art.txt

5=!=!=Chokha=!=!=Maharana Bhim Singh of Udaipur (r. 1778-1828) Returns from a Boar Hunt=!=!=This painting characterizes the grandeur associated with the hunting procession in the early nineteenth century. A haloed maharana Bhim Singh returns after a boar hunt with his attendants and retinue. The king holds a gold spear and wears a green jama associated with the aheria, or spring hunt, when boars are hunted in Rajasthan. The maharana also carries a gold lance, while a sword and punch dagger are attached to his patka (sash). The ruler sits on an ornately decorated horse, while the large hunting party is on foot. The attendants carry the necessary royal attributes: two attendants carry fly whisks while one holds a sun-faced standard, a symbol of the Mewar family who are conceived of as descendants of the sun. This standard accompanies the royal procession at all times. For the pleasure of the king, another attendant carries a gold hookah. Saluki hounds and falcons were frequently employed in medieval Indian game hunts. Wild boars slain during the expedition are strapped on the backs of the camels, symbolizing that the aheria was successful. In the Hindu tradition, the king's bountiful catch foretold that the kingdom could expect a fruitful year ahead.  (label text from Sport of Kings exhibition January 2005).=!=!=Opaque watercolor, gold and silver metallic pigment on paper=!=!=19th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=427500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:82009_dynmc
6=!=!=Ben Vautier=!=!=Fold/Unfold (Gesture Piece)=!=!=Inside a small manila envelope is a single, folded sheet of paper. The word "unfold" is printed on the upper left-hand corner of one side, and is visible when the sheet is folded. Once unfolded, the word "fold" is revealed printed at the center of the sheet on the verso. Included in Flux Year Box 2.=!=!=Manila envelope containing offset-printed, folded sheet of paper=!=!=20th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=437500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:INV180127_dynmc
7=!=!=Emile Gilliéron or son=!=!=Reproduction of a Gold Mycenaean Ornament=!=!=Reproduction of a gold ornament in the form of two eagles.  The eagles have their heads turned in opposite directions while their bodies face each other toward the center.  The original was possibly part of a necklace with a repeating design.  The original is one of five identical pieces found in Grave Circle A at Mycenae.=!=!=Electrotype of gold original; repoussé=!=!=19th-20th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=323000=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:INV108252_dynmc
8=!=!=Lodewijk van Schoor=!=!=Allegory of Fall=!=!=This work exemplifies a popular late seventeenth-century tapestry type: hybrid genre-landscapes ("genres mythologiques"), which were usually marketed as sets. A female figure representing Fall is seated on a rocky mound and holds a tall rod with grapevines. While the foreground and sides are framed with sharply rendered foliage and still-life elements, the landscape opens into a soft valley at right. The copper wine vessels, squash, grapes, and apple tree in bloom are all attributes of Fall, as are the five male and female attendant figures bearing the fruits of the season's harvest on silver platters.=!=!=wool and silk=!=!=17th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=334500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:VRS45368_dynmc
11=!=!=the Marsyas Painter=!=!=Panathenaic Prize Amphora (storage jar)=!=!=Side A: Athena Promachos advancing to right clothed in an archaic Ionic chiton ornamented with a dotted border in white and provided with rudimentary sleeves ending in two swallow-tails thrown over each shoulder, Attic helmet with tall crest, and brandishing a spear in her right while covering herself with a shield which she holds in her left. Her head, helmet, and right hand project into the upper border. On both shoulders and breast, crossing cords in white with a central knot which originally supported th e aegis, but now has almost entirely disappeared. Traces of a bracelet on her right wrist and sandals on her feet in light brown. On either side of her a Doric column, supporting a figure, that on the left a female, helmeted figure (probably Athena), holding a tiller, that on the right Zeus with sceptre and Nike. Along each column the inscriptions "kionedon," on the left TON ATHENETHEN ATHLON, on the right THEIOPHRASTOS ERXE.    