers would reflect on the sacred and the natural.

Set G - 1

Culture/Period: Inka Title: Machu Picchu: general view Date: 15th century Location: Machu Picchu Site (Peru) - Machu Picchu was probably the estate of Inka emperor, Pachacuti. Large upright stones echo the contours of sacred peaks. Precisely placed windows and doors facilitated astronomical observations. - The engineering prowess of the Inka matched their talent for governing, and they were gifted architects as well. They were supreme masters of shaping and fitting stone. As a militant people, they selected breathtaking, naturally fortified sites and further strengthened them by building various defensive structures. One of the world's most awe-inspiring sights is the terraced Inka settlement about 50 miles north of Cuzco called Machu Picchu, which perches on a ridge between two jagged peaks some 9,000 feet above sea level. - Invisible from the Urubamba River Valley some 1,600 feet below, Machu Picchu remained unknown to the outside world until Hiram Bingham, an AMerican explorer, reached the site in 1911. In the very heart of the Andes, Machu Picchu was the estate of a powerful mid-15th century Inka ruler, probably Emperor Pachacutie (r. 1438-1472). Though relatively small and insignificant compared to its neighbors, Machu Picchu is of great archaelogical importance as a rare undisturbed Inka settlement. - The accomodation of its architecture fo the landscape is so complete that the buildings seem a natural part of the mountain ranges surrounding the site on all sides. The Inka even cut large stones to echo the shapes of the mountain beyond. Terraces spill down the mountainsides and extend even up to the very peak of Huayna Picchu, the great hill just beyond the settlement's main plaza. The Inka carefully sited buildings so that windows and doors framed spectacular views of sacred peaks and facilitated the tracking of important astronomical events. Machu Picchu is among the architectural and engineering wonders of the premodern world.

Set G - 10

Culture/Period: Aztec Title: Codex Fejervary-Mayer A view of the world Date: c.1400-1521 Repository: World Museum Liverpool Material: paint on animal hide - Codex = separate pages of vellum or parchment bound together on one side; the predecessor of the modern book. This is an Aztec Codex of central Mexico. It is one of the rare pre-Hispanic manuscripts that have survived the Spanish conquest of Mexico. - As a typical calendar codex tonalamatl dealing with the sacred Aztec calendar - the tonalpohualli - it is placed in the Borgia Group. It is a divinatory almanac in 17 sections. Its elaboration is typically pre-Columbian: it is made on deerskin parchment folded accordion-style into 23 pages. - THE CODEX FEJÉRVÁRY-MAYER depicts specific aspects of the tonalpohualli the 260-day Mesoamerican augural cycle. The painted manuscript divides the world into five parts. T-shaped trees delineate compass points: east at the top, west on the bottom, north on the left, and south on the right. - The four directions are distributed around a sacred center, shown here as Xiuhtecuhlti, the god of fire. This image comes from the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer, an Aztec screen-fold book painted on deerskin parchment, and depicts the quadripartite cosmos and its relation to the sacred 260-day calendar called the tonalpohualli. In the center of the page stands the fire god Xiuhtecuhlti holding a bundle of spears and wielding an atlatl. - Flanking him in the four cardinal directions are different types of trees, and in the interstices of these directions are birds that each bear one of four year signs. A closer look at these inter-cardinal directions also shows jagged streaks of red which represent the four dismembered pieces of Tezcatlipoca. According to Aztec mythology, this dismemberment of Tezcatlipoca established space and direction thereby creating the cosmos. Of final note is the presence of five motifs that appear between the four trees and the birds that bear the year sign. Each of these motifs represents one of the 20 trecenas, or 13 day periods, that compose the sacred tonalpohualli. Thus, this entire tableau recounts a recurring theme in Mesoamerican art wherein the act of cosmological creation culminates with sacrifice and the partitioning of the four cardinal directions.

Set G - 11

Culture/Period: Yoruba Title: Crowned Head of an Oni Date: 12th-15th C Location: Ife, Nigeria Repository: The British Museum Material: zinc, brass - This free-standing brass head cast in the lost wax technique was discovered in 1938 at Wunmonije Compound in Ife, Nigeria. It was found by accident during house building works together with sixteen other brass and copper heads and the upper half of a brass figure. Brass (heavily leaded zinc-brass) head cast using the lost wax (cire perdue) technique. - The head is a little under life size and is made in a naturalistic style. It has a headdress, suggesting a crown, of complex construction. The identification and function of the head, in common with the others discovered at this site, remain uncertain. Its elaborate beaded headdress, possibly representing a crown, suggest that it was associated with an Ooni, a ruler of Ife. According to the oral traditions of the Yoruba people, Ife is the place where life and civilisation began. - Ife is regarded as the legendary homeland of the Yoruba-speaking peoples and its sacred ruler, the Ooni, is still revered as the descendant of the original creator gods. Ife is located in Osun State in modern south-western Nigeria. Ife began to develop as a city-state in the late first millennium, around AD 800 and became a leading political, economic and spiritual centre in the lower Niger region. Between 1100 and 1400 it floursihed as a commercial centre with access to the lucrative trade networks along the Niger River. - The art of Ife has produced a large corpus of sculptural works in terracotta, stone, brass and copper which were found at different sites in the city. Among these artworks the representations of humans are striking for their naturalistic style. This life-like modelling is unique in Africa and when objects from Ife were first presented to the western world they were compared with the classical traditions of Ancient Greece and Rome. It was even suggested that such heads were evidence that Ife was the site of the lost civilization of Atlantis. In fact the sculpture of Ife is today rightly seen as one of the highest achievements of African art and culture.

Set G - 12

Artist: Edo Peoples, court of Benin Culture/Period: African; West African; Benin Title: Queen Mother Pendant Mask: Iyoba Date: 16th century Repository: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Material: Ivory, iron, copper - This ivory pendant mask is one of a pair of nearly identical works; its counterpart is in the British Museum in London. Although images of women are rare in Benin's courtly tradition, these two works have come to symbolize the legacy of a dynasty that continues to the present day. The pendant mask is believed to have been produced in the early sixteenth century for the King or ObaEsigie, the king of Benin, to honor his mother, Idia. - The oba may have worn it at rites commemorating his mother, although today such pendants are worn at annual ceremonies of spiritual renewal and purification. In Benin, ivory is related to the color white, a symbol of ritual purity that is associated with Olokun, god of the sea. As the source of extraordinary wealth and fertility, Olokun is the spiritual counterpart of the oba. Ivory is central to the constellation of symbols surrounding Olokun and the oba. - Not only is it white, but it is itself Benin's principle commercial commodity and it helped attract the Portuguese traders who also brought wealth to Benin. The mask is a sensitive, idealized portrait, depicting its subject with softly modeled features, bearing inlaid metal and carved scarification marks on the forehead, and wearing bands of coral beads below the chin. In the openwork tiara and collar are carved stylized mudfish and the bearded faces of Portuguese. Because they live both on land and in the water, mudfish represent the king's dual nature as human and divine. Having come from across the seas, the Portuguese were considered denizens of the spirit realm who brought wealth and power to the oba.

Set G - 13

Culture/Period: Asian; Middle Eastern; Syrian Title: Leaf from a Qur'an manuscript Date: late 9th-10th century Material: Ink, gold, and colors on vellum - This page is from a dispersed manuscript, many folios of which once belonged to the scholar R. M. Riefstahl. The angular kufic script is moderated by the roundness of several letters that look like large black dots, their inner blank spaces reduced almost

Set G - 14

Culture/Period: Nasrid (1230-1492) Title: Qur'an manuscript Date: 13th-14th century Repository: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Material: Ink, colors, and gold on parchment - This large folio comes from a magnificent two-volume Qur'an. In Spain, as in North Africa, Qur'an manuscripts and Qur'anic calligraphy retained archaic features long since abandoned farther east. Such features include the use of parchment instead of polished paper, a square format, and deep, rounded letter terminals, as seen in this example.

Set G - 15

Artist: ordered by Caliph Abd al-Malik; exterior restoration ordered by Sultan Süleyman Culture/Period: Umayyad, with Ottoman redecoration Title: Haram al-Sharif (Dome of the Rock) (exterior) Date: 691 Location: Jerusalem, Israel - One of the most iconic images of the Middle East is the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Sitting atop the Haram al-Sharif, the highest point in old Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock's golden-color Dome and Turkish Faience tiles dominates the cityscape of Old Jerusalem and in the 7th century served as a testament to the power of the new faith of Islam. The Dome of the Rock is one of the earliest surviving buildings from the Islamic world. This remarkable building is not a mosque, as is commonly assumed and scholars still debate its original function and meaning. Between the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632 and 691/2, when the Dome of the Rock was completed, there was intermittent warfare in Arabia and Holy Land around Jerusalem. The first Arab armies who emerged from the Arabian peninsula were focused on conquering and establishing an empire—not building. Thus, the Dome of the Rock was one of the first Islamic buildings ever constructed. It was built between 685 and 691/2 by Abd al-Malik, probably the most important Umayyad caliph, as a religious focal point for his supporters, while he was fighting a civil war against Ibn Zubayr. The Dome is located on the Haram al-Sharif, an enormous open-air platform that now houses Al-Aqsa mosque, madrasas and several other religious buildings. Few places are as holy for Christians, Jews and Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif. At the center of the Dome of the Rock sits a large rock, which is believed to be the location where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Ismail (Isaac in the Judeo/Christian tradition). Today, Muslims believe that the Rock commemorates the night journey of Muhammad. The building enclosing the Rock also seems to take its form from the imperial mausolea (the burial places) of Roman emperors, such as Augustus or Hadrian. Its circular form and Dome also reference the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The circular Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem was built to enclose the tomb of Christ. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Dome of the Rock have domes that are almost identical in size; this suggests that the elevated position of the Dome of the Rock and the comparable size of its dome was a way that Muslims in the late 8th century proclaimed the superiority of their newly formed faith over Christians. The Dome of the Rock also contains an inscription, 240 meters long, that includes some of the earliest surviving examples of verses from the Qur'an - in an architectural context or otherwise.

Set G - 16

Artist: ordered by Caliph Abd al-Malik; exterior restoration ordered by Sultan Süleyman Culture/Period: Umayyad, with Ottoman redecoration Title: Haram al-Sharif (Dome of the Rock) (exterior) Date: 691 Location: Jerusalem, Israel - One of the most iconic images of the Middle East is the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Sitting atop the Haram al-Sharif, the highest point in old Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock's golden-color Dome and Turkish Faience tiles dominates the cityscape of Old Jerusalem and in the 7th century served as a testament to the power of the new faith of Islam. The Dome of the Rock is one of the earliest surviving buildings from the Islamic world. This remarkable building is not a mosque, as is commonly assumed and scholars still debate its original function and meaning. Between the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632 and 691/2, when the Dome of the Rock was completed, there was intermittent warfare in Arabia and Holy Land around Jerusalem. The first Arab armies who emerged from the Arabian peninsula were focused on conquering and establishing an empire—not building. Thus, the Dome of the Rock was one of the first Islamic buildings ever constructed. It was built between 685 and 691/2 by Abd al-Malik, probably the most important Umayyad caliph, as a religious focal point for his supporters, while he was fighting a civil war against Ibn Zubayr. The Dome is located on the Haram al-Sharif, an enormous open-air platform that now houses Al-Aqsa mosque, madrasas and several other religious buildings. Few places are as holy for Christians, Jews and Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif. At the center of the Dome of the Rock sits a large rock, which is believed to be the location where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Ismail (Isaac in the Judeo/Christian tradition). Today, Muslims believe that the Rock commemorates the night journey of Muhammad. The building enclosing the Rock also seems to take its form from the imperial mausolea (the burial places) of Roman emperors, such as Augustus or Hadrian. Its circular form and Dome also reference the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The circular Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem was built to enclose the tomb of Christ. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Dome of the Rock have domes that are almost identical in size; this suggests that the elevated position of the Dome of the Rock and the comparable size of its dome was a way that Muslims in the late 8th century proclaimed the superiority of their newly formed faith over Christians. The Dome of the Rock also contains an inscription, 240 meters long, that includes some of the earliest surviving examples of verses from the Qur'an - in an architectural context or otherwise.

