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Art

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This publicationwas madepossible throughthe generosityof the LilaAcheson WallaceFund for The Metropolitan Museumof Art establishedby the cofounderof Reader's Digest.

TheMetropolitanMuseumofArt Bulletin Fall I998 Volume LVI, Number 2 (ISSN 0026-I521) Published quarterly? I998 by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, IOOOFifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10028-0198.

Periodicalspostage paid at New York, N.Y., and Additional Mailing Offices. TheMetropolitan MuseumofArt Bulletin is provided as a benefit to Museum members and is availableby subscription. Subscriptions$25.oo a year. Single copies $8.95. Four weeks' notice requiredfor change of address. POSTMASTER: Send addresschanges to Membership Department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ioo0 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. I0028-OI98. Back issues availableon microfilm from University Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Mich. 48106. Volumes I-xxxvi (I905-I942) availableas clothbound reprint set or as individual yearlyvolumes from Ayer Company PublishersInc., 50 Northwestern Drive #Io, Salem, N.H. 03079, or from the Museum, Box 700, Middle Village, N.Y. I1379. GeneralManagerof Publications:John P. O'Neill. Editorin Chiefof the BULLETIN: Joan Holt. AssociateEditor:Tonia L. Payne. Production:Gwen Roginsky and Rich Bonk. Design:Bruce Campbell Design. Mahrukh Tarapor, Martha Deese, and Sian Wetherill, Coordinators.

All photographs, unless otherwise noted, by The Photograph Studio of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photographers:Susanne Cardone, Joseph Coscia Jr., Anna-Marie Kellen, Paul Lachenauer,Oi-Cheong Lee, PatriciaMazza, Caitlin McCaffrey, Bruce Schwarz,Eileen Travell, Juan Trujillo, and Karin L. Willis. Other sources: photograph by Ali Elai, p. 12 (talismanicshirt); photograph courtesy of anonymous source, p. 33 (FerdinandPlitzner, writing box); photograph courtesy of FraenkelGallery, p. 67 (Adam Fuss, Love);photograph by Gusty Kincaid ? 1988, p. 75 (incense burner). Copyright notices: Henri Matisse, Odalisquewith Gray Trousers(I997.400), p. 62, ? 1998 Succession H. Matisse, Paris/ArtistsRights Society (ARS), N.Y. Lee Krasner,GansevoortI (1997.403.I), p. 63, ? 1998 Pollock-KrasnerFoundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), N.Y. Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar Seatedin an Armchair(1998.23)and Jacquelineas a SpanishBride (I997.90), p. 64, ? I998 Estate of Pablo Picasso/ArtistsRights Society (ARS), N.Y. Odd Nerdrum, Self-portraitwith EyesClosed (1997.348), p. 66, ? I998 Odd Nerdrum. Adam Fiiss, Love(1997.I95), p. 67, ? I998 Adam Fiss. RichardBillingham, Untitled(I997.353.3),p. 67, ? 1998 Richard Billingham. Robert Rauschenberg, GroundRules(Intermission)(1997.203), p. 68, ? I998 Robert Rauschenberg.Terry Winters, Light SourceDirection(I998.I7), p. 68, ? I998 Terry Winters.

On the cover: Claude Gellee, called Le Lorrain, QueenEstherApproachingthe Palace ofAhasverus, see page 29.

Contents

Contributors

Director'sNote

AncientWorld

Islam

MedievalEurope

Renaissanceand BaroqueEurope

Europe I700-I900

North America I700-I900

Twentieth Century

Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

Asia

Contributors

American Decorative Arts NorthAmericaI7oo-I9oo: Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen(ACF), Curator;Frances Gruber Safford (FGS), Curator;Peter M. Kenny (PMK), Associate Curatorand Administratorof The AmericanWing; Catherine Hoover Voorsanger(CHV), Associate Curator. American Paintings and Sculpture NorthAmericaI7oo-I9oo: John K. Howat (JKH), LawrenceA. Fleischman Chairman of the Departments of AmericanArt; H. BarbaraWeinberg (HBW), Alice Pratt Brown Curator;Kevin J. Avery (KJA), Associate Curator;CarrieRebora Barratt (CRB), Associate Curator. Arms and Armor Renaissanceand BaroqueEurope:StuartW. Pyhrr (SWP), Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Curator. Europei7oo-i0oo: StuartW. Pyhrr (SWP). Asia: Donald J. LaRocca(DJL), Associate Curator. Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas Africa, Oceania,and theAmericas:Julie Jones (JJ), Curatorin Charge;Alisa LaGamma (AL), Assistant Curator;Heidi King (HK), ResearchAssociate. Asian Art Asia:James C. Y. Watt (CYW), Brooke RussellAstor Senior ResearchCurator; BarbaraB. Ford (BBF), Curator;Maxwell K. Hearn (MKH), Curator;Suzanne G. Valenstein (SGV), ResearchCurator;Steven M. Kossak(SMK), Associate Curator; Denise PatryLeidy (DPL), Associate Curator and Administrator;Hongkyung Anna Suh (HAS), CuratorialAssistant.

Costume Institute EuropeI7oo-I9oo: JenniferA. Loveman (JAL), Senior ResearchAssistant. North America 7oo-900oo:JenniferA. Loveman (JAL). TwentiethCentury:JenniferA. Loveman (JAL). Asia:JenniferA. Loveman (JAL). Drawings and Prints Renaissanceand BaroqueEurope:Carmen C. Bambach (CCB), Associate Curator;Nadine M. Orenstein (NMO), Associate Curator; Carolyn Logan (CL), Assistant Curator; PerrinStein (PS), AssistantCurator. Europe 1700-oo00: Colta Ives (CI), Curator. TwentiethCentury:Elliot Bostwick Davis (EBD), Assistant Curator. Egyptian Art Ancient World:Dorothea Arnold (DoA), Lila Acheson Wallace Curatorin Charge European Paintings Renaissanceand BaroqueEurope:Keith Christiansen(KC), Jayne Wrightsman Curator;Walter Liedtke (WL), Curator. Europe 700-oo900:Gary Tinterow (GT), EngelhardCuratorof Nineteenth-Century Painting; SusanAlyson Stein (SAS), Associate Curator. European Sculpture and Decorative Arts EuropeI700-9o00: James David Draper (JDD), Henry R. KravisCurator;Clare LeCorbeiller(CLC), Curator;Johanna Hecht (JH), Associate Curator;Jessie McNab (JMcN), Associate Curator; Wolfram Koeppe (WK), Assistant Curator; Marina Nudel (MN), Senior Research Assistant. Greek and Roman Art Ancient World:CarlosA. Pic6n (CAP), Curator in Charge;Joan R. Mertens (JRM), Curator;ElizabethJ. Milleker (EJM), Associate Curator.

Islamic Art Islam:Daniel Walker (DW), Patti Cadby Birch Curatorfor IslamicArt; Stefano Carboni (SC), Associate Curator. Medieval Art MedievalEurope:BarbaraDrake Boehm (BDB), Curator;CharlesT. Little (CTL), Curator;Helen C. Evans (HCE), Associate Curator. Musical Instruments Islam:J. Kenneth Moore (JKM), Associate Curatorand Administrator.Europe 1700-oo00: LaurenceLibin (LL), FrederickP. Rose Curatorin Charge. North America I700-oo00:

Laurence Libin (LL).

Photographs Europe1700-Io00: Maria Morris Hambourg (MMH), Curatorin Charge;Malcolm Daniel (MD), Associate Curator. North America1700-I900: Jeff L. Rosenheim (JLR), Assistant Curator. TwentiethCentury:Maria Morris Hambourg (MMH); Douglas Eklund, Senior ResearchAssistant;Mia Fineman (MF), Jane and Morgan Whitney Fellow. Twentieth Century Art TwentiethCentury:William S. Lieberman (WSL), Jacquesand Natasha Gelman Chairman;LoweryStokes Sims (LSS), Curator;Sabine Rewald (SR), Associate Curator;Lisa M. Messinger (LMM), Assistant Curator;J. StewartJohnson (JSJ), Consultant for Design and Architecture; Jane Adlin (JA), CuratorialAssistant;Jared D. Goss (JDG), Senior ResearchAssistant.

Director's

Note

Once againthisyear'sacquisitionsspanall in this the partsof the globerepresented encyclopedicinstitution,againat a veryhigh levelof distinction.The firstillustrationin the Bulletinis an especially engagingaddition to ourEgyptianbestiary,a rareandgoodheadof the sizedalabaster hippopotamus reign of Amenhotep III (ca. I39I-1353 B.C.).