Side B: Athletic scene. In the center, two nude boxers full front, their hands bound with the cestus. At the right a trainer to left wearing a cloak draped over his left arm and a wreath in his hair, holding a staff in his left, his right outstretched. At the left a female figure draped entirely in a mantle which leaves only the upper part of her face bare, the lower part being outlined beneath it, leaning on a Doric column. Beside her head OLYMPIAS.    Spout, shoulder, handles, and base glazed, with a reserved band on upper part of base. Palmette chain on neck at junction of handles and below an elongated tongue pattern shorter on B than on A. Panel on each side containing the design, that of A longer than B. Applied white is used for the exposed flesh surfaces of Athena and the details of her drapery, as well as those of the figures on the columns on A, head and feet of Olympias, wreath and staff of trainer and the column on B. Execution careful with good incisions, originally filled with white.    Said to have come from Capua. Intact, except for the rim, which has been broken and repaired.=!=!=Terracotta=!=!=4th century BCE=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=171500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:DDC251587_dynmc
12=!=!=Watanabe Kōkan 渡辺公観=!=!=This Morning's Autumn=!=!=Pair of six-panel folding screens painted by Nihonga painter Watanabe Kōkan (1877-1938) depicting a woodswoman (Oharame) tying her headscarf in front of a mill as she prepares for work on an early autumn morning. Exhibited at the 1918 Bunten exhibition.=!=!=Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on silk=!=!=20th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=181500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:764187
13=!=!=Milan Knizak=!=!=Flux White Meditation=!=!=This example of Flux White Meditation is incomplete. The box should contain a white powder designed to simulate a narcotic or psychedelic drug. This example was given to Barbara and Peter Moore by George Maciunas with instructions to fill it themselves because the powder tended to leak during transport.=!=!=Empty transparent plastic box with offset-printed label=!=!=20th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=438000=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:INV177693_dynmc
14=!=!=George Maciunas=!=!=Excreta Fluxorum=!=!=Excreta Fluxorum seems to have been one of Maciunas' favorite works, existing as it does in several different versions. Except for the single sample included in Flux Yearbox 2, this is the smallest. Others include a version with 24 specimens, one with 36, and one with 34. Barbara Moore has recalls that Maciunas often had all sorts of animal droppings "curing" on top of the large furnace in the basement of 80 Wooster St. The contents of the Fogg version are remarkably similar to those of the version in the collection of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth University.=!=!=Plastic box with offset printed labels containing various animal droppings=!=!=20th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=146500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:INV177663_dynmc
16=!=!=The Kota Master=!=!=Composite Elephant with Monkey=!=!=The painting depicts a large composite elephant comprising of birds, animals, fish, and mythical creatures. Mounted on the elephant is a monkey rider, which holds onto a snake that acts as a rope tied around the body of the elephant. Rajput Style, Kota School.=!=!=Black ink and opaque watercolor over black chalk underdrawing on tan laid paper; Rajput Style, Kota School=!=!=18th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=212000=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:DDC104138_dynmc
17=!=!=Unknown Artist=!=!=Prayer Carpet=!=!=Marasali Prayer Rug.  Deep blue field with horizontal rows of variously colored botehs forming diagonals by type and ornament, surrounded by reciprocal palisade in red and blue.  Three guard borders of five petaled flowers, white ground outer main border with bunches of grapes; yellow ground inner main border  with fruits.  Around the niche area, an incomplete human form, 2 ewers (ibrik), a piece of jewelry or a comb, and a date,1908, repeated 3 times.    Warp: 2 S plied Z spun white undyed wool on one level.  Weft: 1 Z spun yarn in 2 shoots, or occasionally in 2 parallel + 1 construction.  Pile: 3, or occasionally 2 (depending on color), S plied Z spun.  Pile color: 2 + 3 ply red, 3 ply green, 3 ply yellow, 2 ply green; all 3 ply: dark crimson red, dull medium red, very dark purple red, dark navy blue, medium blue, medium green, light green, dark yellow, very pale yellow, slightly corrosive brown, white, light brown wool; small areas of undyed and dark red silk.  Both selvedges: 2 warps wrapped in magenta silk or shiny (mercerized?) cotton.  Top: 1/2 cm. blue countered soumak brocade, 2 cm. tapestry weave, stripped, 1 1/2 cm. knot lace.  Bottom: 1 cm. knot lace based on 4 warps, 1 cm. left to right countered soumak in brown, dark yellow, and red.=!=!=Wool=!=!=19th-20th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=393000=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:761874