Set G - 17

Artist: ordered by Caliph Abd al-Malik; exterior restoration ordered by Sultan Süleyman Culture/Period: Umayyad, with Ottoman redecoration Title: Haram al-Sharif; Dome of the Rock interior from southwest Date: 691 Location: Jerusalem, Israel - One of the most iconic images of the Middle East is the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Sitting atop the Haram al-Sharif, the highest point in old Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock's golden-color Dome and Turkish Faience tiles dominates the cityscape of Old Jerusalem and in the 7th century served as a testament to the power of the new faith of Islam. The Dome of the Rock is one of the earliest surviving buildings from the Islamic world. This remarkable building is not a mosque, as is commonly assumed and scholars still debate its original function and meaning. Between the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632 and 691/2, when the Dome of the Rock was completed, there was intermittent warfare in Arabia and Holy Land around Jerusalem. The first Arab armies who emerged from the Arabian peninsula were focused on conquering and establishing an empire—not building. Thus, the Dome of the Rock was one of the first Islamic buildings ever constructed. It was built between 685 and 691/2 by Abd al-Malik, probably the most important Umayyad caliph, as a religious focal point for his supporters, while he was fighting a civil war against Ibn Zubayr. The Dome is located on the Haram al-Sharif, an enormous open-air platform that now houses Al-Aqsa mosque, madrasas and several other religious buildings. Few places are as holy for Christians, Jews and Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif. At the center of the Dome of the Rock sits a large rock, which is believed to be the location where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Ismail (Isaac in the Judeo/Christian tradition). Today, Muslims believe that the Rock commemorates the night journey of Muhammad. The building enclosing the Rock also seems to take its form from the imperial mausolea (the burial places) of Roman emperors, such as Augustus or Hadrian. Its circular form and Dome also reference the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The circular Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem was built to enclose the tomb of Christ. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Dome of the Rock have domes that are almost identical in size; this suggests that the elevated position of the Dome of the Rock and the comparable size of its dome was a way that Muslims in the late 8th century proclaimed the superiority of their newly formed faith over Christians. The Dome of the Rock also contains an inscription, 240 meters long, that includes some of the earliest surviving examples of verses from the Qur'an - in an architectural context or otherwise. - Wall and ceiling mosaics became very popular in Late Antiquity and adorn many Byzantine churches, including San Vitale in Ravenna and Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Thus, the use of mosaics reflects an artistic tie to the world of Late Antiquity. Late Antiquity is a period from about 300-800, when the Classical world dissolves and the Medieval period emerges. The mosaics in the Dome of the Rock contain no human figures or animals. While Islam does not prohibit the use of figurative art per se, it seems that in religious buildings, this proscription was upheld. Instead, we see vegetative scrolls and motifs, as well as vessels and winged crowns, which were worn by Sasanian kings. Thus, the iconography of the Dome of the Rock also includes the other major pre-Islamic civilization of the region, the Sasanian Empire, which the Arab armies had defeated.

Set G - 18

Artist: founded by Caliph 'Abd al-Rahman I; additions and renovations made by Caliph 'Abd al-Rahman II, Caliph al-Hakam II, minister al-Mansur Culture/Period: Umayyad Title: Great Mosque exterior aeriel from north Date: 784-86; additions c. 833-52, 961-76, 987 Location: Cordoba, Spain - In 961, al-Hakam II became caliph. A learned man who amassed a library of 400,000 volumes, he immediately undertook major renovations to the mosque. His builders expanded the prayer hall, added a series of domes, and constructed imposing gates on the complex's eastern and western facades. The gates are noteworthy for their colorful masonry and intricate surface patterns, esp in the uppermost zone, with its series of overlapping horseshoe-shaped arches springing from delicate colonnettes. - The Great Mosque of Cordoba represents a unique artistic achievement due to its size and the sheer boldness of the height of its ceilings. It is an irreplaceable testimony of the Caliphate of Cordoba and it is the most emblematic monument of Islamic religious architecture. It was the second biggest in surface area, after the Holy Mosque in Mecca, previously only reached by the Blue Mosque (Istanbul, 1588), and was a very unusual type of mosque that bears witness to the presence of Islam in the West. The Great Mosque of Cordoba was also very influential on Western Islamic art since the 8th century just as in the neo-Moorish style in the 19th century. Concerning architecture, it has represented a testing ground for building techniques, which have influenced both the Arabic and Christian cultures alike since the 8th century. It is an architectural hybrid that joins together many of the artistic values of East and West and includes elements hitherto unheard-of in Islamic religious architecture, including the use of double arches to support the roof. The direct forerunners to this can be found in the Los Milagros (Miracles) Aqueduct in Merida. Its building techniques - the use of stone with brick - were a novelty reusing and integrating Roman/Visigoth techniques. Also it included the "honeycomb" capital, which differs from the Corinthian capital, characteristic of caliph art. Subsequently, this was to greatly influence all Spanish architecture. Likewise the combination of the ribbed vault, with a system of intertwined poli ovulate arches gives stability and solidity to the ensemble, and it represents a first class architectural milestone a hundred years before the ribbed vault appeared in France.

Set G - 19

Artist: Le Corbusier Culture/Period: Modernism Title: Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut interior view Date: 1950-1954 Location: Ronchamp, France Material: masonry faced with sprayed concrete (Gunite), whitewashed - The organic forms of Le Corbusier's mountaintop chapel present a fusion of architecture and sculpture. The architect based the shapes on praying hands, a dove's wings, and a ship's prow. - Completed in 1955 at Ronchamp, France, the chapel attests to the boundless creativity of this great architect. A fusion of architecture and sculpture, the small chapel, which replaced a building destroyed in WWII, occupies a pilgrimage site in the Vosges Mountains. The impression of Notre Dame du Haut seen from afar is deceptive. Although one massive exterior wall contains a pulpit resembling a balcony that faces a spacious outdoor area for large-scale open-air services on holy days, the interior holds at most 200 people. - The intimate scale, stark and heavy walls, and msyterious illumination give this space an aura reminiscent of a sacred cave or a medieval monastery. Its structure may look free-form to the untrained eye, but Le Corbusier, like the designers of Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals, based it on an underlying mathematical system. The pilgrimage church has a fram eof steel and metal mesh, which the builders sprayed with concrete and painted white, except for the two interior private chapel niches with colored walls and the roof, which le Corbusier wished to have darken naturally with the passage of time. - The roof appears to float freely above the worshipers in their pews, intensifying the quality of mystery in the interior space. In reality, a series of nearly invisible blocks holds up the roof. The mystery of the roof's means of support recalls the reaction to Hagia Sophia's miraculously floating dome. Le Corbusier's sketches for the building indicate that he linked the design with the shape of praying hands, with the wings of a dove, and the prow of a ship. He hoped that in the mystical interior he created and in the rolling hills around the church, worshipers would reflect on the sacred and the natural. - Constructed of concrete sprayed on a frame of steel and metal mesh, the heavy walls of the Ronchamp chapel enclose an intimate and mysteriously lit interior that has the aura of a sacred cave.

Set G - 2

Artist: founded by Caliph 'Abd al-Rahman I; additions and renovations made by Caliph 'Abd al-Rahman II, Caliph al-Hakam II, minister al-Mansur Culture/Period: Umayyad Title: Great Mosqueinteriorprayer hall Date: 8th to 10th centuries Location: Cordoba, Spain - Cordoba was the capital of the Spanish Umayyad dynasty. In the Great Mosque's hypostyle prayer hall, 36 piers and 514 columns support a unique series of double-tiered horseshoe-shaped arches. - The capital of the Spanish Umayyads was Cordoba, which became the center of a brilliant culture rivaling that of the Abbasids at Baghdad and exerting major influence on the civilization of the Christian West. The most important building project the Umayyad dynasty undertook at Cordoba was the erection of the great mosque on the site of a Visigothic church, thereby marking the triumph of Islam in Spain, as before in Jerusalem. Begun in 784 by Abd al-Rahman I and enlarged several times during the next two centuries, Cordoba's Mezquita (Spanish, "mosque") eventually became one of the largest mosques in the Islamic West. Today, the hypostyle prayer hall has 36 piers and 514 columns topped by a unique system of double-tiered arches that carried a timber roof (later replaced by vaults). The two story system was the builder's response to the need to raise the roof to an acceptable height using short columns that had been employed earlier in other structures, both Visigothic and Roman. The lower arches are horseshoe-shaped, a form perhaps adapted from earlier Mesopotamian architecture or of Visigothic origin. In the West, the horseshoe arch quickly became closely associated with Muslim architecture. Visually, these arches seem to billow out like windblown sals, and they contribute greatly to the light and airy effect of the Cordoba mosque's interior.

Set G - 20

Artist: founded by Caliph 'Abd al-Rahman I; additions and renovations made by Caliph 'Abd al-Rahman II, Caliph al-Hakam II, minister al-Mansur Culture/Period: Umayyad Title: Great Mosqueinteriormaqsura; mihrab Date: 784-86; additions c. 833-52, 961-76, 987 Location: Cordoba, Spain - The focal point in the prayer hall is the famous horseshoe arched mihrab or prayer niche. A mihrab is used in a mosque to identify the wall that faces Mecca—the birth place of Islam in what is now Saudi Arabia. This is practical as Muslims face toward Mecca during their daily prayers. The mihrab in the Great Mosque of Cordoba is framed by an exquisitely decorated arch behind which is an unusually large space, the size of a small room. Gold tesserae (small pieces of glass with gold and color backing) create a dazzling combination of dark blues, reddish browns, yellows and golds that form intricate calligraphic bands and vegetal motifs that adorn the arch.

Set G - 21

Artist: founded by Sultan Muhammad I Culture/Period: Nasrid Title: Alhambra exterior from south Date: founded in 1238, additions in the 13th and 14th centuries Location: Granada, Spain - On a rocky spur in Granada, the Nasrids constructed a huge palace-fortress called the Alhamba ("the Red" in Arabic), named for the rose color of the stone used for its walls and 23 towers. By the end of the 14th century, the complex had a population of 40,000 and included at least a half dozen royal residencies. Only two of these fared well over the centuries. Paradoxically, they owe their preservation to the Christian victors, who maintained a few of the buildings as trophies commemorating the expulsion of the Nasrids. The two palaces provide a vivid picture of court life in Islamic Spain before the Christian reconquest. - Visitors to the Alhambra today, as in the past, never fail to be impressed by the elaborate stucco walls and celings in the Nasrid palaces. A spectacular example is the dome of the Hall of the Abencerajes (a leading Spanish family) in the so-called Palace of the Lions. The rome rests on an octagonal drum supported by squinches and pierced by eight pairs of windows, but its structure is difficult to discern because of the intricate carved stucco decoration. Some 5,000 muqarnas - tier after tier of stalactite-like prismatic forms that seem aimed at denying the structure's solidity - cover the celing. The muqarnas catch and reflect sunlight as well as form beautiful abstract patterns. The lofty vault in this hall and others in the palace symbolize the dome of Heaven. The flickering light and shadows create the effect of a starry sky as the sun's rays glide from window to dinwow during the day. To underscore the symbolism, the palace walls bear inscriptions with verses by the court poet Ibn Zamrak, who compared the Alhambra's lacelike muqarnas ceilings to "the heavenly spheres whose orbits revolve."

Set G - 22

Artist: founded by Sultan Muhammad I; Palace of the Lions likely built by Muhammad V Culture/Period: Nasrid Title: Alhambra; Palace of the Lions; Courtinterioraxial angle Date: founded in 1238, additions in the 13th and 14th centuries; Palace of the Lions added c. 1370-91 Location: Granada, Spain - The Palace of the Lions takes its name from its courtyard, which contains a fountain with 12 marble lions carrying a water basin on their backs. Colonnaded courtyards with fountains and statues have a long history in the Mediterranean world, especially in the houses and villas of the Roman Empire. The Alhambra's lion fountain is an unusual instance of freestanding stone sculpture in the Islamic world, unthinkable in a sacred setting. But the design of the courtyard is distinctly Islamic and features many multilobed pointed arches and lavish stuccoed walls carved with interwoven abstract motifs and Arabic calligraphy. The palace was the residence of Muhammad V and its courtyards, lush gardens, baths, and luxurious carpets and other furnishings served to conjure the image of Paradise.

Set G - 23

Artist: founded by Sultan Muhammad I; Palace of the Lions likely built by Muhammad V Culture/Period: Nasrid Title: Alhambra; Palace of the Lions; Courtinterioraxial angle Date: founded in 1238, additions in the 13th and 14th centuries; Palace of the Lions added c. 1370-91 Location: Granada, Spain - The Palace of the Lions takes its name from its courtyard, which contains a fountain with 12 marble lions carrying a water basin on their backs. Colonnaded courtyards with fountains and statues have a long history in the Mediterranean world, especially in the houses and villas of the Roman Empire. The Alhambra's lion fountain is an unusual instance of freestanding stone sculpture in the Islamic world, unthinkable in a sacred setting. But the design of the courtyard is distinctly Islamic and features many multilobed pointed arches and lavish stuccoed walls carved with interwoven abstract motifs and Arabic calligraphy. The palace was the residence of Muhammad V and its courtyards, lush gardens, baths, and luxurious carpets and other furnishings served to conjure the image of Paradise.