The other antiquity that I would like to single out is a group of Greek vase fragments that once formed what must have been a huge column-kraterby the majorAthenian painter Lydos. The power and expressiveness of these shardstranscendtheir fragmentary quality, and they should be read as the splendid drawingsthey are.As for the drawings proper, once again the harvestwas nothing shortof spectacular,with some of Europe's greatestartistsentering the collection by virtue of their works on paper.Among them are severalwhose oeuvresare now exceedingly rare,such as Carpaccioand Elsheimer, and alsomasterssuch as Raphael,Parmigianino, Goltzius, Rubens, and Claude Lorrain.In Claude's case, QueenEstherApproaching the Palace ofAhasverusis certainlyone of his finestdrawings.Likewise,one of Caravaggio's most moving late tenebristpaintings, The

Denial of Saint Peter,also entered the collection, and it is a perfectpendant to our much earlierMusicians. In the aftermathof the "Gloryof Byzantium"exhibitionthe permanentcollectionwas enrichedby a numberof objectsof this period in which both the "majuscule"and minuscule standout. In the firstcategoryis a splendid monumentalsixth-centurymosaicdepicting the personificationof Ktisis(Foundation),and in the second, the tiny but ravishinggold-andcloisonne-enameltip of a pointerof the late eleventhto earlytwelfthcentury,which was includedin the exhibition. Once again we were fortunateto benefit fromthe continuedmunificenceof Ambassador and Mrs. Annenberg, as severalmore masterpieces from their collection were given in part to the Museum, notably picturesby Manet, Degas, Gauguin,and Matisse.We owe to Susan and Douglas Dillon's generosity that a fine still life by Mary Cassatt,a great rarity,should come to augment our alreadystrongholdingsof this artist'sworks.I am happyto sayanothermajorAmericanpainting was acquiredlastyearthroughgift, one of Sargent'sgrandand most glamoroussociety portraits,that of Mrs. Hugh Hammersley;it

was given by Mr. and Mrs. DouglassCampbell in memoryof Mrs. RichardE. Danielson. Finally, I wish to single out seventy-eight images from the William Rubel Collection as one of our most significantacquisitionsof photographsin years.This group of pictures, which comprisesthe finest representationof Britain'srich photographichistory in the United States,includessuch majornineteenthcenturyfiguresas William Henry Fox Talbot, David Octavius Hill, RobertAdamson, Roger Fenton, and JuliaMargaretCameron.We are deeply gratefulto the many supporterswho came forwardto help with this purchase, otherwisebeyond this institution'sreach,and praisethe leadershipin this effortof Joyce Menschel. To all donors of worksof art or the funds for their acquisitionI expressmy deepest appreciation.Their generosityis what enables the Metropolitanto maintainits preeminent position as the nation'sgreatestrepositoryof world art.

Philippe de Montebello Director

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ANCIENT

WORLD Oinochoe (jug) Greek,3rd quarterof the 6th centuryB.C. Bronze H. 13/8 in. (4.4 cm) Purchase, Classical Purchase Fund and Shelby White and Leon Levy Gift, 1997 1997.158

The finest Greek vases are characterizedby a shape that is perfectlyadapted to their function, decoration that is organicallyintegrated into the shape, and a three-dimensionality that gives the whole work presence. This oinochoefulfills every criterion impressively. It is one of the most beautiful and complete pieces associatedwith Archaic Corinthian workshops and that found particularfavorin northernGreeceand the Balkans.The boldness of the forms is tempered by the precision and restraintwith which they are executed. The top of the handle shows the bust of a young woman with wavy hair, a necklace, and possiblya headband.Immediatelybehind her, the handle is formed into a trough affordingthe person using the jug a secure grasp.The base of the handle widens into a pendant palmette surmounted by a small panther head in high relief.Everyfiguraland vegetal motif punctuates a structurallysignificant part of the vase and complements the dynamic simplicity of its major surfaces. JRM

Head of a Hippopotamus Egyptian,Dynastyi8, reignofAmenhotepIII (ca. 1391-1353 B.C.)

Egyptianalabaster(calcite)with tracesofgesso and redpigment L. (backtojaw) 6 in. (15.2 cm) Purchase, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, Gift of Henry Walters, by exchange, Ludlow Bull Fund, Beatrice Cooper Gift, and funds from various donors, 1997 I997.375

This extraordinarilylifelike animal head was once part of a hippopotamus statue of about three feet in length. Comparisonswith other sculpturesfrom the period indicate that it was createdduringthe reignof King AmenhotepIII. The seated statues that the king dedicated to the goddess Sakhmet are well known; their feline heads display hollow sinewed cheeks and knobby facial bones very

similarto those on the hippo. Conceivably, the Museum's new piece, which entered the collection of W. FranklandHood in the I85os, originallycame from Amenhotep III's mortuarytemple on the west bank of the Nile near Luxor. Excavatorshave found another, even larger,hippo statue, also of alabaster,at the site. Together with hundreds of other sculptures-many of them representing deities in animal shape-the hippos would have served in ritualsto procuregodlike status for the king. On the undersideof this animal'sjaw is an ancient drill hole. It was made either to receivea metal support for the heavy head or for the insertion of the hook of a harpoon during a ritual performance of a hippopotamus hunt. The paint, tracesof which are preservedin furrowsat the sides of the mouth, also may have been added at this performance,transformingthe white (beneficial)animal into a dangerousred one.

Detailofoinochoe

DoA

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Attributed to Lydos Fragmentary Black-figure Column-krater (bowlfor mixing wine and water) Greek (Attic), ca. 550 B.C.

Terracotta H. (greatestpreserved) 28 in. (71.1cm) Pulitzer Purchase, Joseph Bequest, and Dietrich von Bothmer, Christos G. Bastis, The Charles Engelhard Foundation, and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gifts, 1997 I997.388a-eee

Lydos'sgifts as a draftsmanand storyteller appearcompellingly on this column-krater depicting the returnof Hephaistos to Mount Olympos. Hephaistos, the divine smith, was the son of Hera, who felt such dismay at his having been born lame that she cast him out. For revenge, Hephaistos created a throne that held his mother fast when she sat in it; he alone could liberateher. The vase depicts Dionysos and his followersbringingHephaistos back to free Hera. The smith, riding a mule, looks relativelysober. His escorts are not. Their names, inscribedon the vase, and their

actions have to do with drinking and music making. Of particularnote is Oukalegon ("caringabout nothing"),who has fallen between the legs of the mule; he looks out at us holding a wine cup and the leg of a deer, indicativeof the more violent aspectsof Dionysiac excess.Incomplete though it is, the column-kratershows a majorAthenian painter at his most creative.Moreover,it providesa remarkablecounterpartto the Museum's column-krater (acc. no.

31.II.II)

by the same

artist,on which the same subjectis interpreted with considerablygreatersobriety. JRM

Lid of a Funerary Urn Roman,late Ist centuryA.D. Marble H. 65 in. (i6.8 cm) Inscribedon thefront:D M/SEX FLAVI/ PANCARPI/Q VIXANNLXV (To the spirits of the dead [of] SextusFlaviusPolycarpus,who lived sixty-fiveyears) Purchase, Michael Finkelstein and Sue-ann Friedman Gift, 1997 1997.27I

From the first century B.C. through the first centuryA.D. cremationwas the normal practice in Rome. Marble ash urns were placed in niches recessedin the walls of family mausoleums or in columbaria,communal tombs that could house hundreds of urns in galleries that were often partiallyunderground.The immortalityof the deceasedwas dependent on funerarycult practicesthat included meals taken at the tomb and the sacrificeof food, oil, and wine at certain festivals. This richly carvedlid is fashioned like the

roof of a miniature barrel-vaultedbuilding, giving the impression of a house for the dead within. The two front cornersare decorated with theatricalmasks, and the back corners with palmettes.Although only the name of a man is inscribedon the front panel, the urn must have been made to hold the ashes of a couple: the globe and box of scrolls carvedin low relief on one end indicate the interestsof an educated man, whereas the mirrorand spindle carvedon the other are attributesof a dutiful wife. EJM

Statuette ofJupiter Roman,Antonine or Severanperiod, late 2nd-early3rd centuryA.D. Bronze H. II32 in. (29.3 cm)

Purchase, The Charles Engelhard Foundation Gift and Rogers Fund, 1997 1997.59 Both Asclepius and Jupiter appearregularly in Roman art in the generalguise adopted in our statuette, standing in heroic seminudity with a mantle wrapped around the hips and over the shoulder. However, the swaggering pose of the figure here as well as his luxuriant hair and beard indicate that the sovereign divinity is intended, not the healinggod Asclepius.The iconographyis standard.In his upraisedright hand Jupiter originallyheld a scepter, the symbol of power, and in his lowered, extended left, a thunderbolt, his traditional weapon. The eyeswere once inlaidwith silver,tracesof which remain. The bronze has clearlybeen in a fire that melted away the legs and the lower edge of the drapery.The statuette, which probably servedas a devotional image, combines reminiscences of Classicalforerunnerswith the influence of Hellenistic father-godstatues to create a Roman hybrid that representsan impressive,generic image of the god ratherthan a slavish reproductionof a famous larger-scale work. The bold, decorativestyle of the sculpture vividly exemplifiesthe baroque trends that emerged in the late second century A.D. CAP

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Sultan Mulammad Niir (calligrapher) act. ca. 1490-1530 Anthology of Persian Poetry (bayii) EasternIran (Herat,present-dayAfghanistan), datedA.. 905 /A.D. I499 Ink, gold, and colorson paper;brownmoroccobinding

Art, and Persian Heritage Foundation 1997 (zoGift, 8 x j~ in.