18=!=!=Jean-Baptiste Oudry=!=!=A Game of Hot Cockles=!=!=The scene features a game of "hot cockles" (Fr. "la main chaude"). This game, which originated in the middle ages, involves a blindfolded person bent over with his head in the lap of a woman.  The other players slap him on the hand that is tucked behind his back, and he has to guess who it is. When the person guesses correctly who slapped him, that person takes his place. The game is depicted in a contemporary painting (1767-1773) by Fragonard (National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1946.7.6) which includes a similar garden setting. One stage of the tapestry's composition is preserved in a drawing by Oudry on blue paper (Stockholm National Museum, no. 2890 / I863). This panel belonged to a series of "amusements champêtres" (see series info). The border is composed of linear gold bands with small flower bouquets at regular intervals.=!=!=Textile fibers=!=!=18th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=265500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:CARPST10187_dynmc
19=!=!=Maker's mark TL with escallop below in shield-shaped punch=!=!=Two-Handled Cup and Cover=!=!=Of bulbous circular form, repoussé and chased with a broad band of flower heads with a running lion on one side and a bear with a chain around its neck on the other, all under a wrigglework band, with two cast ribbed scroll handles headed by female masks; the domed cover with similar chasing and with flat spool-form foot.    Embossed decoration of scrolling flower heads became popular in the years following the Restoration. Based on Dutch and north German examples, much of it was probably done by immigrant craftsmen.    =!=!=Silver=!=!=17th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=253000=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:92245_dynmc
20=!=!=Arthur Manwaring=!=!=Two-handled Cup=!=!=Bulbous circular on ropetwist foot, with two cast caryatid scroll handles, the sides chased with stylised flowers within matted scrolls under a punched band, the rim with faint traces of pricked initials, the base engraved, probably in the twentieth century, with the initials AJB    =!=!=Silver=!=!=17th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=402500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:61389_dynmc
21=!=!=Maker's mark DG and fleur-de-lis in lozenge=!=!=Tankard=!=!=Tapering cylindrical on raised domed spreading foot applied with a reeded rim, the lower part of the body chased with a band of alternating vertical acanthus leaves and almettes, the tubular scroll handle with scalloped square terminal; the hinged domed cover chased with a rose head, with cast entwined dolphin thumbpiece; the base engraved with a crest of a demi-griffin, wings outstretched, charged with an estoille.    The attribution of this mark to Dorothy Grant, the widow of William Grant, has been made by Ian Pickford.  She is recorded as having an apprentice in 1679. Traditionally a lozenge- (diamond-) shaped punch, reminiscent of the heraldic shield borne by a lady, was used by women silversmiths working in England.=!=!=Silver=!=!=17th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=69500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:92258_dynmc
22=!=!=The Diosphos Painter=!=!=Lekythos (oil flask): Hunter with Hare and Rabbit=!=!=White-ground lekythos. Scene depicts a young hunter who wears only a chlamys and walks to the right with a pole on his left shoulder from which are a dead hare and rabbit. With his right hand he touches the fox while looking back over his right shoulder.  Above him is an inscription: KALOS ("beautiful one")    A pair of addorsed, black palmettes frame the figure on both sides; above the figure, a meander patterns continues around the body.  The shoulder is decorated with a chain of five black-figure palmettes. The vessel is intact except for a break at the spout.    =!=!=Terracotta=!=!=5th century BCE=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=350500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:758942