Set G - 24

Artist: founded by Sultan al-Nasir Hasan Culture/Period: Mamluk Title: Madrasa and Funerary Complex of Sultan Hasanexterior Date: 1356-63 Location: Cairo, Egypt - Hasan's mausoleum is a gigantic veresion of the earlier Samanid mausoleum. Because of its location south of the complex's mosque, praying Muslims face the Mamluk sultan's tomb. - Sultan Hasan's major building project in Cairo was a huge madrasa complex on a plot of land about 8,000 square yards in area. A madrasa ("place of study" in Arabic) is a theological college devoted to the teaching of Islamic law. Hasan's complex was so large that it housed not only four madrasas for the study of the four major schools of Islamic law but also a mosque, mausoleum, orphanage, and hospital, as well as shops and baths. Like all Islamic building complexes incorporating religious, educational, and charitable functions, this one depended on an endowment funded by rental properties. The income from these paid the salaries of attendants and faculty, provided furnishings and supplies such as oil for the lamps or free food for the poor, and supported scholarships for needy students. - The grandiose structure has a large central courtyard with a fountain in the center and four vaulted iwans opening onto it, as in Iranian mosques. In each corner of the main courtyard, between the iwans, is a madrasa with its own courtyard and four or five stories of rooms for the students. The largest iwan in the complex, on the southern side, served as a mosque. Contemporaries believed that the soaring vault over this iwan was taller than the arch of the Sasanian palace at Ctesiphon, which was then one of the most admired engineering feats in the world. Behind the qibla wall stands the sultan's mausoleum, a gigantic version of the Samanid tomb at Bukhara but with two flanking minarets. The builders intentionally placed the dome-covered cube south fo the mosque so that the prayers of the faithful facing Mecca would be directed toward Hasan's tomb. - A muqarnas cornice crowds the exterior walls of Hasan's complex and marble plaques of several colors cover the mihrab in the mosque and the walls of the mausoleum. The complex as a whole is relatively austere, however. Its massiveness and geometric clarity present a striking contrast to the filigreed elegance of the contemporaneous Alhambra and testify to the diversity of regional styles within the Islamic world, especially after the end of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties.

Set G - 25

Artist: building founded by Sultan al-Nasir Hasan Culture/Period: Mamluk Title: Madrasa and Funerary Complex of Sultan Hasan; Historical View courtyard Date: 1356-63 Location: Cairo, Egypt - The floor plan of the building is polygonal with a surface area of 7,906 sq m; the longest side is 150 m in length, and the shortest 68 m. The building is made from stone and consists of a central open courtyard in the middle of which is an ablutions fountain. The courtyard is surrounded by four iwans which constitute the mosque proper. In each corner of the building, is a madrasa, each of which specialised in teaching one of the four schools of Muslim religious jurisprudence (fiqh). The madrasas were accessed through doors located in the corners of the four iwans. - Each madrasa consisted of a central courtyard, in the middle of which a fountain and an iwan stood, as well as three floors which included student residential quarters. The building was influenced by the phenomenon of building madrasas, where the goal was to teach religion according to the Sunni schools of law, delving deep into the knowledge and teaching of Islam. Such madrasas prevailed particularly during the Seljuq and Atabeg periods, of which the Madrasa of Nur al-Din Mahmud in Damascus is another example.

Set G - 26

Artist: founded by Sultan al-Nasir Hasan Culture/Period: Mamluk Title: Madrasa and Funerary Complex of Sultan Hasan interior minbar and mihrab Date: 1356-63 Location: Cairo, Egypt - no description in the sheet

Set G - 27

Artist: ordered by Sultan Selim II; designed and supervised by Mimar Sinan Culture/Period: Ottoman Title: Selimiye Complex; Mosque exterior from west Date: 1568-74 Location: Edirne, Turkey - The Ottomans dveloped a new type of mosque with a dome-covered square prayer hall. The dome of Sinan's Mosque of Selim II is taller than Hagia Sophia's and is an engineering triumph.Sinan's (greatest Ottoman architect) vision found ultimate expression in the Mosque of Selim II at Edirne, which had been the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1363 to 1453 and where Selim II maintained a palace. There, Sinan designed a mosque with a massive dome set off by four slender pencil-shaped minarets (each more than 200 feet high, among the tallest ever constructed). The dome's height surpasses that of Hagia Sophia's dome. But it is the organization of the Edirne's mosque's interior space that reveals Sinan's genius. The mihrab is recessed into an apselike alcove deep enough to permit window illumination from three sides, making the brilliantly colored tile panels of its lower walls sparkle as if with their own glowing light. In all, there are almost 300 windows in the mosque, which flood the interior with sunlight. The plan of the main hall is an ingenious fusion of an octagon with the dome-covered square. The octagon, formed by the eight massive dome supports, is pierced by the four half-dome covered corners of the square. The result is a fluid interpenetration of several geometric volumes that represents the culminating solution to Sinan's lifelong search for a vast yet unified interior space. Sinan's forms are clear and legible, like mathematical equations. Height, width, and masses relate to one another in a simple but effective ratio of 1:2, and precise numerical ratios similarly characterize the complex as a whole. The forecourt of the building, for example, covers an square equal to that of the mosque proper. Most architectural historians regard the Mosque of Selim II as the climax of Ottoman architecture. Sinan proudly proclaimed it as his masterpiece.

Set G - 28

Artist: ordered by Sultan Selim II; designed and supervised by Mimar Sinan Culture/Period: Ottoman Title: Selimiye Complex; Mosque exterior from west Date: 1568-74 Location: Edirne, Turkey - The Ottomans dveloped a new type of mosque with a dome-covered square prayer hall. The dome of Sinan's Mosque of Selim II is taller than Hagia Sophia's and is an engineering triumph.Sinan's (greatest Ottoman architect) vision found ultimate expression in the Mosque of Selim II at Edirne, which had been the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1363 to 1453 and where Selim II maintained a palace. There, Sinan designed a mosque with a massive dome set off by four slender pencil-shaped minarets (each more than 200 feet high, among the tallest ever constructed). The dome's height surpasses that of Hagia Sophia's dome. But it is the organization of the Edirne's mosque's interior space that reveals Sinan's genius. The mihrab is recessed into an apselike alcove deep enough to permit window illumination from three sides, making the brilliantly colored tile panels of its lower walls sparkle as if with their own glowing light. In all, there are almost 300 windows in the mosque, which flood the interior with sunlight. The plan of the main hall is an ingenious fusion of an octagon with the dome-covered square. The octagon, formed by the eight massive dome supports, is pierced by the four half-dome covered corners of the square. The result is a fluid interpenetration of several geometric volumes that represents the culminating solution to Sinan's lifelong search for a vast yet unified interior space. Sinan's forms are clear and legible, like mathematical equations. Height, width, and masses relate to one another in a simple but effective ratio of 1:2, and precise numerical ratios similarly characterize the complex as a whole. The forecourt of the building, for example, covers an square equal to that of the mosque proper. Most architectural historians regard the Mosque of Selim II as the climax of Ottoman architecture. Sinan proudly proclaimed it as his masterpiece.

Set G - 29

Artist: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Culture/Period: Modern architecture Title: Seagram Building exterior view Date: 1954-1958 Location: New York, NY, USA - It is the only building in New York City designed by architectural master Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Carefully related to the tranquil granite and marble plaza on its Park Avenue site, the elegant curtain wall of bronze and tinted glass enfolds the first fully modular modern office tower. Constructed when Park Avenue was changing from an exclusive residential thoroughfare to a prestigious business address, the Seagram Building embodies the quest of a successful corporation to establish further its public image through architectural patronage. Like virtually all large buildings of the time, it was built in a steel frame, from which non-structural glass walls were hung. Mies would have preferred the steel frame to be visible; however, American building codes required that all structural steel needed to be covered in a fireproof material. - Concrete hid the building's structure - which Mies wanted to avoid - so the architect used non-structural bronze-toned I-beams to suggest structure instead. The beams are visible from the outside of the building and run vertically, like mullions, surrounding the large glass windows. Using an interior reinforced concrete shell to support a larger non-structural edifice has since become commonplace. As designed, the building used 1,500 tons of bronze in its construction. Another interesting feature of the Seagram Building is the window blinds. Mies wanted the building to have a uniform appearance. One aspect Mies disliked about facades was the disordered irregularity when window blinds are drawn. Inevitably, people using different windows will draw blinds to different heights, making the building appear disorganized. Mies specified window blinds that only operated in three positions - fully open, halfway open/closed, or fully closed to reduce this disproportionate appearance. - It was the first tall building to use high strength bolted connections, the first tall building to combine a braced frame with a moment frame, one of the first tall buildings to use a vertical truss bracing system, and the first tall building to employ composite steel and concrete lateral frame. On completion in 1958, the $41 million construction costs of Seagram made it the world's most expensive skyscraper at the time due to the use of costly, high-quality materials and lavish interior decoration, including bronze, travertine, and marble. The interior was designed to assure cohesion with the external features, repeated in the glass and bronze furnishings and decorative scheme. Among the most prominent and influential architects of the twentieth century, German-born Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) was initiated into architecture through the fields of masonry, stone carving, stucco decoration, and furniture design before working as an architect in the office of Peter Behrens. By the end of the 1920s, Mies had emerged as one of Germany's leading architects, noted for his visionary skyscraper projects wherein the apparently weightless and clearly revealed "skin and bone" modern construction permitted the greatest play of light on the building surface.

Set G - 3

Artist: ordered by Sultan Selim II; designed and supervised by Mimar Sinan Culture/Period: Ottoman Title: Selimiye Complex; Mosque exterior from west Date: 1568-74 Location: Edirne, Turkey - The Ottomans dveloped a new type of mosque with a dome-covered square prayer hall. The dome of Sinan's Mosque of Selim II is taller than Hagia Sophia's and is an engineering triumph.Sinan's (greatest Ottoman architect) vision found ultimate expression in the Mosque of Selim II at Edirne, which had been the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1363 to 1453 and where Selim II maintained a palace. There, Sinan designed a mosque with a massive dome set off by four slender pencil-shaped minarets (each more than 200 feet high, among the tallest ever constructed). The dome's height surpasses that of Hagia Sophia's dome. But it is the organization of the Edirne's mosque's interior space that reveals Sinan's genius. The mihrab is recessed into an apselike alcove deep enough to permit window illumination from three sides, making the brilliantly colored tile panels of its lower walls sparkle as if with their own glowing light. In all, there are almost 300 windows in the mosque, which flood the interior with sunlight. The plan of the main hall is an ingenious fusion of an octagon with the dome-covered square. The octagon, formed by the eight massive dome supports, is pierced by the four half-dome covered corners of the square. The result is a fluid interpenetration of several geometric volumes that represents the culminating solution to Sinan's lifelong search for a vast yet unified interior space. Sinan's forms are clear and legible, like mathematical equations. Height, width, and masses relate to one another in a simple but effective ratio of 1:2, and precise numerical ratios similarly characterize the complex as a whole. The forecourt of the building, for example, covers an square equal to that of the mosque proper. Most architectural historians regard the Mosque of Selim II as the climax of Ottoman architecture. Sinan proudly proclaimed it as his masterpiece.

Set G - 30

Artist: ordered by Sultan Selim II; designed and supervised by Mimar Sinan Culture/Period: Ottoman Title: Selimiye Complex; Mosque exterior from west Date: 1568-74 Location: Edirne, Turkey - The Ottomans dveloped a new type of mosque with a dome-covered square prayer hall. The dome of Sinan's Mosque of Selim II is taller than Hagia Sophia's and is an engineering triumph.Sinan's (greatest Ottoman architect) vision found ultimate expression in the Mosque of Selim II at Edirne, which had been the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1363 to 1453 and where Selim II maintained a palace. There, Sinan designed a mosque with a massive dome set off by four slender pencil-shaped minarets (each more than 200 feet high, among the tallest ever constructed). The dome's height surpasses that of Hagia Sophia's dome. But it is the organization of the Edirne's mosque's interior space that reveals Sinan's genius. The mihrab is recessed into an apselike alcove deep enough to permit window illumination from three sides, making the brilliantly colored tile panels of its lower walls sparkle as if with their own glowing light. In all, there are almost 300 windows in the mosque, which flood the interior with sunlight. The plan of the main hall is an ingenious fusion of an octagon with the dome-covered square. The octagon, formed by the eight massive dome supports, is pierced by the four half-dome covered corners of the square. The result is a fluid interpenetration of several geometric volumes that represents the culminating solution to Sinan's lifelong search for a vast yet unified interior space. Sinan's forms are clear and legible, like mathematical equations. Height, width, and masses relate to one another in a simple but effective ratio of 1:2, and precise numerical ratios similarly characterize the complex as a whole. The forecourt of the building, for example, covers an square equal to that of the mosque proper. Most architectural historians regard the Mosque of Selim II as the climax of Ottoman architecture. Sinan proudly proclaimed it as his masterpiece.