-, &A" Elzli

who signed this manuscripton three leaves,was a pupil of the

Muhammad Suit n Nier,

(d. 1520) and himself became a celebrated THeratartist.The Timurid court at Herat was at its culturaland artisticzenith at the end of the century, when this manuscript ~'~?.i-~.?~_~'~5~ s reading produced.shoc fromr~was Bound in a small and unusual vertical format, this codex has eighty-five leaveswritten in a very elegant, modest-scale nasta'liq ,'~ .~,,:~?~-~.~ script, mostly in black ink but sometimes in ~ or white, depending on the color of the ~,~?~%e ~gold paper. Its leaveswere tinted in beige, green, . ..... <:'" ~:*~and salmon-pink tones and often have steni! " " " " " "ciledbordersin dark colors. The borders include scrolling floral and vine patternsand occasionallyanimals or angels. Some pages were marbleizedwith dark red streaksor ~:?-,:

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orange splotches. ,3~2j

theif~eThis type of manuscript is called baysi in Persian, literally meaning "white":the term denotes a small notepad that opens lengthwise and is carriedin a pocket. Some miniature paintings from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, usually set in romantic moonlit gardens, depict courtly figures frtom such codices, readingpoetryto theirlovers which also included aphorisms,maxims, and amusing phrases. SC

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TalismanicShirt India (NorthIndia or the Deccan), i5th or earlyi6th century Ink, gold, and colorson stifened cotton W 38/2 in. (98 cm) Purchase, Friends of Islamic Art Gifts, 1998

attributedto SultanateIndia and also to the cut-plasterornamentationof the Sayyidand Lodi tombs in Delhi, but an origin in the Deccan cannot be ruledout. DW

I998.I99

Embellishedwith the full text of the Qur'an and also, in the borders,with the ninety-nine names of God and holy sayings, this wellpreservedshirt serveda talismanicfunction for the warriorwho wore it under his armor; it thus protectedhim with the Divine Message in batde. Talismanic shirts are known in versions from Iran, Turkey, and India, but early examplessuch as this are rare. Although technicallya textile, this work speaksmore eloquentlyas a representative of the art of the book: its decorationconsists entirelyof calligraphyand illumination.Especiallyappealingare the shouldercartouches, decoratedwith roundelscontainingcheckerboardpatternsor the name of God, and the two breastroundels,containing the basmala ("Inthe name of God, the Compassionate,the Merciful").In style and colors the shirt bears a close resemblanceto the few manuscripts 12

Kamanche (spikefiddle) Iran, 2nd half of the Igth century Wood,bone,metal,gut, and skin L. 45 in. (Io2.8 cm) Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Thatcher M. Brown III Gift, I998 1998.72 The kamancheis a spike fiddle, an ancient bowed instrument first documented in Persia during the tenth century. Spike fiddles are characterizedby a simple round or cylindrical body pierced by a stick bearingstrings that attach to the spike protrudingbelow the body and to pegs at the upper end of the neck. The strings, sounded by a horsehair bow, are made of silk, gut, metal, or, today, possibly nylon and are supported by a bridge, which in the case of the kamanchehere is aligned at a slight angle near the edge of the centralskin belly. Kamdnchesare used like

newly acquiredkamanche representsan older style, having three gut strings insteadof four of metal, as have been used since the early twentieth century. 'Ihis highly decoratedinstrumentis embellished by mosaic work called khatam-kari.A labor-

geometric patterns. In this example the decorativeiron spike augments the brown, cream, and dark green hues that createhexagonalstarsand lozenge shapes reminiscentof Islamicwall and floor designs.

H. 38X in (97.7 cm) Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1997 I997.150

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This splendid fountain, the lush lotus shape of which reflectsthe organic nature of Deccani architecturalforms and decoration, is a raresurvivorof the monumental metalworking tradition known chiefly from cannons and from representationsof objects in paintings. Once part of an early-seventeenthcentury palace garden, the fountain is a relic from a world that has almost entirely vanished. No Deccani garden of the sixteenth or seventeenth century has survived in anything approachingits original design or condition, and the palacesthat would have shaped the configurationof adjacentlandscapinghave at best survivedas tumbledown ruins. It is nonetheless likely that the fountain was one component in a complex scheme of numerous fountains complementing water channels. A second fountain from the same garden exists in a privatecollection. Identical in technique and manufactureand sharingmany of the decorativemotifs of our piece, including a projectingstem at the base terminatingin a lion, or kirttimukha,mask, the second fountain is basin shaped, as opposed to having the hourglassform seen here, concealingan internal pipe. The variationindicatedby these two examplessuggeststhat additionalcomponents were requiredto complete a largerdesign.

MEDIEVAL

EUROPE

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Personification of Ktisis (Foundation) EarlyByzantine,Ist half of the 6th century Mosaic,marble,and glass 684 x 588s in. (I73.4 x 149.3 cm)

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund and Fletcher Fund, 1998 i998.69 Elaboratemosaics were used to decoratethe floors of privatevillas, public halls, and churchesthroughout the Byzantineempire during the earlypart of the period. Their patterns, drawn from the Greco-Roman tradition of mosaic decoration, came to include personificationsof abstractvirtues. In surviving mosaics where a female figure holds a rod, as here, she is often identified by an inscription as Ktisis, or Foundation. The rod, the measurefor a Roman foot, representsthe donation, or foundation, of a building, and the figure'srichly bejeweleddress signifies the wealth, or ability, to accomplish this task. Here Ktisis wears an elaborate diadem, large pearl earrings,a delicately wrought jeweled necklace, and two brooches. The neckline of her dress also has an elaborately jeweled border.Among the figure'ssimulated gems-and especiallycharacteristicof sixthcenturyByzantinetaste-are roundedblue glass as stonesrepresentingsapphires,or "hyacinths" theywerecalled.The large,softly staringeyes and elaboratehairstyleare typicalof depictions of aristocraticwomen duringthe firsthalfof the sixthcentury,from the female martyrsin the mosaics at Sant'ApollinareNuovo in Ravennato the Ladyof Rank,a marblebust in the Museum'scollection (acc. no. 66.25).

Middle Danube. Among the many types, fibulaelike this one aredistinguishedby the winglikeextensions that flank the knob at the bend of the bow. Here the knob is decorated with a zigzag pattern, and the two wings (one visible here at the top) are each adornedwith two small knobs. As is typical of the few other survivingexamplesof this quality, gold foil sketchily decoratedwith twisted gold wire covers the large trapezoidalcatch plate, except where it is pierced with elaborate openwork patterns.Rounded and rosetteshaped silverstuds also ornament the surface. Five carneliansflank the two openwork designs near the tip of the catch plate-one of linked circles and one of linked hearts. On the basis of burialand pictorial evidence, such wing fibulaewere worn by women in pairson the shoulder, where the intricately pierced catch plates protrudingabove their robes createda delicate patternedeffect.

HCE

Wing Fibula Pannonian,2nd centuryA.D. Silver,gold, and carnelians L. 74

in. (9.6 cm)

Purchase, Alastair B. Martin, William Kelly Simpson, Scher Chemicals Inc., Levy Hermanos Foundation Inc., Shelby White, and Max Falk Gifts, in honor of Katharine R. Brown, 1998 i998. 76

This richly decoratedornament wrought in silver is an exceptional example of a relatively raretype of brooch known as a wing fibula. It is typical of the Roman borderregion called Pannonia, which was establishedalong the

and translucentblue enamels. Ladderlike strips of cloisons in translucentgreen enamel separatethe decorativepatternson the sides and hide the angles of the hexagonal form. The top is a flat dome; the base is finished with alternatinglobes and semicircles.The enameled patternsare similar to designs found in Byzantine manuscriptilluminations of the period. The refinementof the decorationand the outstandingcraftsmanshipsuggest that this is

HCE

Tip of a Pointer Middle Byzantine(Constantinople), late IIth-ist half of the i2th century Goldand cloisonneenamel H. i in. (2.5 cm)

Purchase, Louis V. Bell Fund and Henry G. Keasby Bequest, I997 1997.235

This delicatelywrought and finely detailed tip of a pointer, or, less likely, a scepter, is one of the outstanding examplesof cloisonne enameling produced during the Middle Byzantineera. Intimate in scale, it is entirely covered in elaboratefoliate and geometric designs predominatelyworked in white, red,

one of a small group of works associatedwith the imperialcapital of Constantinople and possibly made for the royal court. While in the possessionof the famed collectorAdolphe Stoclet, the object was describedas a scepter tip. As suggestedby William D. Wixom in his entry on the work for the Museum's exhibition catalogue The GloryofByzantium(I997), this tiny masterpiecewas probablythe end of a long pointer used to assistthe speaker during the public readingof a manuscript. HCE

Standing Virginand Child French(ile-de-Franceor Champagne), mid-I5thcentury Limestonewithpolychromy H. 584 in. (148 cm) Gift of Max and Elinor Toberoff, 1997 I997.125

The cult of the Virgin in fifteenth-centuryFrance inspired artiststo develop innovative variantson the theme of the Virgin as the Queen of Heaven. Here the playful Christ child graspsthe strapon his mother's