23=!=!=The Athena Painter=!=!=Oinochoe (wine pitcher): Two Warriors in Combat; Hermes and Giant (?)=!=!=Black-figure oinochoe with trefoil mouth. White ground panel on the front of the vessel  depicts two figures in combat: Hermes and a giant. On the left, Hermes lunges forward, plunging his sword into the nude, bearded giant who turns to look back at his attacker as he falls to his knee. He holds a rounded shield in defense and wears a Corinthian helmet pushed back on his head. Engaged in action, Hermes wears a short chiton, cloak, high boots, and a petasos. A small lion leaps towards the giant from Hermes' feet.    The vessel is intact with added red details throughout including Hermes' beard, spear, and patterning on his cloak. The white ground panel is banded on the top and both sides by several rows of ornamental patterns. Red stripes circle the neck, lower body, and edge of the foot.=!=!=Terracotta, white ground=!=!=5th century BCE=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=114000=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:VRS50311
24=!=!=William Lukin=!=!=Kettle on Lamp Stand=!=!=Of circular baluster form on cast rim foot, with paneled swan-neck spout headed by a stylized leaf and with overhead swing handle rising from openwork scrolls applied to the shoulders, with turned ivory handle (probably replaced a wooden one in the nineteenth century); the removable domed cover with squat baluster finial; the circular stand on three cast multi-scroll supports terminating in octagonal pads, with two scroll hinged side handles and central circular burner with plain removable cover, the kettle hinged and chained to the stand.=!=!=Silver=!=!=18th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=349000=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:92383_dynmc
25=!=!=William Lukin=!=!=Kettle on Lamp Stand=!=!=Of circular baluster form on cast rim foot, with paneled swan-neck spout headed by a stylized leaf and with overhead swing handle rising from openwork scrolls applied to the shoulders, with turned ivory handle (probably replaced a wooden one in the nineteenth century); the removable domed cover with squat baluster finial; the circular stand on three cast multi-scroll supports terminating in octagonal pads, with two scroll hinged side handles and central circular burner with plain removable cover, the kettle hinged and chained to the stand.=!=!=Silver=!=!=18th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=241500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:92383_dynmc
26=!=!=General Idea=!=!=Postcard: Artists' Portraits=!=!=Handwritten in pen:    Dare daadaville  per your request for a first name basis...Jorge is in crack-ass Venezuela and is beyond your reach. anyway do you think we let just anyone know that info.  We don't let anyone know.  Everyone would be hanging around his gates asking for art hand-outs.  We got to him first and thats that.  He still mentions that 'Banana girl' on occasion.  P.J. does not live in levittown.  Some Hindu does.  P.S. READ RANK..felicks...  P.S. We know where Monica Zazza is too..but we're not even telling you.    Post marked Toronto, Ontario March 20, 1974=!=!=Silver gelatin photographic postcard=!=!=20th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=76500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:INV204755_dynmc
27=!=!=Paul Sandby=!=!=The Magic Lantern, Paul Before Felix=!=!=This etching represents William Hogarth sitting on a chair in front of his easel with a modified version of his painting "Pharoah's Daughter." His head acts like a magic lantern which, through his mouth, light projects his own print of "Paul before Felix Burlesqued."=!=!=Etching on antique laid paper=!=!=18th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=211500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:INV203445_dynmc
28=!=!=James Lee Byars=!=!=One of Two Sheets of Pink Paper with Black Ink Text, 8 1/2 x 11=!=!=Page two: contemporary of my own present: / contemporary of its languages, / its uptopias, its systems (i.e. of its / fictions), in short, of its mythology / or of its philosophy But not of its history of which I inhabit only the / shimmering reflection: the / Phantasmagoria. (Please consider / as Footnote #2 for T.S.M.F.C.)=!=!=Black ink on pink paper=!=!=20th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=409500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:INV001062_dynmc
29=!=!=James Lee Byars=!=!=One White Envelope with CERN Imprint and Blue Ink Text=!=!=Recto: postmark: 3000 BERN KRAMGASSE -5.-8.80-17. Addressed to: Harvard U. / Busch-Reisinger Museum / Mark Haxthausen / Cambridge MA. 03128 USA. Return Address: TH. DiV. c/o Byars ]handwritten in blue ink] ORGANISATION EUROP...ENNE POUR LA RECHERCHE NUCL...AIRE / CERN EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH / CH - 1211 GEN"VE 23 / SUISSE/SWITZERLAND. Verso: another postmark: MANCHESTER, NH AUG 14 1980=!=!=Blue ink on white CERN envelopes with postage stamps=!=!=20th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=269500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:INV001066_dynmc