Set G - 31

Artist: ordered by Sultan Selim II; designed and supervised by Mimar Sinan Culture/Period: Ottoman Title: Selimiye Complex; Mosque interior dome Date: 1568-74 Location: Edirne, Turkey - The interior of Sinan's Edirne mosque is a fusion of an octagon and a dome-covered square with four half-domes at the corners. The plan features geometric clarity and precise numerical ratios. The Edirne dome is, in fact, higher than Hagia Sophia's when measured from its base. Sinan's feat won universal acclaim as an engineering triumph. The Ottoman's considered the Mosque of Selim II proof that they had finally out shown the Christian emperors of Byzantium in the realm of architecture.

Set G - 32

Culture/Period: Islamic Title: Seljuk Friday Mosque Date: 11th century - 18th century Location: Isfahan, Iran - The Seljuk Friday Mosque underwent further modification over subsequent centuries but still retains its basic 11th century plan, consisting of a large courtyard bordered by an arcade on each side, originally of one story. The twostory arcade dates to the mid-15th century. Four vaulted iwans open onto the courtyard, one at the center of each side. The southwestern iwan leads into a dome-covered room in front of the mihrab that functioned as a maqsura reserved for the sultan and his attendants. A second, stucco mihrab, the work of the renowned calligrapher HAYDAR, was added to the winter prayer hall in 1310. The hypostyle prayer hall is vast and features simple unfluted column shafts without capitals supporting about 200 small brick vaults and domes on pointed arches. It is uncertain whether Isfahan's Friday Mosque is the earlieset example of a four-iwan mosque, but that plan became standard in Iranian religious architecture. In this type of mosque, the qibla iwan is always the largest. Its size (and the dome that often accompanied it) immediately indicated to worshipers the proper direction for prayer.

Set G - 33

Culture/Period: Islamic Title: Isfahan: Masjid-i-Jami (Friday Mosque): Int.: courtyard: southwest iwan: det.Great MosqueMasjid-i-Gami Date: 11-16th C Location: Isfahan (Iran) - Masjid (place for bowing down) = mosqueGiven its sprawling expanse, one can imagine how difficult it would be to locate the correct direction for prayer. The qibla iwan on the southern side of the courtyard solves this conundrum. It is the only one flanked by two cylindrical minarets and also serves as the entrance to one of two large, domed chambers within the mosque. Similar to its three counterparts, this iwan sports colorful tile decoration and muqarnas or traditional Islamic cusped niches. The domed interior was reserved for the use of the ruler and gives access to the main mihrab of the mosque.

Set G - 34

Culture/Period: Islamic Title: Great Friday Mosque, Djenne: showing the eastern and northern facades. Rebuilding of 1907, in the style of 13th-century original - Great Friday Mosque, Djenne: showing the eastern and northern facades. Rebuilding of 1907, in the style of 13th-century original

Set G - 35

Artist: Mughal Culture/Period: Mughal Title: Taj Mahal Exterior from entrance gate platform Date: 1632-1648 Location: Agra, India Material: Structural; red sandstone (brick) masonry with white Makrana marble from Rajasthan and inlay of semi-precious stones (pietra dura: including ruby, diamond, pearl, lapis lazuli, agate, etc.) - Monumental tombs were not part of either the Hindu or the Buddhist traditions but had a long history in Islamic architecture. The Delhi sultans had erected tombs in India, but none could compare in grandeur to the fabled Taj Mahal at Agra. Shah Jahan, Jahangir's son, built the immense mausoleum as a memorial to his favorite wife, whose official title was Mumtaz Mahal, or Chosen of the Palace. Taj Mahal means Crown Palace, and the mausoleum eventually became the ruler's tomb as well. It figures prominently in official histories of Shah Jahan's reign. - The dome-on-cube space of the central block has antecedents in earlier Islamic mausolea and other Islamic buildings and the modifications and refinements in the design of the Agra tomb converted the earliest massive structures into an almost weightless vision of glistening white marble. The Agra mausoleum seems to float magically above the broad water channels and tree-line reflecting pools punctuating the fountain-filled garden leading to it. Reinforcing the illusion of the marble tomb being suspected above water is the absence of any visible means of ascent to the upper platform. A stairway does exist, but the architect intentionally hit it from the view of anyone who approaches the memorial. - The Taj Mahal follows the traditional char-bagh ("four-plot") plan of Iranian garden pavilions, which symbolized the Korantic Garden of Paradise. Today, however, the mausoleum appears to stand at the northern end of the garden on the edge of the Yamuna River, rather than in the center of the formal garden, as it should in a char-bagh plan. Originally, the gardens extended to the other side of the river, and the Taj Mahal, did in fact, occupy a central position. The tomb itself is octagonal in plan and has typically Iranian arcuated iwans on each side. The interplay of shadowy voids with light-reflecting marble walls that seem paper-thin creates an impression of translucency, further enhanced by the pietra dura inlay of precious and semiprecious stones in the masonry walls. The pointed arches of the iwans lead the eye in a sweeping upward movement toward the climatic dome, shaped like a crown (taj). Four carefully related minarets and two flaking triple-domed structures - one in a mosque, the other probably a madrasa (religious school), enhance and stabilize the soaring form of the mausoleum. The designer, probably Ustad Ahmad Lahori, Shah Jahan's chief court architect - achieved this delicate balance between verticality and horizontality by stricting applying an all-encompassing system of proportions. The Taj Mahal (excluding the minarets) is as wide as it is tall, and the height of its dome is equal to the height of the facade.

Set G - 36

Artist: Ustad Ahmed Lahauri, designer; Ustad Isa Afandi (Iran), chief architect; Ismail Khan Afridi (Turkey), dome maker; Amanat Khan Shirazi, calligrapher Culture/Period: Mughal Title: Taj Mahal Exterior Right Wall: Arched niches Date: 1632-1648 Location: Uttar Pradesh, Agra Material: Structural, brick masonry encased with Makrana marble (from Rajasthan) and inlay of semi-precious stones - The facades of the mausoleum are characteristic in several points. First of all, we must know that they are perfectly symmetrical since the building itself is a model of symmetry. Each facade is identical to its neighbor, with the notable exception of The calligraphy inscription, which differs from face to face, and The stairway to the roof, found only on the North and South faces. However, these stairs are hidden by the ingenious architecture of the monument, so when we look at it we do not see them. Each facade is composed of a giant porch, particularly high and shallow in relation to its height. We call it an iwan. An iwan is a Persian architectural element, it is found in many buildings - especially religious - of the ancient Persian Empire. Each main iwan of the Taj Mahal facade is surrounded by a white marble frame on which is inscribed calligraphic inscriptions of verses from the Koran. The bottom of the iwan is pierced with two completely identical doors, one above the other. The one on the ground floor serves as the normal entrance to the monument, the other is actually the window of the floor, but as they are similar, one has the impression of two superimposed doors. If you look closely, you'll notice that the window is slightly smaller in the door, but that's it. The window overlooks a kind of balcony but very narrow and without balustrade, so it's just another decorative element used to emphasize the vertical passage between the ground floor and the floor. The door itself is decorated with many floral motifs. The main iwan is flanked by four smaller secondary iwans, two per side. They are all proportional to the main iwan, but their bottoms are pierced only by a rectangular, classical window. They are also decorated with many floral elements, identical from one to the other. Finally, the four facades of the mausoleum are connected by four small facades arranged at 45 ° and taking up the two superimposed iwans. This secondary facade, the main face and the two small facades on either side of the main one are separated from each other by an octagonal column decorated with geometric motifs. These columns are divided into 4 pieces separated by discs standing out of line with the column. The top of the facade is surmounted by a balustrade decorated with regular geometric patterns, it serves as protection for people on the roof. This balustrade forms a crown to the facades, crown dominated by the imposing dome. - The facades of the iwans are white marble, but they are not massive walls. In fact, the mausoleum is in red sandstone covered with white marble slabs. By looking at them, we can easily see the small marble squares because each one of them has its own rib, a single color, etc. So we see that the facades are a mosaic of marble plates of size often identical, but by location, that is to say that all the plates surrounding the inscriptions are the same size, but the one adorning the bottom iwans are different. - The facades of the mausoleum are richly decorated. There are three types of decoration: Inlaid flowers, Calligraphic inlays, The flowers in relief. The inlays of flowers are perfectly visible above the iwans, they are generally red, yellow, and green, but may have other colors. The inlays were made using the technique of pietra dura, popular in Florence in the seventeenth century. The calligraphic inlays were made in the same way as the flowers, in pietra dura. These are verses from the Qur'an calling the sage to Paradise and threatening the Depraved of Hell. A classic theme, then. What marks here is the quality of the work, whose precision marks the spirits still today. Finally you must know that the pietra dura is not the only technique used to decorate the Taj Mahal. Low relief was also used, on marble plates placed inside the iwans - and also inside the mausoleum - all along the walls, about one meter in height.

Set G - 37

Artist: Ustad Ahmed Lahauri, designer; Ustad Isa Afandi (Iran), chief architect; Ismail Khan Afridi (Turkey), dome maker; Amanat Khan Shirazi, calligrapher Culture/Period: Mughal Title: Taj Mahal, Tombs Interior Upper level: Marble graves Date: 1632-1648 Location: Uttar Pradesh, Agra Material: Structural, brick masonry encased with Makrana marble (from Rajasthan) and inlay of semi-precious stones - Cenotaphs, Taj Mahal, Agra, India - Inside the Taj Mahal, the cenotaphs honoring Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan are enclosed in an eight-sided chamber ornamented with pietra dura (an inlay with semi-precious stones) and a marble lattice screen. But the gorgeous monuments are just for show: The real sarcophagi are in a quiet room below, at garden level. - The heart of this palace-like structure is the Taj Mahal Tomb, which contains two exquisite cenotaphs representing the occupants of the tomb, Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. A cenotaph is tomb which is empty and meant to represent the people who have been interred. The actual bodies of Shah Jahan and his wife are buried beneath their cenotaphs in a lower chamber. Both cenotaphs are elegantly carved and inlaid with semi-precious stones. Shah Jahan was the emperor of the Mughal Empire. He began building the Taj Mahal in 1632 upon the death of his much beloved wife Mumtaz, who died giving birth to his 14th child. It took nearly 20 years and thousands of workers to complete the Taj Mahal and the magnificent tomb - all of it in memory of Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal tomb itself is basically a cube-shaped structure measuring about 180 feet per side. It has chamfered corners and it topped by a large dome and "moon-cusp" finial. The whole structure sits atop a square plinth and has an arch-shaped doorway, called an iwan.