Head of a Youth French(Provence,probably fTom Saint-Gilles-du-Gard), mid-I2thcentury Limestone H. 78 in. (I8 cm) Bequest of Meyer Schapiro, I996 I997.i46 The pilgrimagechurch at Saint-Gilles-du-Gardmarks the apogeeof antique influencein Romanesqueart, and this head of a youth, which probablycomes from there, is one of the finest expressionsof this tendency.The articulationof the facewith slightlypouting lips, swelling cheeks,and squarishjaw, the sphericaleyes that slope down, and the wavy hair all point to the hand of a mater carverwho understoodbut thoroughlytransformedthe classicalstyle.The properleft side is partiallyfinished, suggestingthe head belonged to a figureintended to be seen primarilyin profile.The techniqueof delineating the eyes by lightly drillingthe pupils and the gently swellingsurfacesthat producethe sereneexpressionof the face arestylistichallmarksof the Abbey church's principalsculptor,who carvedthe greatSaint Michael reliefon the facade. This sculpturejoins another distinguished Romanesquehead of a youth in the Museum'scollection that comes from Saint Sernin at Toulouse (acc. no. I976.60). Togetherthe two heads revealthe inclinationin Romanesque sculptorsto abstractnaturalforms-here, by interpretingantique models, or, as in the Saint Sernin head, by simplifying and stylizing forms to produce a more expressivequality. %vI

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mantle.In one hand he holds a dove or goldfinch, symbol of the soul and its resurrection. The energeticbird, caught in flight, pecks at the hand of Christ, and, as a Eucharisticreference,nourishesitself upon his blood. The Virgin is dressedin a brocaded chemise under a voluminous manteau with a texturedlining simulating fur. The cloak is decoratedwith an elaborateborder, the raisedinscription of which repeatsthe words "AveMaria."The expansivepresentation allows the figure to move into the viewer'sspace. The large breakingfolds of draperyand the high foreheadof the Virgin link this sculptureto others from the Ile-de-France and Champagne,especiallysculptureassociated with Troyes. However, the pervasive influence of Burgundyand especiallythe sculptureof Jean de la Huerta,who was active in the mid-fifteenth century in the service of Duke Philip the Good at Dijon, can be detectedin the noble proportionsof the Virgin and the plump child.

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CTL

Bible French (Paris), ca. I250-75

Temperaand gold leaf onparchment; 18th-centuryleatherbinding io x 6Y2 in. (25.3 X I6.5 cm) Partial and Promised Gift of John L. Feldman, in memory of his father, Alvin Lindberg Feldman, 1997 1997.320

In the thirteenthcentury Parisbecame Europe'spremier center for the production of illuminated manuscripts.Here were created the so-called University Bibles, made for a wide rangeof clients, including clerics, laity, and students. These books are known for painstakingscribalwork, tiny illustrations characterizedby refineddrawingand remarkable detail, and a palette dominated by blue and pinkish red. This example, createdfor Dominican use and significantlylargerthan most, is richly illustratedwith eighty-one historiatedinitials. The opening for the Book of Genesis (illustratedhere) presentssuperimposed octofoils, representingGod's creation of the universein seven days. At the bottom

of the first column of text-the end of a prologue by Saint Jerome-are images of the crucifiedChrist flanked by the Virgin Mary and Saint John, and, below, a kneeling Dominican brotherat prayer.This solemn scene is balancedby the appearanceof paired dogs and rabbitsalong the upper margin. Sometime after 1325this Bible entered a Carthusianlibraryin the Diocese of Soissons.

Since the fifteenth century it has been treasured for its exceptional quality by celebrated bibliophiles, including Jean Bude, notary and secretaryto Louis XI. (Bude added his coat of arms under the Crucifixion scene.) BDB

RENAISSANCE

Vittore Carpaccio Italian (Venetian?), i460/66-1525/26

Saint Jerome (recto); Soldier with a Spear (verso) Pen and brownink, brushand gray wash, highlightedwith whitegouache,overcharcoal on blue laidpaper (recto);charcoal,highlighted with whitegouache(verso) 68 x 44 in. (I7.4 X 0.9 cm)

Purchase, Harry G. Sperling Fund, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and Fletcher and Rogers Funds, 1998

o998. i4a, b

AND

BAROQUE

(Galleriedell'Accademia,Venice), signed and dated I493. Carpacciooften drew on slightly coarseblue paperto expand the scale of tone, both chromaticallyand texturally.His refined drawingtechniquescan be seen as an equivalent of his innovativemannerof painting in the new oil medium, with sketchy,highly suggestiveeffectsof light and thinly appliedpigments that play off the roughweave of the canvas.As can be deduced from an annotation on the verso, Carpaccio'ssheet of studieswas once owned by the Sagredofamily, the most importantcollectorsof drawingsin eighteenthcenturyVenice.

The kneelingpose of SaintJeromeon the recto of the sheet resemblesthat in Carpaccio's altarpieceat Zadar(Zara)Cathedral(in present-

CCB

day Croatia), painted about I480-95. The

artistadoptedan unusuallypictorialtechnique to drawthe hermit'sruggedanatomicalform, chiselingplanes of light and shadowwith prismatic clarityand rapidlytracingcontourswith scratchy,straightlines. He turned to a considerablysofter,more impressionisticrendering of form for the study on the verso of the sheet. There, the small, partiallycroppedfigure servedfor one of the runningsoldiersin the Martyrdomand Funeralof Saint Ursula

Raphael Italian, b. Urbinoi483-d. RomeI520 Lucretia Pen and brownink overcharcoalon off-white laidpaper;outlinesincisedfortransferwith stylus,versorubbedwith carbondustfor transfer Sheet I518 x ii5

in. (39.6x 29.4 cm)

Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, I997 I997. 53

According to early Roman legend, the noble matron Lucretiacommitted suicide after being raped by Sextus, the son of the tyrant Tarquin the Proud. Her act led to a revolt that brought republicangovernment to Rome. Here the artistrecastthe heroic story to focus on Lucretia'srhetoricalgesture, which establishesher as a model of virtue and heightens the dramaof her death. The pose for her monumental figurewas inspired by a Roman sculpture. Both the emphatic, single contours and the carefulmanner of hatching over a boldly reinforcedcharcoalundersketch are typical of Raphael'slarge-scalepen studies for the Parnassusfresco in the Vatican Palace, begun soon afterhe arrivedin Rome in I508. The giftedBologneseprintmakerMarcantonioRaimondibasedtwo engravings,a Dido and a Lucretia(BartschI55and 187),on this drawingby Raphael,and the designof Lucretia's head is reflectedin anotherengravingof the Roman matron,executedby the Bolognese JacopoFranciain aboutI5Io-II. Considerably largerthan any of the extantprints,Raphael's studyis commensuratewith the scaleof a painting. The evidenceof designtransferon the sheet suggeststhat this was a workingdrawing. CCB

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EUROPE

Francesco Mazzola, called Parmigianino Italian, b. Parma i5o3-d. Casalmaggiore 1540 Mercury Blackchalkon off-whitelaidpaper i28 x 88 in. (30.7 x 20.8 cm)

Purchase, Florence B. Selden Bequest, Jessie Price Gift, and Harry G. Sperling Fund, 1997 I997. 54

Probablydating from the I52os, this precocious life study shows the god Mercury,who can be identified by the winged hat in his right hand. He presumablyholds a caduceus in his left hand. The god's half-seated,halfstanding pose and his elongated torso suggest that the figurewas meant to be seen from below. Earlierin the sequence of preliminary design, a small sketch at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., shows the god's stance in a more agitated contrapposto. The artist'ssoft handling of the chalk, with delicately blended transitionsof tone, even in passagesof hatching, recallsthe sfumato effects of Correggio'sstudies and exemplifies the Emilian tradition of draftsmanshipat its best. Both the beauty of Mercury'sanatomy and his languid pose evoke Michelangelo's nude youths frescoed on the Sistine Chapel ceiling in 1508-12, which Parmigianino

would have experiencedfirsthandduring his Frans Crabbe van Espleghem Netherlandish,ca. 1480-I5s2 Christ as the Man of Sorrows Ca. 1522-25

Engravingand etching 44 X 34 in. (10.9 x 8.2 cm)

Purchase, Gift of Mrs. Gardner Cassatt, by exchange, Charles Z. Offin and John J. McKenry Funds, A. Hyatt Mayor Purchase Fund, Marjorie Phelps Starr Bequest, and Anne B. Stern, Reba and Dave Williams, and David Tunick Gifts, I997 1997.372

Christ's unnaturallycontorted figure typifies Crabbe'swork in its peculiarmelding of medieval Netherlandishstylistic conventions and classicalRenaissanceprinciples.In this modestly proportionedyet immensely powerful etching, Christ, in a traditionaldevotional portrayal,sits at the edge of a sepulchre, clutching the base of the cross. The column

and the scourge, symbols of his flagellation, loom behind. Crabbedistinguishedforms by juxtaposingpatterns:the hatching on Christ's body, the undulating grain of the cross, and the stippled surfaceof the edge of the tomb. Thus, at a time when artistswere still experimenting with the etching technique,he createdan exemplarof the variedtones and texturesthat the printed line can produce. While the abstractionof the composition and its agitatedpatterning-in particularin the loincloth's myriadfolds-are reminiscentof late Gothic art, the source of Christ'spensive pose and muscularbody can be tracedto the German masterAlbrecht Diirer, whose prints were circulatingthroughoutnorthernEurope. Diirer probablymet Crabbeduring a visit to the latter'snative city of Mechelen in I52I. Crabbe'sworksareveryrare;this printis known in only one other impression (Art Institute of Chicago). NMO

sojourn in Rome from 1523/24 to I527.