30=!=!=Mir Sayyid Muhammad Naqqash=!=!=A Hero in Combat with a Dragon=!=!=This drawing portrays an idealized Safavid warrior mounted on a horse, engaged in combat with a dragon. The dragon is wrapped around the horse’s body, while its head is pulled down by the Iranian hero. Holding his arm up in the air, the man is about to stab the monster with a dagger while his horse bites the tail of the spotted creature.  Moreover, the hero is depicted with a bow, arrows, and a quiver, and he wears a Safavid-style turban. The artist painted all three creatures with great sense of movement and vitality, creating a playful composition of patterns and bodies.=!=!=Black ink and watercolor on beige paper=!=!=16th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=148500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:20831_dynmc
31=!=!=Ben Shahn=!=!=Cover Design for "The Jews Among The Nations," by Erich Kahler=!=!=Mechanically-lettered text in black, touched up by hand (or entirely hand-lettered?), and hand-lettered text in blue gouache on off-white illustration board; translucent blue adhesive layer applied to illustration board, with image and Hebrew text printed onto it; text inscribed in white gouache above printed design.  An oblong piece of heavy paper has been laid under the blue adhesive layer, leaving a raised shape.=!=!=Black ink and blue gouache on off-white illustration board with applied elements=!=!=20th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=136500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:75531_dynmc
32=!=!=Asad Allah=!=!=Saber blade inscribed by Asad Allah=!=!=This curving, single-edged blade was made for a saber. From the shape of the tang, it is likely that the missing pommel was pistol-shaped. The blade exhibits a watered steel pattern, which was acid etched to bring out the color contrasts of the various components of the steel. A small gold cartouche near the base of this sword blade contains the signature of Asad Allah of Isfahan.  A larger inscription on the blade reads:  “The servant of the dominion of Shah `Abbas.”=!=!=Watered steel with gold inlay=!=!=17th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=113500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:INV225004_dynmc
34=!=!=John Ruslen=!=!=Tankard=!=!=Of plain slightly tapering cylindrical form on flat base, the tubular scroll handle with tab-form terminal; the hinged flat domed cover with reeded border and cast bifurcated corkscrew thumb-piece; the front engraved with a lozenge of arms within crossed plume mantling.    Tankards of this size appear to have been used by ladies. This is borne out by the fact that many of them are engraved with ladies’ arms, such as the present example.=!=!=Silver=!=!=17th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=189000=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:92393_dynmc
35=!=!=Hak-kyo Chŏng=!=!=Orchids and Rock=!=!=Painted in ink on satin silk, this hanging scroll represents two clumps of orchids, likely cymbidiums, growing on either side of a garden rock. Entering in the lower left corner, the rock rises diagonally through the composition, reaching almost two-thirds the full height of the painting. The orchids grow on either side of the rock. The artist's inscription and signature comprise three columns of calligraphy in the painting's upper right quadrant. The very cursive script and the characters' extended final, vertical brushstrokes harmonize perfectly with the brushwork of the orchids' leaves and flowers. A seal of the artist reading Chŏng Hak-kyo appears immediately after the artist's signature (i.e., at the bottom of the third column of calligraphy, reading from right to left). The artist's second seal appears in the lower left corner of the painting, impressed on the lowest part of the rock.  =!=!=Hanging scroll; ink on satin silk; with signature reading "Chŏng Hak-kyo"; with two seals of the artist=!=!=20th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=245000=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:huam:LEG007341_dynmc