Set G - 38

Culture/Period: Fatimid Title: Bronze Gryphonfrom side Date: 11th century Location: Creation site: Egypt RepositoryPisa, Campo Santa di Pisa Material: bronze - The griffon, half bird, half feline, is one of the most famous Islamic bronze objects. Its upper part is covered with a dense engraved decoration which blends diverse elements distributed independently from the volume of the animal, all the while following a decorative syntax which is typically Islamic. The breast is covered with a scaly plumage over an epigraphic frieze in Cufic characters, which continues into a border around the caparison of round slices covering the back of the griffon; on the neck and the wings, the plumage is characterised by curls, while the part where the feet are attached is emphasised by cartouches in the shape of ecus decorated with animals on a background of arabesques.The sculpture has three openings: one at the back, maybe corresponding to where the tail once was, one where the beak is and a third on the belly, inside which is a globular "cup" made of bronze, open towards the belly and soldered on the back with a fine piece of the same metal. Such a system, in evidence also on a bronze lion which can be attributed to Spain in the eleventh - twelfth centuries, is difficult to interpret but seems to opposed the idea that the griffon was the mouth of a fountain.If the static and monumental dimensions of the objects associate it to Persian animal sculpture of the same period, from the decorative, stylistic and epigraphic point of view, it is close to a group of Spanish objects dating from the tenth - twelfth centuries: the "Lion of Monzòn", the aquamanile in the shape of a lion from the London Keir Collection, the quadruped of the Florence Bargello — which also display a dorsal decoration imitating a fabric with round slices, surrounded by an epigraphic frieze in Cufic characters — but also the stag found at Madinat al-Zahra and the one from Madrid. More generally, similar stylistic and decorative traits are to be found on two aquamaniles in the shape of birds, preserved in Cagliari and in the Louvre, attributed to Spain in the eleventh - twelfth centuries.The griffon of Pisa, considered in the eighteenth century to be a mediocre antique piece, then in the nineteenth century to be a mediaeval sculpture maybe linked to the cathedral Works, was only attributed to Islamic art after the publication of the inscription in Arabic by the Abbot Lanci. From the second half of the ninth century, it was suggested that the griffon was brought back to Pisa as war loot from the military operations led in eleventh - twelfth centuries by the city against the Muslims of Sicily, Tunisia and Spain. Thus, in contrast to the attribution to Fatimid Egypt (eleventh century) put forward by G. Migeon on stylistic bases, U. Monneret de Villard related it to Spain at the end of the eleventh - beginning twelfth century, by linking the hypothesis of war loot taken at the conquest of Ameria (1089) or the Baleares (1114) and the clear similarities, in terms of shape and decoration, with pieces of indubitably Spanish manufacture. He was followed by U. Scerrato, who narrowed the date down to the eleventh century, while Melikian-Chirvani, coming back to its first attribution to the Khorasan (Iran) in the first half of the eleventh century, put forward the hypothesis of a work created by Iranian craftsmen in eleventh century Spain.

Set G - 39

Artist: Frank Lloyd Wright Culture/Period: Modernism Title: Solomon Guggenheim Museum Date: 1959 Location: New York, NY, USA Material: Cast-in-place concrete over steel frame - Using reinforced concrete almost as a sculptor might use resilient clay, Wright designed a snail shell-shaped museum with winding, gently inclined interior ramp for the display of artworks. - In the decades following WWII, modernist architects became increasingly concerned with formalism stressing simplicity. The last great building Frank Lloyd Wright designed was the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Using reinforced concrete almost as a sculptor might use resilient clay, Wright, who often described his architecture as "organic", designed a structure inspired by the spiral of a snail's shell. Wright had introduced curves and circles into some of his plans in the 1930s, so the spiral was the next logical step. Inside the building, the shape of the shell expands toward the top, and a winding interior ramp spirals to connect the gallery bays. A skylight strip embedded in the museum's outer wall provides illumination to the ramp. Thick walls and the solide organic shape give the building, outside and inside, the sense of turning in on itself, and the long interior viewing area opening onto a 90 foot central well of space creates a sheltered environment.

Set G - 4

Culture/Period: Ottoman period (c.1280-1924) Title: Niche Design (Carpet with Triple-Arch Design - THE MET) Date: Late 16th century (1575-90) Location: Attributed to: Turkey, Bursa or Istanbul Repository: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Material: Silk (warp and weft), wool (pile), cotton (pile); asymmetrically knotted pile - This carefully drawn, subtly colored carpet is among the finest of all Ottoman weavings. One of the earliest carpets to include a triple-arched gateway, its design probably originated in the Ottoman imperial workshop. The hanging lamp in the center arch recalls verses from the Qur'an that liken God to the light of a lamp, placed within a niche. The combination of this carpet's imagery, high quality, and relatively small size suggest that it was used as a prayer rug by a member of the Ottoman courtly elite.

Set G - 40

Artist: Author: Abu'l Qasim Firdausi; Artist (attributed to): Sultan Muhammad Culture/Period: Safavid period (1501-1722) Title: Shahnama (The Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp (THE MET: "The Feast of Sada", Folio 22v from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp) Date: ca. 1520-22 (THE MET: ca 1525) Location: Made in: Iran, Tabriz Repository: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Material: Colors, ink, silver and gold on paper - In the reign of Hushang, grandson of Gayumars, the world came to understand the usefulness of minerals and the arts of smithery, agriculture, and irrigation. One day, Hushang spied a dragon lurking behind the rocks. He hurled a stone at it, which missed the monster but hit a larger rock, causing sparks to fly. Realizing the significance of this phenomenon, Hushang built a large fire and held a feast to celebrate its discovery. The witty yet benevolent depictions of people and animals characterize the liveliest of Sultan Muhammad's creations. Also typical of his style is the oval composition with mountains rising into the margins of the page.

Set G - 41

Culture/Period: Ottoman Saz style Title: Purple-ground Silk Kaftan in the Saz Style front Date: c. 1555 Location: Creation site: likely Istanbul, Turkey Repository: Istanbul, Topkapi Palace Museum, inv. 13/37 Material: silk; brocade (kemha) - Can't find any description

Set G - 42

Artist: Bichitr Title: Jahangir enthroned on an hourglass Date: c.1625 Repository: Freer Gallery of Art - The Hindu artist not only signed this painting but inserted a self-portrait. Bichitr bows before Jahangir and holds a painting of two horses and an elephant, costly gifts to the painter from the emperor. - As the sands of time run out, two putti (clothed, unlike Bichitr's European prototypes) inscribe Jahangir's hourglass throne with a wish for the Mughal emperor to live a thousand years. - The influence of European as well as Persian styles on Mughal painting is evident in an allegorical portrait of Jahangir (r. 1605-1627), the great-grandson of the founder of the Mughal Empire. The Hindu painter Bichitr represented the emperor seated on an hourglass throne. As the sands of time run out, two putti inscribe the throne with the wish that Jahangir would live a thousand years. Bichitr portrayed his patron as an emperor above time and placed behind Jahangir's head a radiant halo combining a golden sun and a white crescent moon, indicating that Jahangir is the center of the universe and its light source. One of the inscriptions in the upper and lower borders gives the emperor's title as "Light of the Faith." At the left are four figures. The lowest, both spatially and in the social hierarchy, is Bichitr, who wears a red turban and holds a painting representing two horses and an elephant, costly gifts to him from Jahangir. In the painting-within-the-painting, Bichitr bows deeply before the emperor. In the larger painting, the artist signed his name across the top of the footstool Jahangir uses to step up to his hourglass throne. Thus the ruler steps on Bichitr's name, further indicating the painter's inferior status. Above Bichitr is a portrait in full European style of King James I of England (r. 1603-1625), copied from a painting by John de Critz (ca. 1552-1642)—a gift the English ambassador to the Mughal court had presented to Jahangir. Above the king is a Turkish sultan (Muslim ruler), a convincing portrayal but probably not a specific likeness. The highest member of the foursome is an elderly Muslim Sufishaykh (mystic saint). Jahangir's father, Akbar, had gone to the mystic to pray for an heir. The current emperor, the answer to Akbar's prayers, presents the holy man with a sumptuous book as a gift. An inscription explains that "although to all appearances kings stand before him, Jahangir looks inwardly toward the Dervishes [Islamic ascetic holy men]" for guidance. Bichitr's allegorical painting portrays his emperor in both words and pictures as favoring spiritual over worldly power.

Set G - 43

Title: Tomb of Ch'in Shih-Huang-Ti: Pit I: interior view Location: Shaanxi Sheng (China)China - Army of the First Emperor of Qin in pits next to his burial mound, Lintong, China, Qin dynasty, ca. 210 bce. Painted terracotta, average figure 59 10 7 80 high. - One of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever made was this army of life-size terracotta soldiers that guarded the immense burial mound of Qin Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor of China. - The army, which also included bronze horses and chariots, guarded the emperor's still-unexcavated burial mound. The historian Sima Qian reported that the mound covered a treasure-filled palace for the afterlife. - One of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever made anywhere came to light in 1974 when farmers digging a well in a village near Lintong in Shaanxi Province discovered some broken terracotta statues. Chinese excavators soon concluded that they belonged to the immense burial mound of Qin Shi Huangdi—the "First Emperor of Qin" (from which "China" derives). Shi Huangdi brought an end to more than two centuries of political and social turmoil by conquering all rival states and uniting an area equal to about half of present-day China into an empire he ruled from 221 to 210 bce. Like many other powerful monarchs throughout history, during his lifetime China's First Emperor began construction of a tomb that would become his home in the eternal afterlife. For its construction, Shi Huangdi conscripted more than 700,000 laborers. His burial mound at Lintong remains unexcavated, but Chinese archaeologists believe that it contains a vast treasure-filled underground funerary palace designed to match the fabulous palace the emperor occupied while alive. The historian Sima Qian (136-85 bce) described both palaces, but scholars did not take his account seriously until the discovery of pits around the tomb containing life-size painted terracotta statues of soldiers and horses, as well as bronze horses and chariots. The army of sculptures, which probably numbered 8,000 or more, served as the First Emperor's bodyguard deployed in perpetuity outside his tomb. Today, the Lintong army consists of about 2,000 statues of cavalry, chariots, archers, lancers, and hand-to-hand fighters. The huge assemblage testifies not only to the power and wealth of Shi Huangdi but also to a high degree of organization in the Qin imperial workshop. Manufacturing this army of statues required a veritable army of sculptors and painters, as well as a large number of huge kilns. The First Emperor's artisans could have opted to use the same molds over and over again to produce thousands of identical soldiers standing in strict formation. In fact, they did employ the same molds repeatedly for different parts of the statues, but assembled the parts in many different combinations. Consequently, the stances, arm positions, garment folds, equipment, coiffures, and facial features vary, sometimes slightly, sometimes markedly, from statue to statue. Additional hand modeling of the cast body parts before firing enabled the sculptors to differentiate the figures even more. The Qin painters undoubtedly added further variations to the appearance of the terracotta army. The result of these efforts was a brilliant balance of uniformity and individuality. The First Emperor's tomb exemplifies the grandiose building projects that characterized the many Chinese imperial dynasties to follow, including China's Great Wall, which in its original form dates to Shi Huangdi's reign.

Set G - 44

Title: Tomb of Ch'in Shih-Huang-Ti: infantry soldier Location: Shaanxi Sheng (China)China Material: ceramic - Qin Shi Huangdi's army consists of thousands of terracotta soldiers and horses from common molds. By varying the combination of parts and the coloration, the sculptors individualized every figure.

Set G - 45

Artist: Yan LibenAttributed toChinese, died 673, Asian; Far East Asian; Chinese Title: The Thirteen Emperors Date: second half of the 7th century (with later replacement) Location: Museum of Fine Arts, BostonBoston, Massachusetts, USA Material: Handscroll; ink and color on silk - Attributed to Yan Liben, Emperor Xuan and Attendants, detail of The Thirteen Emperors, Tang dynasty, ca. 650. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk, detail 19 8 1 40 high; full scroll 179 50 long. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This handscroll portrays 13 Chinese rulers as Confucian exemplars of moral and political virtue. Yan Liben, a celebrated Tang painter, was a master of line drawing and colored washes. - Yan Liben. Although few examples of Tang painting exist today, many art historians regard the early Tang dynasty as the golden age of Chinese figure painting. In perfect accord with contemporaneous and later Chinese poets' and critics' glowing descriptions of Tang painting style are the unrestored portions of The Thirteen Emperors, a masterpiece of line drawing and colored washes long attributed to Yan Liben (d. 673). Born into an aristocratic family and the son of a famous artist, Yan was prime minister under the emperor Gaozong as well as a celebrated painter. This handscroll depicts 13 Chinese rulers from the Han to the Sui dynasties. Its purpose was to portray these historical figures as exemplars of moral and political virtue, in keeping with the Confucian ideal of learning from the past (see "Daoism and Confucianism," page 486). Each emperor stands or sits in an undefined space. The emperor's greater size relative to his attendants immediately establishes his superior stature. Simple shading in the faces and the robes gives the figures an added semblance of volume and presence. The detail in fig. 16-19 represents Emperor Xuan of the Chen dynasty (557-589) seated among his attendants, two of whom carry the ceremonial fans that signify his rank and also serve to focus the viewer's attention on him. Xuan stands out from the others also because of his dark robes. His majestic serenity contrasts with his attendants' animated poses, which vary sharply from figure to figure, lending vitality to the composition.