The Metropolitan Museum drawing may have been a study for a lost painting of Mercuryin chiaroscurothat was listed in the collection of Parmigianino'sfrequentpatron CavaliereFrancescoBaiardoat the time of his death, on September30, I56I. CCB

Hans Burgkmair German, 1473-153I

The Crucifixion 1527

Woodcutin four blocksprinted on eightsheets ofpaper Overall 37 Y x 26 in. (95 x 66 cm)

Purchase, Gifts from Mrs. Gardner Cassatt, Mrs. Francis Ormond, Bessie Potter Vonnoh, William Benton, Donald Silve, William M. Ivins Jr., and Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, and other gifts, bequests, and funds, by exchange, 1997 I997.66

In collaborationwith the prodigiouswoodcutterJost de Negker, Burgkmaircreatedthis remarkablesingle image from four woodblocks pieced together and printed on eight sheets of paper.Active in Augsburgand one of the most significantand ambitious producersof woodcuts in the sixteenth century, Burgkmairdesigned four such eight-sheet woodcuts between 1524and 1527.In addition to The Crucifixion,the Museum also owns the largeAdam and Eve from this group (acc. no. 49.95.I50). LikeAlbrecht Diirer, his close contemporary,Burgkmairwas one of the chief designersof the Holy Roman Emperor

Maximilian I's monumental multisheet triumphalwoodcut ensembles before the monarch'sdeath in I519.Thus, it is hardly surprisingthat the artistwent on to create this and other large devotional prints in the I520s. Unlike his prints of a more intimate scale, Burgkmairintended this exceptionally large and bold devotional image to rivalhis paintings in their breadthand compositional complexity. Largeprints were not normally kept in albumsbut were hung on walls, sometimes in homes, but more likely in public spacessuch as churchesand meeting halls.As a resultthey areextremelyrare;only three other impressionsof this print areknown (British Museum, London; Schlossmuseum,Gotha; and GraphischeSammlungAlbertina,Vienna). NMO

Girolamo Macchietti Italian (Florence),ca. 1535-1592 Seated Youth Red chalk,highlightedwith whitegouache,pale ocherwashon off-whitelaidpaper 634

x 52 in. (17.1 x I3.9 cm)

Purchase, Jessie Price Gift and Rogers Fund, I998 I998.73

A partiallydrapedyoung male assistantposed in the artist'sstudio for this delicatelyexecuted drawing.Macchiettiprobablyfirstbegan to make life studies in red chalk on ocher-washed paper about I570. This study of a youth was done in preparationfor the figure of an onlooker seated on a balustradein the background of the artist'smost celebratedaltarpiece, the Martyrdomof Saint Lawrence (Santa MariaNovella, Florence). The eerily serene beauty of the youth's pose, in lost profile and thus with avertedgaze, counterbalancesthe saint's horrifictorture unfolding below. Painted during the course of just a few months, the altarpiecewas unveiledon May 2I, I573,to greatacclaim.It was praisedby the artist'scontemporariesfor the veristicportrayal of figures,light, and spacewith "amysterious, pleasing quality of color."Among the fervent admirersof Macchietti's altarpiecewas the art criticand eruditeman of lettersDon Vincenzo Borghini, who mentioned it in letters to Macchietti's former master Giorgio Vasari. In 1563,shortly after his return to Florence from Rome, Macchietti had been elected a member of the Accademiadel Disegno, newly founded to promote drawing and design as the foundation of the visual arts. CCB

Agostino Zoppo Italian (Padua), ca. 1520-I572 Chronos Mid-i6th century Bronze H. i8'2 in. (47 cm)

Edith Perry Chapman Fund, 1997 1997.5I2

The Renaissancedeveloped the Greek deity Chronos (Saturnin Latin) into the personification we know as FatherTime, here presented as a winged elder leaning on a crutch. The oversizehands and the scumbled effect of areassuch as the beard, in emulation of Venetian painting, are characteristicof the Paduan sculptorAgostino Zoppo. The style is preciselythat of statuetteshe cast in relief for a monument of 1547in the Palazzodella Ragione, which the Paduansthought they were erecting to their native son the ancient Roman writerTitus Livius, apparentlywithout realizingthat the older epitaph to which the sculptureswere joined actuallyhonors a fourteenth-centuryfreed slave, Tito Livio Halys. Zoppo's bronzes on that monument representEternity and Minerva. Our Chronos no doubt comes from the tomb of an as-yetunidentified Paduan humanist for which classical subject matter would have been devised as an appropriateaccompaniment.A Sibyl in the Metropolitan Museum's collection, less attractivebut exhibiting the same technical featuresas Chronos,almost certainlybelonged to the same dismantled tomb. JDD

Hendrick Goltzius Dutch, 1558-1617

The Prophet Daniel in a Landscape 1589

Pen and brownink, brushand brownwash, heightenedwith white, overblackchalk,on offwhite laidpaper IOJ x

7Y8

in. (26.5 x 18.1 cm)

HG Monogrammed(?) Purchase, Anonymous Gift, in memory of Frits Markus, 1997 I997.I55

The Old Testament prophet Daniel, shown as a young man wearing a Phrygiancap, stands before an expansivelandscapeby the sea. He holds a book in his right hand and gestureswith his left toward four beasts approachingbehind him. In the prophet's vision, as told in the Book of Daniel, a fourheaded leopard, a bear, a winged lion, and a dragonlikebeast emerged from the sea, blown in by the winds. This vision, clearlyshown in the drawing,was interpretedas prophesying the advent of a new Jerusalem,the beasts symbolizing four empires-Persia, Medea, Babylon, and Greece-that would fall.

Goltzius made this drawing as a study in reversefor an engravingattributedto his stepson and pupil, Jacob Matham, part of a seriesdepicting five Old Testament prophets published in 1589.The sculpturaltreatment of the figure,with its elegant proportions and swaying posture, as well as the lively pen work and decorativeplay of wash, reveals Goltzius's interest in Italian Mannerist conventions known to him through drawings and prints. This drawingbeautifullyillustratesthe way in which Goltzius revitalized the languageof prints published in Haarlem in the yearsbeforehis trip to Italy in I590-9I. CL

Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) Italian (Lombard),I571-1610 The Denial of Saint Peter Oil on canvas 37 X 493Y in. (94 x 125.4 cm)

Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1997 1997. 67

When Christ was arrestedhe was taken to the high priest to be judged. In Caravaggio's picture, Saint Peter is shown before a fireplace in the courtyardof the high priest, where a woman accuseshim of being a disciple of Christ. The pointing finger of the soldier and the two pointing fingersof the woman are a condensed allusion to Peter's three denials. This extraordinarypainting, a marvelof narrativeas well as pictorial concision, was painted in Naples shortly before Caravaggio's prematuredeath. Its dark, restrictedpalette and expressivelyvaried, abbreviatedbrushwork contrastwith the descriptivestyle of the

artist'searlier,more familiarRoman paintings, such as the Museum's Musicians(acc. no. 52.8I), and heighten the tragic effect-a characteristicof all of Caravaggio'slate work. The fully illuminated face of Peter is an especiallyhauntingdepiction of guilt and remorse. Nothing certain is known about the picture before this century, but a composition by Caravaggioof this subject and size was owned by the Savelli family in Rome during the seventeenth century. For its economy of means and psychologicalprobity, this picture is a landmarkof Europeanpainting and will be a highlight of the Museum's collection. KC

Peter Paul Rubens Flemish,1577-1640 Susanna Pen and brownink, brushand brownwash, on of-white laidpaper 68 x 6 in. (17.5x 15.4 cm) Purchase, Anonymous Gift, in memory of Frits Markus, I998 1998.74

A story from the Old Testament Apocrypha often depicted in the seventeenth century tells of two elderswho conspired to seduce Susanna,the wife of a wealthyJew in Babylon. They catch her bathing alone, and though she attempts to flee, she fails to do so and is found guilty of adultery.Justice prevailsin the end, however, when the two elders, tried separately,give conflicting evidence and thereby revealSusanna'sinnocence. In this drawing Susannalooks back over her shoulder with an expressionof dismay as one of the old men reachesfor her, his lecherous intentions indicated by his satyrlike

Adam Elsheimer German, 1578-161o

Seated Young Woman and gouacheon light brownlaid Watercolor paper 3 x 27 in. (7. x 7.2 cm) Purchase, Louis V. Bell Fund, Leon D. Black Gift, and Dodge Fund, 1997 I997.373 This grisailleconveys the brooding vulnerability of a young woman sitting alone in an ambiguous setting. The soft lighting, which describesher solemn expressionand posture, adds to the emotive tone. The free brushstrokes-bold gesturesfor a picture so small in scale-are characteristicof the work of Elsheimer,one of the most individual and influentialGermanartistsafterAlbrechtDiirer. Elsheimer'sgrisaillesare very rare,and the purpose for which they were made is not known; however, the artistseems to have favoredthis medium for biblical and mythological subjects.A similarlyposed figure in another grisaillerepresentsBathshebaat the bath, accompaniedby her handmaiden and spied upon by King David. If this drawingis not a study for Bathsheba,it might represent the unsuspectingSusannaat the moment before she is surprisedby the two church elderswho threatenher. CL

features.Rubens made this study about I6o8 in preparationfor a painting now known only through prints and workshop copies. The network of pen lines shows how the artistexploredvariousgesturesfor the figure of Susanna,settling on one in which she reachesacrossfor the draperyaround her hips as she leaps up out of the bath. This action indicates her modesty and at the same time introducesa complex torsion that suggests her wish to flee. Rubens thus brought immediacy and dynamism to this scene-traits that are now consideredemblematic of the period. CL