36=!=!=Fung Ming Chip=!=!=Chan (Better known in English by the Japanese term "Zen")=!=!=This large, vertically oriented, rectangular album leaf is inscribed with a single character reading "Chan". The character, which is better known in the West by the Japanese pronunciation "Zen," refers to a meditative sect of Buddhism that claimed--and still claims--numerous adherents in both China and Japan. The text was composed and inscribed on this album leaf by Fung Ming Chip (standard Mandarin transcription: Feng Mingqiu). The upper two thirds of this album leaf is blank except for the seal impressed at the very top; the lower one third includes several broad brushstrokes in black ink, the network of brushstrokes resembling two stacked Z's. Written upside down, as if reflected from above, the single character is written in cursive, or running, script (xingshu) in a manner that the artist characterizes as "reflection script." The artist created this calligraphic work by brushing the broad, black strokes and then, using a brush loaded with water, by inscribing the character within the upper portion of the net of brushstrokes, creating a work in which the character appears pale gray against the black strokes. The artist has stated that he intended to create a calligraphic work that resembles a pictorial, nighttime scene in which the moon--in this instance, the character chan--is reflected in a lake (i.e., the network of black brushstrokes at the bottom). This calligraphic work is not dated; however, the artist stated to the curator that he created it in 2009. This calligraphic work is not signed, but it includes one seal of the artist, which identifies it as a work of Fung Ming Chip. The seal, which the artist himself carved, can be described as follows:    Square, red, intaglio seal reading "Xiang"  [Note:  The seal reading "Xiang" can be translated as "Phenomenon"]    =!=!=Album leaf: ink on paper; with one seal of the artist=!=!=21st century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=59500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:DDC111166_dynmc
37=!=!=Li Junyi [Chun-yi Lee]=!=!=Ten Thousand Years, Ten Thousand Years of Sleep, One Hundred Million Scattered Pieces=!=!=This triptych comprises a set of three hanging scrolls, each painted in ink on paper. The central scroll is a formal portrait of Mao Zedong (1893–1976); the flanking scrolls represent landscapes. The Mao portrait is based both on the official portrait photograph of Mao Zedong that was taken in 1959 by Xinhua News Agency photojournalists Meng Qingbiao (1925–1969) and Ho Bo (born 1924) and on the official portrait painting of Chairman Mao that that was created in 1959 by Zhang Zhenshi (1914–1992), a professor at the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts, Beijing, based on the official portrait photograph. The portrait presents a bust-length, frontal portrait of Chairman Mao, his head and shoulders turned slightly, almost imperceptibly, to his proper right. His hair is combed straight back, his eyes are fully open, and his mouth suggests a slight smile. He wears a Mao jacket, buttoned all the way to the top; one circular button appears in the inverted “V” formed by the two downward-projecting points of the collar. Perhaps part of the Mao-jacket collar, perhaps the top of a collar of a shirt worn under the jacket, a slender white line encircles Chairman Mao’s neck, readily distinguishing garment from flesh. A circular black disc appears in the center of the otherwise unembellished white paper above Chairman Mao’s head. The background area of the portrait—but not the area above the portrait—are fully textured, so that the image of Chairman Mao emerges from a gray background. The characters that appear throughout the painting, both in the portrait of Chairman Mao and in the disc above—i.e., one character within each square of the grid—read Mao Ze Dong; arranged in random order, they also appear in random orientations, some right side up, others upside down, and yet others sideways. The “texturing characters” appear in the image of Mao, in the background areas, and in the disc above but are most evident in the background areas and in the disc. A long inscription comprising 180 characters appears in the rectangular border surrounding the painting. A narrow strip of unembellished white paper appears just inside the border, clearly differentiating border from portrait.    Each landscape scroll presents a view into a deep mountain valley that recedes distantly into the pictorial space. Each landscape is a bilaterally symmetrical rendition of the other, so that the landscapes are mirror images of each other. Appearing black and positioned at the “inside edge” of each landscape composition—i.e., on the side of the composition opposite from the blank grid square that is an “implied seal” (see description below)—a towering foreground peak partially blocks the view of the mountain range that rises on one side of the valley. Silhouetted against the receding valley, old pines grow around the periphery of the foreground peak and around the top of the shorter peak that accompanies it. When the landscape scrolls are hung on either side of the central scroll, the dark, foreground peaks frame the Mao portrait. A rectangular area of blank paper appears above each landscape, and a dark border frames each composition and the accompanying blank paper above, a narrow strip of unembellished white paper separating border from landscape, the arrangement echoing that of the central, portrait scroll.    