Jake Writes A Blog

  The Paracas Peninsula, Peru          Off of the south coast of ancient Peru, the Paracas peninsula, where many people who had passed were buried and wrapped in many types of cloths and clothing. They called these wrapped and buried folks "mummy bundles" as they were not only wrapped but the largest and richest of them were filled with wonderfully vibrant pieces of artwork called textiles. They had previously been referring to this specific cloth, as seen below,  as "The Paracas Textile" to indicate its uniqueness and remarkable craftsmanship. Although, scholars have since revised the provenance and attributed the textile to the slightly later Nasca culture. In recent years, the Brooklyn Museum released a few very close up shots of this ancient textile, not only showing off its intricacy but giving us a deeper look into how the cloth was made so long ago. Some of the Textiles like the ones below were too delicate to have served any utilitarian purpose...

  Queen Mother Pendant Mask: Iyoba, 16th century, Nigeria (court of Benin), Ivory, iron, copper  This week, with all that is going on, I'm only writing one blog post. However, I found two fascinating pieces, both from Nigeria, which I really wanted to include this week. The first piece is a "Queen Mother Pendant Mask: Iyoba" from the 16th century, featured above. This particular mask is one of two, said to be nearly identical, masks which are said to be symbolic. In Benin's court, women were not typically represented, but this mask is said to have been possibly made to represent and commemorate the king of Benin's mother, Idia. In Africa, ivory was ritually used as a material to signify the god of the sea, Okolun, who was associated with purity. Olokun was said to be the "spiritual counterpart of the oba", oba meaning ruler. This was in line with the ivory, and in turn, Olokun, also representing wealth and fertility. This mask imposes a remarkable image ...

By far some of the most intriguing pieces of art that I happened upon during the readings were the processionary crosses and gospel leafs found in Ethiopia. The Ethiopians started to adopt Christianity back in the fourth century, starting with the reign of  the Aksumite emperor Ezana. Christianity spread through the region surrounding Aksum, as it was located between major trade routes including India and the Roman empire.  Emperor Ezana’s likely adopted Christianity in order to strengthen the Ethiopian's, or at least the Aksumite's, trading relationship with the Roman Empire. Christianity lead Ezana toward his goal of increasing the possibility of unity between the diverse groups of peoples within his kingdom. Christianity was prominent until modern day but is now thought against by some in certain areas today. Double-sided gospel leaf, first half fourteenth-century, Ethiopia, Tempera on Parchment The Tigray region of Ethiopia also converted to Christianity in the f...

  Igbo Ukwu artist, Bowl 8", Leaded bronze In Africa, starting during the ninth century, intricate forms of metalworking thrived. These metalworkings were especially prominent at a site called Igbo-Ukwu, now called southern Nigeria. Hundreds of copper alloy castings that were discovered at Igbo-Ukwu, such as the one above, provided proof of the African's culture being more technically sophisticated and accomplished than previously thought. The casting seen above was discovered by a farmer who was digging to create a cistern (a type of tank to hold water during dry seasons) in the former Igbo region of Nigeria in 1939. The farmer happened upon more items similar to this bowl. Despite this discovery, the site in question wasn't formerly excavated until 1959 by Thurstan Shaw. Shaw discovered that the site must have been used at a storage site for ritualistic items. These items, like the bowl, were formed using a technique called the lost-wax method. This method, lost-wax, inv...

  The Nintoku mausoleum in Sakai, Osaka prefecture, Japan, part of the Mozu-Furuichi group of ancient burial sites known as kofun          The Kofun Period is from the third century to 538 c.e., and it was named after the burial mounds of the ruling class of the time. The practice of building tomb burial mounds for their dead came to Asia around the third century. The original tombs were very basic in their design, unadorned and with no ornate designs. Over the course of the next three centuries, these burial mounds increasingly got more and more ornate designs. By the sixth century, the tomb mounds even included painted decorations on the inside of the burial chambers, along with new traditions that sprung forth from this time such as the designing of the ornate mounds themselves. There was a level of protection on and around each burial mound. The burial mounds themselves were each encircled by stones of all sizes, and earthenware clay pots and other sort...

                                                            Qin Shihuang           Qin Shihuang (259-210 B.C.E.), founder of the Qin Dynasty and the first emperor of a newly unified China, conquered many cities and other areas during his life. In addition to his many conquering's, death was certainly among them. The only way that Qin Shihuang could think to defeat death and have one last "hurrah" in the face every other past Chinese rulers who came before him, was to build himself a tomb-like none other had ever built before. Qin Shihuang built himself a tomb in the style of a vast underground city guarded by a life-sized terracotta army. His terracotta arming included not only warriors but also infantrymen, horses, chariots, and all of their, very life-sized, armor and weaponry. ...