Alessandro Algardi Italian, b. Bolognais98-d. RomeI654 The Holy Family with Two Angels Blackchalkovertracesof stylusunderdrawing, somepale brownwash,on off-whitelaid paper o14 x 78

in. (26x 20.1 cm)

Purchase, Fletcher Fund, and Mr. and Mrs. David M. Tobey, Susan H. Seidel, and Sayn-Wittgenstein Fine Art Inc. Gifts, I997 1997.374

Full of movement, dramaticlight, and tonal nuance, this late, quite finished composition is among the most ambitious extant chalk drawingsby the artistand can probablybe dated to I650-54 on the basisof style. Exquisitely pictorialpassagesof atmosphericstumping soften the vigorous, plastic handling of the silveryblack chalk, revealingAlgardi's

brillianceas a sculptorof reliefs.Indeed, this sheet may have servedas a detailed demonstrationdrawingfor the composition in relief on a bronze plaquette.The figuresin Algardi's drawingare in the same scale as those in severalextant plaquetteson the themes of the Holy Family and the Rest on the Flight into Egypt. The artistapparentlycalibratedhis mannerof drawingto indicate the surface treatmentintended for the relief, subtly washing the backgroundwith graybrown to evoke the burnishedfinish of the metal and delicately stumping figuresrenderedin chalk to evoke the high polish of their projecting forms. He also suggestedminor background details in the drawingwith a schematic bravuraof line that seems typical of the incisions in his small metal works. CCB 27

Goffredo Wals German,ca. 595/i6oo-ca.1638 A Roman Landscape with Figures Oil on copper Diam. I6 in. (40.6 cm) Wrightsman Fund, 1997 I997. 57

Despite the modest scale of this dreamy landscape,it is the largestof approximately thirty known paintings by Wals. Twice that number were listed in I634 as owned by Gaspardde Roomer, an Antwerp merchant and voraciouscollector living in Naples. It was there that Claude Lorraintrained under Wals for two years (about 1620 and I62I?), accordingto Baldinucci,who wrote of Wals's "much-laudedbrush"about forty yearsafter his earlydeath. Wals was well awareof the pioneering landscapespaintedin Rome by the highly successfulFlemingPaulusBriland by the late GermanAdam Elsheimer(d. I6Io), whose smallworkson copperwere esteemedby artists and connoisseurs.AgostinoTassi, the painter of decorativefrescoeswho was Wals'steacher, adoptedthe northerners'style in cabinetpictures.However,these sourcesand comparison with contemporaryworksdone in Rome by the Dutch landscapistsBartholomeus 28

Breenberghand CornelisPoelenburghdo not prepareone for the freshnessof Wals'svision. Most otherlandscapesof the period,although they were admiredfor theirnaturalisticeffects, shareconventionsof composition,coloring, and otherpropertiesthat make it obvious they were inventedin the studio. It would be tempting to assumethat, by contrast,this picturewas paintedoutdoorsand recordedan actualsite were it not so evocativeof antiquityand tranquilafternoonsin the Roman campagna. WL

Parade Helmet a l'Antique French,probablyParis, ca. I620-30 Steel, brass,paint, and textile H. 1478 in. (37.6 cm)

Purchase, Gift of William H. Riggs, by exchange, 1997 1997.341

A reflection of the classicaltradition in early BaroqueFrance, this paradehelmet with its distinctive arched comb was intended to

evoke the armorof ancient Rome. The comb is pierced with pairs of lacing holes by which an elaboratefeatheredplume must originally have been attached.The colorful effect of the featherswas furtherenhanced by the presence on the helmet of numerous gilt rivet heads and by the use of gold paint to highlight the incised foliate scrolls on the sides of the bowl, the raisedshell-like motifs, and the bands along the edges. The padded lining, remarkably still intact, was originallycoveredwith salmon-pink silk. Undoubtedly createdfor a member of the French court of Louis XIII (r. I6I0-43), the helmet was probablyintended for use in a pageant,ceremonialentry,or carousel Ilantique.Helmets of nearlyidentical design,almostcertainlyfrom the sameworkshop, arein the Musee de l'Armee,Paris,and in the WallaceCollection, London.

Claude Gellee, called Le Lorrain French,i600-1682 Queen Esther Approaching the Palace of Ahasverus I658

Pen and brownink, brushand brownwash, and whitegouache,overblackchalkunderdrawing,with a dark brownink borderon offwhite laid paper IIr x i7% in. (30x 44.4 cm) Signed,dated,and inscribedin pen and brown ink (lowerright):CLaud[illeg.]/I [illeg.]Roma /i658; (bottomcenter):LA REINAHESTER Purchase, The Annenberg Foundation Gift, 1997 i997. 56

This magnificent compositional study, which came to light in the late I98os, stands out in Claude's graphicoeuvre for its high degree of finish and detail. The biblical subject is set in an invented landscapeanimated by a diffuse

naturalisticlight. It was presumablymade as a presentationdrawing for FrancoisBosquet, bishop of Montpellier, who had commissioned from the artista pendant to his Sermon on the Mount (Frick Collection, New York). The resultingpainting-considered by Claude to be his most beautiful-was later largelydestroyed by fire (a fragmentsurvives at Holkham Hall, England). Claude here depicts the Old Testament story of Queen Esther,who went to the king's palace to implore his mercy for her condemned people. As uninvited appearances before the king were forbidden under penalty of death, Esther collapsed in fear as she neared his throne-a scene commonly depicted by Baroqueartists.By choosing instead the moment of Esther'sapproachto the palace-which is not describedin the biblical text-Claude has shifted the focus from the clemency of the king to Esther'sact of braverywhen its outcome was still unclear. PS

Adriaen van Ostade Dutch, I610-I685

Reading the News at the Weaver's Cottage I673

Pen and brownink and watercolor,heightened with white, overtracesofgraphite,on off-white laidpaper in. (24.4 x 20.2 cm) dated (lowerright):Av:ostade.673 and Signed Lore of Heinemann, in memory of Bequest Dr. her husband, RudolfJ. Heinemann, 1996

98 x 8

I997. 17. Io

Within the cozy confines of a cottage, a modest fellow readsthe news from a broadside, while another listens and a young mother feeds her child. Known for scenes that sometimes emphasizethe vulgaraspectsof peasant life in a manner that neverthelessseems true to nature, Ostade here createdan image that celebratesleisure, literacy,and domestic values. The focus is on social interaction rather than the sensual pleasuresof drinking and womanizing. The loom tucked in the background identifies the setting as a weaver'scottage, a referenceto the industrythat brought prosperityto Ostade's native city of Haarlem during the seventeenth century.

While the pen lines areset down in Ostade's typicallysketchymanner,the delicatelyapplied watercolorgives the image a highly finished, jewel-likequality.Ostade made such drawings to be sold on the market,prominentlysigning and dating them. As works on paper,these popularimageswere less expensivethan the oil paintingsthey were made to imitate. Repeatedlyengravedin the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this work was one of the most famous of the finished watercolors that Ostade made between 1672 and I684, toward the end of his life. CL

EUROPE

1700-1900

Claude Gillot French, 1673-1722

The Stalled Procession Brushandgouacheand red washoverpenand blackink underdrawing,onpreparedwhite laidpaper 85

i 33

in.