Set G - 46

Artist: Yan LibenAttributed toChinese, died 673, Asian; Far East Asian; Chinese Title: The Thirteen Emperors Date: second half of the 7th century (with later replacement) Location: Museum of Fine Arts, BostonBoston, Massachusetts, USA Material: Handscroll; ink and color on silk - Attributed to Yan Liben, Emperor Xuan and Attendants, detail of The Thirteen Emperors, Tang dynasty, ca. 650. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk, detail 19 8 1 40 high; full scroll 179 50 long. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This handscroll portrays 13 Chinese rulers as Confucian exemplars of moral and political virtue. Yan Liben, a celebrated Tang painter, was a master of line drawing and colored washes. - Yan Liben. Although few examples of Tang painting exist today, many art historians regard the early Tang dynasty as the golden age of Chinese figure painting. In perfect accord with contemporaneous and later Chinese poets' and critics' glowing descriptions of Tang painting style are the unrestored portions of The Thirteen Emperors, a masterpiece of line drawing and colored washes long attributed to Yan Liben (d. 673). Born into an aristocratic family and the son of a famous artist, Yan was prime minister under the emperor Gaozong as well as a celebrated painter. This handscroll depicts 13 Chinese rulers from the Han to the Sui dynasties. Its purpose was to portray these historical figures as exemplars of moral and political virtue, in keeping with the Confucian ideal of learning from the past (see "Daoism and Confucianism," page 486). Each emperor stands or sits in an undefined space. The emperor's greater size relative to his attendants immediately establishes his superior stature. Simple shading in the faces and the robes gives the figures an added semblance of volume and presence. The detail in fig. 16-19 represents Emperor Xuan of the Chen dynasty (557-589) seated among his attendants, two of whom carry the ceremonial fans that signify his rank and also serve to focus the viewer's attention on him. Xuan stands out from the others also because of his dark robes. His majestic serenity contrasts with his attendants' animated poses, which vary sharply from figure to figure, lending vitality to the composition.

Set G - 47

Artist: Fan Kuan Culture/Period: Song Title: painting titled Travelers Amid Mountains and StreamsTravelers Amid Mountains and Streams Date: ca. 990-1030 Location: China (PRC) Repository: National Palace Museum, Taipei, ROC Material: silk ink - Fan Kuan, Travelers among Mountains and Streams, Northern Song period, early 11th century. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk, 69 7 1 40 × 39 4 1 40. National Palace Museum, Taipei. Fan Kuan, a Daoist recluse, spent long days in the mountains studying the effects of light on rock formations and trees. He was one of the first masters at recording light, shade, distance, and texture. - In Travelers among Mountains and Streams, Fan, following Li's example, painted a vertical landscape of massive mountains rising from the distance. But in Fan's mountainscape, painted in Huashan in Shaanxi Province, there are few buildings, and they are hard to find (in the middle ground at the right). The overwhelming natural forms dwarf those temples and the few human and animal figures (for example, the mule train in the lower right corner), which the artist reduced to minute proportions. The nearly 7-footlong silk hanging scroll cannot contain nature's grandeur, and the landscape continues in all directions beyond its borders. Fan showed some elements from level ground (for example, the great boulder in the foreground), and others obliquely from the top (the shrubbery on the highest cliff). The shifting perspectives direct viewers' eyes on a vicarious journey through the mountains. To appreciate the painted landscape fully, observers must focus not only on the larger composition but also on intricate details and on the character of each brushstroke. Numerous "texture strokes" help model massive forms and convey a sense of tactile surfaces. For the face of the mountain, for example, Fan employed small, pale brush marks, the kind of texture strokes the Chinese call "raindrop strokes."

Set G - 48

Artist: Liang Kai (ca. 1175-1246) Culture/Period: Southern Song Title: painting titled Hui Neng, the Sixth Chan Patriarch, Chopping Wood at the Moment of Enlightenment Hui Neng, the Sixth Chan Patriarch, Chopping Bamboo at the Moment of Enlightenment Date: 1175-1246 Location: China (PRC) Material: paper ink - Liang Kai, Sixth Chan Patriarch Chopping Bamboo, Southern Song period, early 13th century. Hanging scroll, ink on paper, 29 5 1 40 high. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo. On this hanging scroll, Liang Kai, a renowned master of ink painting, depicted the Sixth Chan Patriarch's "Chan moment," when the chopping sound of his blade propelled the patriarch to enlightenment. caricature-like representation of the revered figure suggests that worldly matters, such as physical appearance or signs of social status, do not burden Huineng's mind. Liang used a variety of brushstrokes in the execution of this deceptively simple picture. Most are pale and wet, ranging from the fine lines of Huineng's beard to the broad texture strokes of the tree. A few darker strokes, which define the vine growing around the tree and the patriarch's clothing, offer visual accents in the painting. This kind of quick and seemingly casual execution of paintings has traditionally been interpreted as a sign of a painter's ability to produce compelling pictures spontaneously as a result of superior training and character, or, in the Chan setting, progress toward enlightenment. - Liang Kai. In addition to traditional Buddhist thought, a new school—Chan Buddhism, which stressed the quest for personal enlightenment through meditation—achieved a wide following under the Song dynasty. Liang Kai (active early 13th century) was a master of an abbreviated, expressive style of ink painting that found great favor among Chan monks in China, Korea, and Japan. He served in the painting academy of the imperial court in Hangzhou, and his early works include poetic landscapes typical of the Southern Song. Later in life, he left the court and concentrated on figure painting, including Chan subjects. Surviving works attributed to Liang include an ink painting (fig. 16-29) of the Sixth Chan Patriarch, Huineng, crouching as he 16-28 Zhou Jichang, Lohans Giving Alms to Beggars, Southern Song period, ca. 1178. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk, 39 7 7 80 × 19 8 7 80. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Zhou chose a vertical arrangement of the figures in the fore-, middle-, and background in order to elevate the enlightened lohans in their bright attire above the ragged, dirt-colored beggars. chops bamboo. In Chan thought, the performance of even mundane tasks such as chopping bamboo has the potential to become a spiritual exercise. In fact, this scene specifically depicts the patriarch's "Chan moment," when the sound of the blade striking the bamboo resonated within his spiritually attuned mind to propel him through the final doorway to enlightenment.

Set G - 49

Artist: Frank Lloyd Wright Culture/Period: Modernism Title: Solomon Guggenheim Museum Date: 1959 Location: New York, NY, USA Material: Cast-in-place concrete over steel frame - Using reinforced concrete almost as a sculptor might use resilient clay, Wright designed a snail shell-shaped museum with winding, gently inclined interior ramp for the display of artworks. - In the decades following WWII, modernist architects became increasingly concerned with formalism stressing simplicity. The last great building Frank Lloyd Wright designed was the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Using reinforced concrete almost as a sculptor might use resilient clay, Wright, who often described his architecture as "organic", designed a structure inspired by the spiral of a snail's shell. Wright had introduced curves and circles into some of his plans in the 1930s, so the spiral was the next logical step. Inside the building, the shape of the shell expands toward the top, and a winding interior ramp spirals to connect the gallery bays. A skylight strip embedded in the museum's outer wall provides illumination to the ramp. Thick walls and the solide organic shape give the building, outside and inside, the sense of turning in on itself, and the long interior viewing area opening onto a 90 foot central well of space creates a sheltered environment.

Set G - 5

Artist: Wu, Zhen, 1280-1354 Title: Manual of Ink-Bamboo Date: 1350 Material: ink on paper - from album of 20 paintings - Wu Zhen (a native of Jiaxing) was good at poetry and prose while excelling at painting and calligraphy, becoming known as one of the Four Yuan Masters. This album was painted in 1350 and presented to the artist's son, Fonu. It features 22 leaves, of which the first two are a transcription of Su Shi's "Inscription on a Painting of Bamboo by Wen Tong." The remaining twenty leaves depict bamboo in varying stages of growth, including new shoots, tender branches, and old stalks. Bamboo is also shown in different poses, such as bending down into the composition, and weather conditions, including rain, wind, and snow. The forms of the bamboo, whether painted strong and upright or delicate and supple in the breeze, all appear with a sense of archaic beauty and hoary strength to yield a free and unyielding spirit. Each painting features an inscription in cursive script with tips and opinions about depicting bamboo using ink, making this album a masterpiece that combines both painting and calligraphy.

Set G - 50

Artist: Shitao Title: Landscape Album for Elder Yü: det.: leaf 3Wei Yü lao tao-hsiung tso shan-shui ts'e Material: ink and color on paper - From album of twelve paintings Depicts small pavilion or viewing platform set in a niche of mountainous rock formations. A solitary figure is seated in the pavilion, apparently in contemplation of the natural surroundings

Set G - 51

Artist: Tori Busshi Culture/Period: Asuka Title: Sculpture of Shaka Triad at the Horyujisculpture of Sakyamuni Buddha Triad at the HoryujiShaka triad Date: 7th century Location: Japan, Nara Material: bronze - Kondo (Golden Hall), interior, front, overview Sakyamuni Buddha triad - Tori, Shaka triad, Asuka period, 623. Bronze, Shaka 29 100 high. Kondo, Horyuji, Ikaruga. Tori's Shaka triad (the historical Buddha and two bodhisattvas) is among the earliest Japanese Buddhist sculptures. The elongated heads and elegant swirling drapery folds reflect Chinese and Korean models. - ori Busshi. Among the earliest extant examples of Japanese Buddhist statuary is the bronze Shaka triad at Horyuji by Tori, called Busshi to underscore his status as one of the first sculptors of Buddhist images in Japan. According to the inscription on Shaka's halo, which dates the triad to 623, Empress Suiko (r. 593-628), daughter of Emperor Kimmei, and other members of the imperial court commissioned the work as a votive offering when her nephew, Prince Shotuku (572-622), the leading Asuka-era champion of Buddhism and Confucian principles of governance, fell ill in 621. When Shotuku died, the empress dedicated the triad to the prince's well-being in his next life and to his hoped-for rebirth in Paradise. The central figure in the triad is Shaka, seated with his right hand raised in the abhaya mudra. - The flaming mandorla that forms a backdrop to the historical Buddha incorporates small figures of other Buddhas. The sculptor was probably a descendant of a Korean immigrant who adopted a Chinese name, and the Horyuji Shaka triad reflects the style of the early to mid-sixth century in China and Korea, a style that featured elongated heads and elegant drapery folds forming gravity-defying, waterfall-like swirls. The vibrant patterns of Shaka's garment contrast with the serenity of his pose and expression.

Set G - 52

Artist: Tori Busshi Culture/Period: Asuka Title: Sculpture of Shaka Triad at the Horyujisculpture of Sakyamuni Buddha Triad at the HoryujiShaka triad Date: 7th century Location: Japan, Nara Material: bronze - Kondo (Golden Hall), interior, front, overview Sakyamuni Buddha triad - Tori, Shaka triad, Asuka period, 623. Bronze, Shaka 29 100 high. Kondo, Horyuji, Ikaruga. Tori's Shaka triad (the historical Buddha and two bodhisattvas) is among the earliest Japanese Buddhist sculptures. The elongated heads and elegant swirling drapery folds reflect Chinese and Korean models. - ori Busshi. Among the earliest extant examples of Japanese Buddhist statuary is the bronze Shaka triad at Horyuji by Tori, called Busshi to underscore his status as one of the first sculptors of Buddhist images in Japan. According to the inscription on Shaka's halo, which dates the triad to 623, Empress Suiko (r. 593-628), daughter of Emperor Kimmei, and other members of the imperial court commissioned the work as a votive offering when her nephew, Prince Shotuku (572-622), the leading Asuka-era champion of Buddhism and Confucian principles of governance, fell ill in 621. When Shotuku died, the empress dedicated the triad to the prince's well-being in his next life and to his hoped-for rebirth in Paradise. The central figure in the triad is Shaka, seated with his right hand raised in the abhaya mudra. - The flaming mandorla that forms a backdrop to the historical Buddha incorporates small figures of other Buddhas. The sculptor was probably a descendant of a Korean immigrant who adopted a Chinese name, and the Horyuji Shaka triad reflects the style of the early to mid-sixth century in China and Korea, a style that featured elongated heads and elegant drapery folds forming gravity-defying, waterfall-like swirls. The vibrant patterns of Shaka's garment contrast with the serenity of his pose and expression.