The artist did the “original version” of this triptych in 1988 in fulfillment of requirements for his bachelor of arts degree at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The artist sold the Mao portrait from that set to Kingsley Liu, a Hong Kong collector of contemporary Chinese ink paintings; the artist still owns the two landscapes from the original set. The artist originally was thinking of simply painting a new Mao portrait, which he would pair with the existing, original landscape paintings (from 1988) for this set (which was commissioned twenty years after the original set; however, upon re-examining the landscape scrolls, which had been stored in Hong Kong, the artist discovered that they sustained water damaged while stored. Thus, the artist created an entirely new set in 2009.    The artist has stated that although this work is a triptych and although he would prefer that the scrolls be exhibited as a set, in fact, the scrolls may be exhibited in whichever arrangement or grouping that curators would like; thus, the scrolls may be shown individually, just as the two landscape scrolls may be exhibited as a pair (without the central portrait of Mao).    =!=!=Proper-right scroll of a set of three hanging scrolls forming a triptych; ink on paper; with artist's signature reading "Erlinglingjiu nian chun Li Junyi shi yu Meiguo Fenghuangcheng"=!=!=21st century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=42000=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:766370
38=!=!=Wen Zhengming [Wen Cheng-ming]=!=!=Landscape with Poems=!=!=This long handscroll comprises a four-character frontispiece, a landscape painted in ink and color on silk, and a poem written in ink on paper in running script ("xingshu"). Both the painting and poem are signed "Zhengming", indicating that both works were created by the celebrated Ming-dynasty literati painter Wen Zhengming (1470-1559). Executed in the so-called "blue-green" manner (an archaistic mode of painting that evokes the vibrant malachite-blue and azurite-green mineral pigments used by early Chinese painters to color natural scenery), the painting depicts several figures--probably scholars and servants, based on the dress and accoutrements carried--positioned alone or in pairs at various points in the landscape. Figures are shown meandering along mountain a paths, gazing at a waterfall or across calm waters, or quietly meditating while floating on a skiff. The poem that follows the painting was written a year later than the painting, but it makes elegant reference to the landscape imagery that precedes it.=!=!=Handscroll; the painting in ink and colors on silk, with signature of the artist reading "Jiajing gengyin qiyue siri; Zhengming xie", and with two seals of the artist reading "Zheng" and "Ming"; the calligraphy in ink on paper, with signature of the artist reading "Zhengming", and with two seals of the artist reading "Wen Zheng Ming Yin" and "Heng Shan".=!=!=16th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=184000=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:huam:INV227762_dynmc
39=!=!=George Brecht=!=!=Valôche=!=!=An unlabeled prototype, made by George Maciunas, of the edition later produced by him in various wooden boxes (see M26394). Brecht was apparently unhappy with the compartmentalized realization; it is, in the end, perhaps more typical of Maciunas than of Brecht.=!=!=18-compartment, transparent plastic box containing miscellaneous objects=!=!=20th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=86500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:INV180022_dynmc
40=!=!=George Brecht=!=!=Universal Machine II=!=!=This object is also sometimes referred to as Universal Machine III, This is due to the fact that the Universal Machine existed first as a unique object , second as an edition (of 100 numbered examples) published by Edition MAT MOT in 1965, and third as a Fluxus Edition.=!=!=Wooden box with printed label, printed sheets, glass, misc. small objects=!=!=20th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=321500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:INV177017_dynmc