(22 x 33.5

cm)

Purchase, David T. Schiff and The Charles Engelhard Foundation Gifts, I998 I998.207

Innovativein termsof both iconographyand manner,Gillot's work constituteda major impetus for the developmentof the Rococo style. His mergingof establishedpictorial traditionswith humorouselementsborrowed from theaterand contemporarylife prefigured the enigmaticfetes galantesof his famous studentAntoine Watteau, as did his figures, which rangein demeanorfrom base to refined. Satyrsclearlyappealedto Gillot, and he showed them in situationsthat areoften more suggestiveof the comic stagethan of antique sources.In this case a cartbearinga female faun has become stuck in the mud, causinga

congestion of revelersto the rear.Under the whip of the faun driver,four satyrsstrain unsuccessfullyto free the wheels. The humor lies in encounteringsuch mundane mechanical difficultiesin the mythologicalrealm. Despite the playful irreverenceof the subject, Gillot has renderedit with impressive technical mastery.The monochromatic palette of red wash and white gouache is fully exploited, lending the scene a painterlyluminosity, from the pearlyglow of the female faun to the ruddy tones of the satyrsand the shadowygrovefrom which they have emerged. PS

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 速 www.jstor.org

TimeRavishing Youthand Beauty GermanorAustrian,ist half of the i8th century Ivory H. InI in. (29.4 cm)

Purchase, Blumka Gallery, Alexis Gregory, and Alexis Gregory Foundation Gifts, and Promised Gift of Alexis Gregory, 1998 i998.II6

This remarkablyambitious allegoricalcarving presentsthe morose and grizzledwinged figure of Time in the act of seizing the voluptuous open-mouthed Beauty, leaving behind her wanly protestingcompanion, Youth. The animated spirit of the group, the sinuous beauty of its intricatecomposition, and the enchanting characterizationsof its principalactors rivet the onlooker's attention in an extraordinaryfashion, given the group's small scale. During the late seventeenthand early eighteenthcenturiesin Germanyand Austria a few virtuosoivoryworkersdelightedin the challengeof extractingintricatecompositions from a single precioustusk, delineatingminute anatomicalfeatureswith exquisiteprecision. Here the carverhas also exploited the natural textureof the ivorygrainto stressthe contrast of bony old fingersagainstyouthful flesh and to evoke the nervoustextureof hair. The composition derivesfrom a large lateseventeenth-centurysculptureat Versailles representingBoreasand Orithyia. However, in alteringits subject to expressa melancholy fact of life, the artisthas transformedthe characterof the group, couching its evident eroticism in a quasi-moralizingguise. JH

Ferdinand Plitzner German, 1678-I724

Writing Box Eyrichshof(Franconia), ca. 1715-20

Oak, cedar,exotichardwood,and ebonized fruitwood;marquetryin pewter, brass,and and silver tortoiseshell; W. n4

Schonborn dynasty, for whom he created ceremonial furnitureand one of the most importantmonuments of the late Baroque period in Germany:the intarsiapanels for the mirroredroom at PommersfeldenCastle in Franconia. WK

in. (29.7 cm)

Partial and Promised Gift of an Anonymous Donor, in memory of Walter E. Stait, 1997

I997.4I During the seventeenthand eighteenth centuriesluxuriousboxes,similarto this one, that held writingand sealingimplementshad an obligatoryplacein the ceremonialsetting of everyCentralEuropeancourt.The elaborate decorationand preciousnessof the materials reflectedthe owner's aristocraticstatus. Although frequentlymentioned in contemporaryinventories,such stately boxes have rarelysurvived the changing writing habits of later generations. This refined box shows a hitherto-unidentifiedmonogram, incorporatingthe lettersLG beneatha count's coronet; it is the only box of this type currentlyknown of German origin. Plitznerwas the most important German cabinetmakerof the earlyeighteenth century. His works revealperfect masteryof contemporaryFrench design and cabinetmakingespeciallyevident in the box's complicated marquetry,which is influencedby LouisXIV's great furnituredesigner,Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732). Among Plitzner's main

noble patronswere severalmembersof the

Jonas Schertiger the Younger (gunstocker) Swedish(act. i7i5-d. I748) Snaphaunce Hunting Rifle Stockholm, dated 1722

Steel, walnut, brass,and horn L. 4338 in. (117.8 cm)

Engraved:SCHERTIGERFECITI722. Purchase, Gifts of Albrecht Radziwill and Charles M. Schott Jr., by exchange, and Rogers Fund, 1997 1997.356

One of the finest known Scandinavian snaphaunces,this rifle exemplifiesthe diverse influencesshapingfirearmsdesignin eighteenthcenturySweden.The gun'sslenderproportions and small-caliberbarrelaremodeled afterthe Silesian Tschinkerifle;the prominentcheek stock is typicallyGerman,yet the flat-faced lock copies Frenchmodels. The form of lock mechanism,on the other hand, is unmistakably Swedish,the snaphauncetraditionally

being favoredin Scandinaviaover the wheellock and flintock commonly used on the Continent. The decoration,consistingof engravedopenworkbrasssheet inlaid flush into the stock, reflectsboth Germanand FrenchBaroquedesignsbut without apparent referenceto the engravedgunmakers'patternbooks that were influentialthroughoutmost of Europe. A gunstockerby trade,Jonas Schertiger the Youngerwas a member of the Stockholm cabinetmakers'guild. His name is prominently engravedon the brassinlay on the rifle'scheek. The sideplate includes a blank escutcheon surmounted by a royal crown, perhapsindicating that this gun was intended for the hunting cabinet of FrederickI of Sweden (r. 1720-51). SWP

Carlo Antonio Testore Italian (Milan), act. I720-60 Violin I737 Maple andpine L. (approx.)223 in. (58.4 cm) Bequest of Charles William Jones, 1997 I997.237.I

Beginning in the late seventeenth century, three generationsof Testores produced violins in Milan at their workshop under "The Sign of the Eagle."Carlo Antonio, foremost of the second generation,learnedhis craft from his father, Carlo Giuseppe, who in turn derivedhis style from his master, Giovanni Grancino.Judging from the ordinaryquality of their materialsand workmanship,these Milanese luthiers serveda less-demanding clientele than did their Cremonese contemporaries,the Amati and Stradivari.However, many Testore instruments,such as this wellpreservedexample, sound fine. The first from Milan to enter our collection, it has a top of pine and a two-piece back of quarteredmaple displayinga broad, curling figure descending from right to left; the characteristicscroll is of unfiguredmaple. As usual in instrumentsof this age, the neck is not original, having been graftedonto the pegbox probablyin the nineteenth century. The orange-brownvarnish appearsto be mostly original. Now set up with modern fittings, including the fingerboard, tailpiece, bridge, and tuning pegs, the violin has a strong, warm tone. It was the favoriteinstrument of the composer Charles WilliamJones,whose recentbequestincluded a violin by FrancoisPique (which joins a Pique violoncello in our collection) and three elegant French bows. LL

Andrea Boucheron Italian, ca. 1702-1761

Inkstand Turin, ca. 753 Silvergilt L. I3 in. (3 cm) Wrightsman Fund, 1997 I997. 5i. Ia,b-.4

In thisvirtuosicexecutionof spiralingscrolls Boucheronhas definedthe French-oriented characterof the Rococostylein Turin.Although moresolid and robust,our inkstandrecallsone madein Parisin 1746-47 by the courtsilversmith Thomas Germain. Boucheron may have known this piece, as he is said to have trained in Germain'sstudio in the I73os and is shown in a laterportraitsurroundedby examplesof Germain'ssilver.The actualmodel of the Museum's inkstand is not necessarily Boucheron's,however, and may well have been the creationof his compatriotFrancesco Ladatte(1706-1787), who had practicedas a designerand sculptorin Parisbeforereturning to Turin in I744. Both artistsworkedfor the courtof Savoy-Ladatte as sculptor,Boucheron as silversmith-and they areknown to have collaboratedon at leastone occasion. That our piece was destined for the court is evident from the coat of arms of the House of Savoy engravedon the stand beneath the

bell. It is presumablyone of the many inkstands Boucheron is recordedas having made for the royal family. CLC

Gaspero Bruschi Italian, ca. I701-1780

After a model by Giovanni Battista Foggini Italian, 1652-1725

The Rape of Proserpina Florence(Docciafactory),ca. Hard-pasteporcelain

75o

H. I93 in. (49.2 cm)

Purchase, Gift of Irwin Untermyer, by exchange, 1997 '997.377 Pluto has swept up Proserpinafrom the field where she was gatheringflowersand is plunging down with her to Hades. The dramatic force of the composition, which seems to burst forward,is characteristicof Foggini, whose use of multiple diagonalshas createda sense of urgent action. The group was originallyexecuted in bronze about I690. Our version is one of many examplesof Florentine Baroquesculpture later translatedinto porcelainat Doccia at the direction of Carlo Ginori. His collection of casts and molds, acquiredfrom the sculptorsor their heirs, provided the basis for his factory'sinnovative repertoire. Accordingto the factory'sarchives,a wax model of the group was bought from Foggini's son in 1749.There are differencesin position and draperydetailsin our example,however, that indicatethe intermediatehand of Gaspero Bruschi,masterof the sculpturestudio. CLC

Ernst Gottlob Borns German,baptizedApril 4, 1730; d. 1782 Coffepot and Hot-Milk Pot Bautzen,ca. i765-7o Silverand beech H. (coffeepot)8'2 in. (21.6cm); h. (milkpot) 6'4 in. (i.9 cm) Purchase, The Lesley and Emma A. Sheafer Collection, Bequest of Emma A. Sheafer, by exchange, 1997 I997.412.I,.2

Both pieces bear the maker'smark EGB, which recent researchidentifies as belonging to the goldsmith Ernst Gottlob Borns of Bautzen, a city east of Dresden in Saxony. For both pots Borns took the standard eighteenth-centurywaisted-barrelbody form and enlivened it with a playful varietyof surfacemodeling that emphasizesboth the malleabilityand light-reflectivequalitiesof the silver.The superb technique and the flamboyanceof the design make these pieces exemplarydocuments of the distinctive Saxon interpretationof German Rococo. Remarkabledetailsarethe rocaillesof flamelike appearancesurroundingthe base,thus teasingly evokingthe flamesof a burner,and the carved wooden handlesechoing the embossedelongatedC-scrollsof the silverbodies.Also characteristicis the tension betweenpolishedplain surfaceareasand articulatingrocailleand floral reliefelements.This stylewas developedand dominatedby Dresdencourt craftsmenunder the patronageof FriedrichAugust II, electorof Saxonyand king of Poland (I696-I763), and his influentialprime minister,Count Brihl. Relatedformswere also employedin products of the nearbyMeissenporcelainfactory. WK