Set G - 53

Artist: Takayoshi (Attrib.), (Heian period) Title: Genji-monogatari-emaki (Tale of Genji): detail, palace interior Date: ca. 1100-1125 Location: Tokugawa Museum, Nagoya Material: scroll; ink and colors on paper - Genji Monogatari Emaki (The Tale of Genji Illustrated Scrolls) The National Treasure Genji monogatari emaki, or the Tale of Genji Illustrated Scrolls, is the earliest existing pictorial version of this novel dated to the first half of the 12th century, around the time of the retired emperors Goshirakawa (1053-1129) and Toba (1103-1156). Believed to have been produced primarily at court, about a century after Lady Murasaki wrote The Tale of Genji, this celebrated set of illustrated handscrolls beautifully conveys the ambience of court culture of the time. - The embodiment of the perfection of court culture, this work among the many other pictorial representations of Genji represents an outstanding achievement with its exquisite illustrations and meticulously calligraphed text sections on sumptuously decorated paper. The expressive scenes filled with emotion powerfully capture the tale's lyricism and the inner feelings of the characters. Today, the Gotoh Museum in Tokyo owns one volume, which previously belonged to the Hachisuka clan, whose leaders were the lords of Awa Province (modern Tokushima Prefecture), and the Tokugawa Art Museum owns three volumes, which were passed down in the Owari Tokugawa clan. These four volumes together make up nineteen pictorial scenes with textual sections, and only one section of explanation. Further, in addition to the various fragments of explanatory sections, only 20 of the 54 chapters of The Tale of Genji are known today, suggesting that the set originally had a considerable number of volumes.

Set G - 54

Artist: Takayoshi (Attrib.), (Heian period) Title: Genji-monogatari-emaki (Tale of Genji): detail, Nakanokimi and her younger sister Ukifune in a palace interior Date: ca. 1100-1125 Location: Tokugawa Museum, Nagoya Material: scroll; ink and colors on paper - Genji Monogatari Emaki (The Tale of Genji Illustrated Scrolls) The National Treasure Genji monogatari emaki, or the Tale of Genji Illustrated Scrolls, is the earliest existing pictorial version of this novel dated to the first half of the 12th century, around the time of the retired emperors Goshirakawa (1053-1129) and Toba (1103-1156). Believed to have been produced primarily at court, about a century after Lady Murasaki wrote The Tale of Genji, this celebrated set of illustrated handscrolls beautifully conveys the ambience of court culture of the time. - The embodiment of the perfection of court culture, this work among the many other pictorial representations of Genji represents an outstanding achievement with its exquisite illustrations and meticulously calligraphed text sections on sumptuously decorated paper. The expressive scenes filled with emotion powerfully capture the tale's lyricism and the inner feelings of the characters. Today, the Gotoh Museum in Tokyo owns one volume, which previously belonged to the Hachisuka clan, whose leaders were the lords of Awa Province (modern Tokushima Prefecture), and the Tokugawa Art Museum owns three volumes, which were passed down in the Owari Tokugawa clan. These four volumes together make up nineteen pictorial scenes with textual sections, and only one section of explanation. Further, in addition to the various fragments of explanatory sections, only 20 of the 54 chapters of The Tale of Genji are known today, suggesting that the set originally had a considerable number of volumes.

Set G - 55

Culture/Period: Japan: Kamakura period Title: Heiji-monogatari-emaki (History of the Heiji Insurrection): detail, burning of the Sanjo Palace Date: mid-13th century Location: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Material: handscroll, ink and colors on paper - (Khan Academy) Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace (detail), Illustrated Scrolls of the Events of the Heiji Era (Heiji monogatari emaki) Japanese, Kamakura period, second half of the 13th century, 45.9 x 774.5 x 7.6 cm (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) - It is hard to imagine an image of war that matches the visceral and psychological power of the Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace. This thirteenth century portrayal of a notorious incident from a century earlier appears on a hand scroll, a common East Asian painting format in Japan called an emaki. It also is a prime example of the action‐packed otoko‐e, "men's paintings," created in the Kamakura period.

Set G - 56

Artist: Kamakura Title: scroll titled Heiji Monogatariscroll titled Burning of the Sanjo PalaceHeiji Monogatari Date: late 13th century Repository: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Material: paper ink and color - Night Attack on the Sanjo Palace, from Events of the Heiji Period, Kamakura period, 13th century. Handscroll, ink and colors on paper, 19 4 1 40 high; full scroll 229 100 long. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Fenollosa-Weld Collection). The Heiji scroll is an example of historical narrative painting. Staccato brushwork and vivid flashes of color beautifully capture the drama of the night attack and burning of Emperor Goshirakawa's palace. - Attack on Sanjo Palace. All the painting types flourishing in the Heian period continued to prosper in the Kamakura period. A striking example of handscroll painting is Events of the Heiji Period, which dates to the 13th century and illustrates another facet of Japanese painting—historical narrative. The scroll depicts the civil-war battles at the end of the Heian period. The section reproduced here represents the nighttime attack in 1160 on the Sanjo palace during which the retired emperor Goshirakawa (r. 1155-1158) was taken prisoner by Minamoto samurai, who burned his palace. Swirling flames and billowing clouds of smoke dominate the composition. Below, soldiers on horseback and on foot do battle. As in other Heian and Kamakura scrolls, the buildings in the Heiji handscroll are represented from above at a sharp angle. Especially noteworthy here are the painter's staccato brushwork and the vivid flashes of color that beautifully capture the drama of the event.

Set G - 57

Artist: Sesshu Toyo (1420-1506) Culture/Period: Muromachi Title: painting titled Hatsuboku Landscape for Soen Hatsuboku Landscape for Soen Date: 1495 Location: Japan Material: paper ink - Sesshu Toyo, splashed-ink (haboku) landscape, detail of the lower part of a hanging scroll, Muromachi period, 1495. Ink on paper, full scroll 49 10 1 40 × 19 7 80, detail 4 1 20 high. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo. In this haboku landscape, Sesshu Toyo applied primarily broad, rapid strokes, sometimes dripping the ink on the paper. The result hovers at the edge of legibility, without dissolving into abstraction. - Sesshu Toyo. Kano Motonobu's work is characterized by exacting precision in applying ink in bold outlines by holding the brush perpendicular to the paper. Representing the opposite pole of Muromachi painting is the era's most celebrated priest-painter, Sesshu Toyo (1420-1506), one of the few Japanese painters who traveled to China and studied contemporaneous Ming painting. His most dramatic works are in the splashed-ink (haboku) style, a technique with Chinese roots. The painter of a haboku picture pauses to visualize the image, loads the brush with ink, and then applies primarily broad, rapid strokes, sometimes even dripping the ink onto the paper. The result often hovers at the edge of legibility, without dissolving into sheer abstraction. This balance between spontaneity and a thorough knowledge of the painting tradition gives the pictures their artistic strength. The haboku landscape illustrated here is a detail of the lower part of a hanging scroll that Sesshu presented as a gift to a favorite pupil on the completion of his studies. Images of mountains, trees, and buildings emerge from the ink-washed surface. Two figures appear in a boat (to the lower right), and the two swift strokes nearby represent the pole and banner of a wine shop.

Set G - 58

Artist: Ogata Kôrin Culture/Period: Edo period (1615-1868) Title: Eight Bridges (Yatsuhashi) (The MET: Irises at Yatsuhashi (Eight Bridges)) Date: after 1709 Material: One of a pair of six-fold screens; ink, color and gold leaf on paper - The stately, vertical forms of irises set against an angular bridge that sweeps diagonally across both screens refer to an episode in The Ise Stories (Ise monogatari). Exiled from Kyoto after an affair with a high-ranking court lady, the story's protagonist stops at Yatsuhashi, a place where a stream branches into eight channels, each with its own bridge. The sight of irises prompts him to compose a nostalgic love poem. The first syllable of each line forms the Japanese word for irises (kakitsubata). The English translation, though unable to convey the complex wordplay of the original, is also an acrostic: Karagoromo kitsutsu narenishi tsuma shi areba harubaru kinuru tabi o shi zo omou I wear robes with well-worn hems, Reminding me of my dear wife I fondly think of always, So as my sojourn stretches on Ever farther from home, Sadness fills my thoughts. —Trans. John T. Carpenter

Set G - 59

Artist: Michael Graves Culture/Period: Postmodernist Architecture Title: Portland Building (Portland Public Service Building): exterior, Fourth Street facade, view from E. Date: 1980-1983 Location: Portland, Oregon - When the Portland Municipal Services Building designed by Michael Graves opened in 1982, architectural Postmodernism gained a new level of prominence in the US. Though Postmodernism had been spreading as a reactionary movement in architecture from the late 1960s, most of the major early works, like the Vanna Venturi House, were for private clients. The Portland Municipal Services Building, better known as the Portland Building, was a large civic structure designed for everyday workers - a cheerful and monumental tribute to the daily functioning of city government. The 15-storey structure is located next to Portland City Hall and contains offices for many of the city's public agencies, with rentable office space on the top floors and a food court in the base. The blocky edifice is dominated by highly abstracted classical elements - including columns, pediments, and a frieze-like decorative band - all set amid a grid of small square windows. A teal-coloured podium encompasses the entrance level, and features a Classically-styled sculpture of a woman called Portlandia, by artist Raymond Kaskey, above the front doors. - While Graves's building may look cartoonish today, it was radical at the time.

Set G - 6

Artist: Katsushika Hokusai Title: The Great Wave at Kanagawa (from a Series of Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji) Date: Edo period (1615-1868), ca. 1831-33 Material: Polychrome Ink and color on paper - The preeminence of this print-said to have inspired both Debussy's 'La Mer' and Rilke's 'Der Berg'-can be attributed, in addition to its sheer graphic beauty, to the compelling force of the contrast between the wave and the mountain. The turbulen - Katsushika Hokusai. Landscape painting—long revered as a major genre of Chinese and Korean painting—emerged in the 18th century in Japan as an immensely popular subject (see "Famous Views of Edo," page 1075). One of the most famous Japanese landscape artists was Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), who was the son of a peasant family from a village east of Edo. In The Great Wave off Kanagawa, part of a woodblock series called Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, the huge foreground wave dwarfs the artist's representation of the distant mountain. This contrast and the whitecaps' ominous fingers magnify the wave's threatening aspect, enhanced by the fact that Japanese viewers knew Mount Fuji was an active volcano that had last erupted in 1707. The men in the trading boats bend low to dig their oars against the rough sea and drive their long vessels past the danger. Although Hokusai's print draws on Western techniques and incorporates the distinctive European color called Prussian blue, it also engages the Japanese pictorial tradition. Against a background with the low horizon typical of Western painting, Hokusai placed in the foreground the wave's more traditionally flat and powerfully graphic forms, mainly curved triangles.

Set G - 60

Title: Kyoto: Ryoan-ji Temple view Stone Garden Date: 14th-16th C. (Muramachi) Location: Kyoto (Japan) - Karesansui (dry-landscape) garden, Ryoanji, Kyoto, Japan, Muromachi period, ca. 1488. Perfectly suited for meditation by Zen Buddhist monks, the karesansui garden of the Peaceful Dragon Temple features artfully placed, irregularly shaped rocks in a bed of raked white gravel. - Ryoanji (Temple of the Peaceful Dragon) in northwestern Kyoto occupies land that belonged to the Muromachi shogun Hosokawa Katsumoto (1430-1473), who left his estate to the Rinzai Zen sect, which erected the temple on the site around 1488. The Ryoanji karesansui garden probably dates to that time as well, although many scholars believe that its present form is the result of a later remodeling. Unlike the sprawling Saihoji Muromachi moss garden, the Ryoanji karesansui is surrounded by low walls. Situated adjacent to the abbot's quarters, the garden measures only about 75 by 29 feet. Continuously tended by the monks, who rake it daily and remove any weeds that may have emerged, the garden consists of 15 artfully placed, irregularly shaped rocks of varying sizes set in a bed of white gravel with green moss growing on and around the stones. Opinions vary as to what the rocks are meant to represent, if anything. - Many observers have compared the rocks and gravel in the Ryoanji garden to islands in a calm lake, others to mountain peaks projecting through the clouds, a cherry tree with branches, or even a tigress and her cubs crossing a river. What is certain is that the unknown designer, probably a Zen monk, intended the garden to facilitate meditation. The monks sit quietly and view the rocks from a stationary position, even though from any vantage point it is possible to see only 14 rocks at one time. Most scholars believe that the design symbolizes the sense of incompleteness that a monk experiences before achieving enlightenment. In any case, the arrangement of rocks and raked lines (circular around the stones, parallel lines everywhere else) is an abstract composition, striking in its severity and emptiness, especially in contrast to the dense and colorful foliage that forms a backdrop to the enclosed garden. Whatever the stones may symbolize, the design successfully fulfills the purpose of the garden, which is to direct the attention of the meditating monks inward, not to the natural world.