41=!=!=Ismail bin Ibrahim Bosnavi (calligrapher, d. 1748)=!=!=Calligraphic Portrait of the Prophet Muhammad, right-hand side of a bifolio from a manuscript=!=!=Copied in naskh script by Ismail Bosnavi, these two facing folios (2002.50.119 and 2002.50.135) contain a hilye (Arabic hilya), or calligraphically rendered description in Arabic of the Prophet Muhammad. The text of the hilye, attributed to Ali, the prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, describes both the physical qualities of the Prophet and his good character. On these pages, this classic text, placed in three roundels (two on the right page and one at the top of the left page) is followed by that of another early Muslim, Jabir ibn Samura: “I saw the Prophet Muhammad at night wearing a red garment and, as I looked at him and at the moon, he appeared more beautiful than the moon.” Beside the large roundels are twelve smaller ones: the one at upper right is inscribed Allah (God), and the rest contain the names of Muhammad (the Prophet); of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali (the rightly guided caliphs), and of the Prophet’s six companions who first accepted Islam as the true religion. Inscribed in the square enclosures that border the two pages are the ninety-nine names of the Prophet. Both pages are decorated with gilded rulings and freehand floral designs.    The back (verso) of the left-hand page records the patrilineal ancestors of the Prophet, starting with Adnan (122 BCE), arranged in the form of a tree. ?Adnan’s name appears at the base of the trunk and Muhammad’s at the top of the tree, within a domed frame suggestive of an Ottoman mosque. The branches of the tree terminate in ten roundels that contain the names of companions who shared Muhammad’s ancestors. Gold floral designs fill the area beneath the branches. The calligrapher’s name appears at the bottom of the page.    The calligrapher Ismail [bin Ibrahim] Bosnavi (from Bosnia) was the son of Noktaci-zade, the top finance officer (defterdar) of Eger, in Hungary. He received his training at the Ottoman court school for the gifted(enderun), in the seferli division, a teaching center for various arts. Specializing in thuluth and naskh scripts, Isma?il received his calligraphic education and license from Ressam Ömer Efendi. He signed his name Isma?il Muhasib, since after his training at the court school he was sent to the provinces as a bookkeeper (muhasib) of the court eunuchs. He copied a Qur?an on the order of Ahmed III (r. 1703–30) and was generously rewarded. His surviving work consists of individual calligraphic specimens and others contained in albums (muraqqa).    Originally, the hilye text was simply written on paper and carried as a protective amulet. In the last quarter of the seventeenth century, the renowned calligrapher Hafiz Osman transformed it into a circular calligraphic composition and included it in a copy of al-An ?am, the sixth chapter of the Qur?an. With representational images of, for instance, Mecca and Medina, hilyes began to be included in various prayer books that contained Qur?anic chapters and prayers. Believed to bring succor in times of difficulty, such prayer books had widespread public appeal. Hilyes created as independent calligraphic compositions became very popular in Ottoman lands during the nineteenth century, and large-format examples were often hung on the walls of Ottoman houses.           =!=!=Ink, gold and silver on paper=!=!=18th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=226500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:73280_dynmc
42=!=!=Christopher Wilmarth=!=!=Sketchbook, (W347.1-102), "Commissions," 1975=!=!=As of 04/30/02:  85/100 pages with drawings  2 extra pages taped into sketchbook  On front cover Wilmarth has written "COMMISSIONS" in black ink.  Inside front cover Wilmarth has written, in black ink: "M.t. Ellen Johnson / Oberlin Museum / Carol Casis."=!=!=Sketchbook with cardboard covers and spiral wire binding=!=!=20th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=207500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:INV037743_dynmc
43=!=!=Maker's mark TP,  two pellets and mullets below, in shield-shaped punch with canted corners at top=!=!=Two-handled Cup and Cover=!=!=Of bulbous circular form, the sides repoussé and chased with flowerheads and wrigglework with a running lion on one side and a unicorn on the other, with two cast caryatid-form scroll handles; the domed cover with conforming decoration and plain flat spool-form finial.=!=!=Silver=!=!=17th century=!=!=2019-05-07=!=!=492500=!=!=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:92516_dynmc