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Title: Kyoto: Ryoan-ji Temple view Stone Garden Date: 14th-16th C. (Muramachi) Location: Kyoto (Japan) - Karesansui (dry-landscape) garden, Ryoanji, Kyoto, Japan, Muromachi period, ca. 1488. Perfectly suited for meditation by Zen Buddhist monks, the karesansui garden of the Peaceful Dragon Temple features artfully placed, irregularly shaped rocks in a bed of raked white gravel. - Ryoanji (Temple of the Peaceful Dragon) in northwestern Kyoto occupies land that belonged to the Muromachi shogun Hosokawa Katsumoto (1430-1473), who left his estate to the Rinzai Zen sect, which erected the temple on the site around 1488. The Ryoanji karesansui garden probably dates to that time as well, although many scholars believe that its present form is the result of a later remodeling. Unlike the sprawling Saihoji Muromachi moss garden, the Ryoanji karesansui is surrounded by low walls. Situated adjacent to the abbot's quarters, the garden measures only about 75 by 29 feet. Continuously tended by the monks, who rake it daily and remove any weeds that may have emerged, the garden consists of 15 artfully placed, irregularly shaped rocks of varying sizes set in a bed of white gravel with green moss growing on and around the stones. Opinions vary as to what the rocks are meant to represent, if anything. - Many observers have compared the rocks and gravel in the Ryoanji garden to islands in a calm lake, others to mountain peaks projecting through the clouds, a cherry tree with branches, or even a tigress and her cubs crossing a river. What is certain is that the unknown designer, probably a Zen monk, intended the garden to facilitate meditation. The monks sit quietly and view the rocks from a stationary position, even though from any vantage point it is possible to see only 14 rocks at one time. Most scholars believe that the design symbolizes the sense of incompleteness that a monk experiences before achieving enlightenment. In any case, the arrangement of rocks and raked lines (circular around the stones, parallel lines everywhere else) is an abstract composition, striking in its severity and emptiness, especially in contrast to the dense and colorful foliage that forms a backdrop to the enclosed garden. Whatever the stones may symbolize, the design successfully fulfills the purpose of the garden, which is to direct the attention of the meditating monks inward, not to the natural world.

Set G - 62

Culture/Period: Maurya period (321-184 BCE) Title: Stupa 1 (The Great Stupa) Exterior from east Date: 3rd century BCE - 1st century CE Location: Discovery Site Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal District, Sanchi India Material: Structural, sandstone - the Great Stupa, Sanchi, India, mid-first century bce to early first century ce. Sandstone, 349 high. Reliefs cover every surface of the four gateways to the Great Stupa at Sanchi. They represent the life and past lives of Shakyamuni, but at this date the Buddha never appears in human form. - Sanchi's Great Stupa is a mandala, a sacred diagram of the universe, with the cardinal points marked by toranas. At the mound's summit is a yasti, or pole, corresponding to the axis of the universe. - The unifying characteristic of this age of regional dynasties in South Asia was the patronage of Buddhism. In its present form, the great Buddhist monastery at Sanchi dates to this period. It consists of many buildings constructed over the centuries, including large stupas (see "The Stupa," above), viharas (monks' living quarters), chaitya halls (halls with rounded, or apsidal, ends for housing smaller stupas), and temples for sheltering images. Marking the four compass points of the Great Stupa at Sanchi are 34-foot-tall sandstone toranas consisting of two piers connected by three slightly curved architraves (crossbars). The Sanchi toranas probably reflect the form of earlier Indian wood gates, but the richness of their ornamentation is without precedent. The capitals of the piers below the architraves vary in form from torana to torana. Those of the east gate depict elephants carrying riders holding banners. They appear to take part in an honorific procession. Dwarfs and lions adorn the capitals at other compass points. At the top of each pier was a fly-whisk bearer standing beside the Buddha's Wheel of the Law. Only one remains in place on the east gate. Crowning the wheel is a triratna, a tripartite symbol of the three jewels of Buddhism—the Buddha himself, his dharma, and the sangha (the Buddhist monastic order). Relief sculptures cover every surface of the toranas, front, back, and sides. An inscription on the south torana attributes one of the reliefs to a local guild of ivory carvers. The reliefs depict episodes from the Buddha's life and tales of his past lives (jatakas), but the Sanchi sculptors never represented the Buddha himself. Symbols of his presence—for example, footprints, the seat of his enlightenment, a stupa—appear instead. The rich decoration of the toranas stands in sharp contrast to the austerity of the hemispherical stupa they frame. Also carved on the east torana and serving as a bracket linking the lowest architrave with the piers is a yakshi. These sensuous, nearly nude goddesses were worshiped throughout India. They personify fertility and vegetation and were long-established statuary types in the repertoire of South Asian sculptors. The Sanchi yakshi reaches up to hold a mango tree branch while pressing her left foot against the trunk, which causes the tree to flower. Buddhist artists later adopted this pose, with its rich associations of procreation and abundance, for representing the Buddha's mother, Maya, giving birth. Thus South Asian artists adopted pan-Indian symbolism, such as the woman under the tree, when formulating Buddhist iconography.

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Culture/Period: Gupta period, Vakataka dynasty Title: Cave 1, Main hall Interior Rear wall, left: Bodhisattva Padmapani Date: c. 462-480 Location: Discovery Site Maharashtra, Aurangabad District, Ajanta India Material: Rock-cut, stone - Bodhisattva Padmapani, wall painting in the antechamber of cave 1, Ajanta, India, second half of fifth century. In this early example of Indian painting, the Ajanta artist rendered the sensuous form of the richly attired bodhisattva with gentle gradations of color and delicate highlights and shadows. - Art historians assume that India had a rich painting tradition in ancient times, but nearly all early Indian painting has disappeared. Ancient artists often used perishable painting surfaces, such as palm leaf and wood, that do not fare well in the tropical climate in much of the subcontinent. At Ajanta in the Deccan region, however, paintings cover the walls, pillars, and ceilings of several caves datable to the second half of the fifth century—that is, contemporaneous with the classic sculpted image of the Buddha from Sarnath. The painted wall reproduced here is found in cave 1 at Ajanta. The bodhisattva Padmapani sits among a crowd of musicians, monkeys, and devotees, both princes and commoners. With long, dark hair hanging down below a jeweled crown, he stands holding his attribute—a blue lotus flower—in his right hand. The painter rendered with finesse the sensuous form of the richly attired bodhisattva, gently modeling the figure with gradations of color and delicate highlights and shading, especially evident in the face and neck. The artist also carefully considered the placement of the painting in the cave, putting it on the left wall of the entrance to the antechamber of the main shrine. From that location, the bodhisattva gazes downward at worshipers entering the antechamber on their way to the rock-cut Buddha image in a cell at the back of the cave. To create the Ajanta murals, the painters—professional lay artists rather than monks—first applied two layers of clay mixed with straw and other materials to the walls. They then added a third layer of fine white lime plaster. Unlike true fresco painting, in which painters apply colors to wet plaster, the Indian painters waited for the lime to dry. This method produces less durable results, and the Ajanta murals have suffered water damage over the centuries. The artists next outlined the figures in dark red and painted in the details of faces, costumes, and jewelry. The Ajanta palette consisted of six basic water-soluble colors, produced mostly from local minerals: white, from lime; black, from soot; red and yellow, from ocher; and green, from glauconite. Blue, used sparingly, came from costly lapis lazuli imported from Afghanistan. The last step was to polish the painted surface with a smooth stone.

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Culture/Period: Asian; Far East Asian; Korean Title: Maebyông Date: Kory⌠ dynasty (918/1392), late 13th/early 14th century Repository: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Material: Stoneware with inlaid design of cranes and clouds under celadon glaze - A maebyông is a vessel with a small mouth , short neck, round shoulder, and constricted waist. The form is derived from the Chinese meiping, or "prunus vase." The Koryô maebyông is distinguished from its Chinese counterpart by a saucer-shaped mou - This quintessentially Korean maebyeong (plum bottle), with its voluptuous form and an eye-catching design of large cranes and clouds, was produced at the famous celadon kiln site at Buan Yucheon-ri in North Jeolla Province. The gold repair on the mouth indicates that the bottle was once a treasured piece in a Japanese collection.

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Artist: Frank Owen Gehry Culture/Period: Deconstructivism Title: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Date: 1997 Location: Bilbao, Spain - Gehry's linestone-and-titanium Bilbao museum is an immensely dramatic building. Its disorder and seeming randomness of design exemplify Deconstructivist architectural principles. - The architect most closely identified with Deconstructivist architecture is Canadian-born American Frank Gehry. Trained in sculpture, Gehry works up his designs by constructing models and then cutting them up and arranging the parts until he has a satisfying composition. Among Gehry's most notable projects is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, one of several art museum projects of the past few decades that are as notable for their innovative architecture designs as for the important art collections they house. Frank Gehry has been designing buildings since the 1950s, but only in the 1970s did he begin to break away from the rectilinearity of modernist architecture and develop the dramatic scuptural style seen in buildings such as the Guggenheim in Bilbao. The Bilbao museum appears to be a collapsed or collapsing aggregate of units. - Visitors approaching the buildings see a mass of irregular assymetrical and imbalanced forms whose profiles change dramatically with every shift of the viewer's position. The linestone-and titanium clad exterior lends a space-age character to the structure, and highlights further the unique cluster effect of the many forms. A group of organic forms that Gehry refers to as a "metallic flower" tops the museum. In the center of the building, an enormous glass-walled atrium soars 165 feet above the ground, serving as the focal point for the three levels of galleries radiating from it. The seemingly weightless screens, vaults, and volumes of the interior flat and flow into one another, guided only by light and dark cues. It is a compelling structure. Its disorder, its deceptive randomness od design, and the disequilibrium it prompts in its viewers exemplify Deconstructivist principles.

Set G - 7

Culture/Period: Olmec culture Title: Colossal head #1 from La Venta Date: before 900 BCE Location: Mexico Material: basalt - Designated as monument 1 this is the largest of four colossal heads that were found on the La Venta site, which may have been portraits of rulers. It's also described as the best preserved. This colossal head was first described in 1925 by Franz Blom and Oliver La Farge while it was still half buried and later fully excavated in 1940 by Matthew Stirling. The front of the "helmet" is decorated with three petals and a U-shaped motif. Straps extend down both sides in front of the ears and both ears have large ornaments that hang down from the earlobes. This colossal statue is made of basalt and has an estimated size of 8 feet 1 inch (2.46 m) high and weighs 24 tons. The Olmec were the first major civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands on the Gulf of Mexico in the present-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. - The name Olmec is a Nahuatl—the Aztec language—word; it means the rubber people. The Olmec might have been the first people to figure out how to convert latex of the rubber tree into something that could be shaped, cured, and hardened. Because the Olmec did not have much writing beyond a handful of carved glyphs—symbols—that survived, we don't know what name the Olmec people gave themselves. Appearing around 1600 BCE, the Olmec were among the first Mesoamerican complex societies, and their culture influenced many later civilizations, like the Maya. The Olmec are known for the immense stone heads they carved from a volcanic rock called basalt. The Olmec culture was defined and unified by a specific art style. Crafted in a variety of materials—jade, clay, basalt, and greenstone, which is an archaeologist's term for carved, green-colored minerals—much Olmec art is naturalistic. Other art expresses fantastic anthropomorphic—human-shaped—creatures, often highly stylized, using an iconography reflective of a religious meaning. The most striking art left behind by this culture are the Olmec colossal—very big—heads. Seventeen monumental stone representations of human heads sculpted from large basalt boulders have been unearthed in the region to date. - The heads date from at least before 900 BCE and are a distinctive feature of the Olmec civilization. All portray mature men with fleshy cheeks, flat noses, and slightly crossed eyes. However, none of the heads are alike, and each boasts a unique headdress, which suggests they represent specific individuals. The Olmec brought these boulders from the Sierra de los Tuxtlas mountains of Veracruz. Given that the extremely large slabs of stone used in their production were transported over large distances, requiring a great deal of human effort and resources, it is thought that the monuments represent portraits of powerful individual Olmec rulers, perhaps carved to commemorate their deaths. The heads were arranged in either lines or groups at major Olmec centers, but the method and logistics used to transport the stone to the sites remain uncertain.

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Culture/Period: Maya Civilization/Late to Early Classic Period Title: Palenque: Aerial View: det.: left: Temple XIV & Temple of the Sun, Center: Palace, right: Temple of Inscriptions Date: ca. 675-690 CE Location: Chiapas, Mexico Material: Stone - Palenque boasts some of the best preserved Maya structures in Mesoamerica. Although occupation began no later than the Early Classic period, major constructions at the site did not commence until the early 7th century, when Teotihuacan was already in decline. The impetus for that building campaign, which included a palace, temples, and a ball court, was the coming to power of K'inish Janaab Pakal, usually called Lord Pakal. Under Pakal, whose name means "shield", Palenque reached the height of its prosperity and influence in the region.

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