John Kentesber English,fl. 1757-82 Pair of Sauceboats London,1768-69 Silver H. 432 in. (1. 4 cm) Gift of Suzanne dePeyster and Valerie dePeyster, 1997 I997.489.15,.I6

Modest though these sauceboatsseem in both scaleand form, theirsimplicitywas plannedto suggest the classicalaskos,a container for liquids. In antiquity the askoswas made from a whole goatskinand had, naturally,a swelling,bulging shape and a drawnup neck, all in one piece. Alreadyin antiquity the form was mimicked in metal. The sauceboats are thus examplesof the arrivalin silver of the Neoclassical taste, which not long before in England had capturedthe interest of architectsand their clients. The feet and handles, however, are carryoversfrom the earlierRococo style. JMcN

(Justiceand Prudence), in the then-current Neoclassical style. The remainingsurfacesare enlivened by concave gadroons, a holdover from the preceding Rococo. The goldsmith or chaserremainsanonymous, whereasthe cutler, or fourbisseur,who assembledand retailedthe piece has stamped his mark in severalplaces:the letters GG separatedby a sword, the point upward,surmounted by a crown, with a dot above each letter. SWP

Embroidered Panelfrom a Setfor a Dress (detail) Italian, ca. 1780 Green-yellowsilk satin withpink, green,and ivorysilkfloss and silversequins Overall 68 x 22 in. (170 55 cm)

Purchase, Fletcher Fund, by exchange, and Irene Lewisohn Charitable Trust Gift, 1998 i998. i9Ia-d

The shimmering silk has been embroidered a la disposition,that is, following the contours dictated by the projectedapplication, and is readyto be cut and sewn into a gown and

petticoat. Two side skirt panels (a detail of one is pictured), a single petticoat panel, and a length of yardagefor the skirt back, bodice, and sleeves are all sumptuously worked with silk floss accented by tiny silversequins to depict meticulously arrangedivory ribbon swags and abstractfloral spraysin pinks and greens. Although clients could specify colors, applied decoration, and styling, more often a dressmakingworkshop would provide a variety of alreadyembroideredpanels from which the customer could select. Needlework designs, often adapted from pattern books, were transferredto the textile by pouncing, dusting over a pricked cartoon to leave dotted guidelines. The resultingdots were traced with ink for permanenceduring working. The open robe and petticoat-heavily embellishedwith trimmings,a stomacherfront panel, and lace accessories-was the dominant form of dressfor women in the eighteenth century.Becauseof the sumptuousnessof the silk and the formalityof the embroidery,these panelswere probablymeant for a robe a la franfaise,the expansiveand flowing back and skirtsof which would be an excellentvehicle for the embroiderer'sart. JAL

Smallswordwith Scabbard French(Paris),hallmarkedfor1773-74 Gold,steel,wood,andfish skin L. (in scabbard) 385Yin. (98. cm)

Purchase, Annie Laurie Aitken Charitable Lead Trust Gift, and Gift of William H. Riggs, by exchange, 1998 b o998.35a,

Smallswords,like snuffboxes,were an essential element of male costume in the eighteenth century, and their hilts were likewise appreciatedas masculinejewelry,made of everypossible medium and subject to a wide varietyof decoration accordingto the whim and wealth of the owner. Smallswordswith hilts of varicoloredgold are infinitely rarer than boxes of the same metal, and wellpreservedexampleslike this one, retainingits originalcrisp chasing, are exceptional. The hilt and matching scabbardmounts of yellow and green gold are cast and chased with medallions enclosing profile heads and seatedfiguresof gods (Mars,Minerva,Jupiter, and Hercules) and personificationsof virtues 37

Philippe-Laurent Roland French, 1746-1816

Self-portrait Ca. 1780-85

Marble H. (including socle) 2o4 in. (52.7 cm) Purchase, The Annenberg Foundation Gift, in honor of Mrs. Charles

Wrightsman, 1998 1998.64

Roland, the most gifted pupil of Augustin Pajou and the teacherof Pierre-JeanDavid d'Angers,occupies a place near the origins of modern French sculpture.His Neoclassical style, far from neutral, is informed throughout with flashesof personalityand an inviting tendency to abstraction,as in the seriesof arcswith which he constructedhis own likeness. The spiritedfeaturesof the self-portrait, which descended in his family, are younger but otherwiseidentical to those in a painting Vincent and a posthumous by Franqois-Andre medallionby David d'Angers.Afterthe Louvre, the MetropolitanMuseum is the best place to view Roland'sworks:the marbleself-portrait joins his terracottahalf-lengthfigureof a sleeping boy, a pairof gilt-wood overdoorswith eaglesfrom the chateaude Bagatelle,a marble roundelwith the profileof LouisXVI, and the celebratedterracottastatuetteof a frenzied bacchanteridinga goat. JDD

Louis-Simon Boizot (possible model designer) French,act. 1773-I809 Jean-Jacques Lagrenee (probable decoration designer) French,act. 1785-800o Bowl Sevres,1787 Hard-pasteporcelain W. 9/ in. (24.1 cm)

Purchase, Mrs. Sid R. Bass Gift, in honor of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, and Anonymous

Gift, 1997

1997.518

The cool elegance of its decoration admirably suits this bowl, which was made for MarieAntoinette's dairy at Rambouillet. By late 1784 the painter Hubert Robertwas engaged in designing the gardensof the chateau, which included a dairy pavilion where visitors could refreshthemselveswith ice creams and fruits. The bowl must have been completed by 1787,when the first of the queen's porcelainswere delivered. The service,now known only from factory drawingsand a very few survivingpieces,

reflectsthe interest at the time in what waIS called the "Etruscan"style, a melange of shapes and decorativemotifs borrowedfroom classicalantiquities as known from engravrings of the excavationsat Herculaneum and frlom privatecollections. In 1786 the diplomat and future museum directorBaron Dominiquie Vivant Denon sold 525"Etruscan"vases to the king, who had them deposited at Sevrres for instructionalpurposesthe same year. The design of our bowl, composite in both forrm and decoration, is at once evocativelyclas,sical and unmistakablyFrench. CLC

Nikolai Stepanovich Vereshchagin Russian,I770-documented1813 Pair of Vases Arkhangel'sk,ca. I795-I800 Walrusand elephantivory H. 85 in. (22 cm)

Purchase, Friends of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Gifts, 1998 i998.i3.I,.2

The art of bone-carvingin Russia is inseparably linked with the remote northernwhaling city of Arkhangel'sk.Lack of academic training and his humble position in a customs office were not impediments to the most widely recognizedArkhangel'skbone carver, Nikolai StepanovichVereshchagin,whose vases were commissioned as ambassadorial gifts of state and for the personalcollection of CzarAlexanderI. The oval body of each of these examples in the Neoclassical style is decorated with an ajoure'(pierced) decoration, four circular medallions in relief, and a finial surmounted by the figure of Atlas. The design of the energeticallycurving floral stalks resembles ornament found in seventeenth-century Russian book illustrations, and the Four Elements-one in each medallion-were inspired either by the "Frankish"prints circulating in Russia since the seventeenth century or by images from the Book of Symbols and Emblemscommissioned by Peter the Great in 1703 in Amsterdam.

This elegant pair of vases is a particularly fine example of the work of Vereshchagin. "The noble and calm simplicity"of their form and the exquisite carvingblend well with some stiffness in the renderingof the human bodies, which only adds to this artwork an air of soft, intimate charm. MN

Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson French, I767-1824

Study for "Portrait of an Indian" Oil on canvas I6x I2 8 in. (4o.6x 32.7 cm)

Purchase, Gift of Joanne Toor Cummings, by exchange, I997 I997.37I Girodet-Triosonwas, afterIngres,the most gifted painterto emergefrom the studio of Jacques-LouisDavid. Returningto Parisin I795, aftera stay at the FrenchAcademy in Rome, he developed a style markedby literarypreciosity,imaginativepictorialeffects, and exotic subjectsand settings. This small, jewel-like painting is the sketch for a life-sizeportraitnow at the Musee Girodetat Montargis.When the largercanvas

was sold at the posthumousauction of the contents of Girodet'sstudio, it was catalogued as a "portraitof an Indian"and dated I807. The richlycolored costume, however,is Ottoman, not Indian. GT

Gilles-Lambert Godecharle Belgian, I750-1835

Victory Alighting on Earth Terracotta H.

2Iz

in. (54.7 cm)

Signedand dated1809 Purchase, Gift of Irwin Untermyer, by exchange, 1998 I998.65

The Paris-trainedGodecharlebecame the most importantNeoclassicalsculptorof Belgium. This enchantingstatuetteservedas the model for a relativelystolid marblestatue that stands in a niche in the royalpalaceof Laeken.Orderedat a time when the emperor Napoleon I included Laekenamong his possessions,the figureis to be understoodin the context of Frenchvictories, self-congratulatory as interpreted bringingpeace to the world, or at least that part of the world upon which this winged Victory alights-the orb is inscribed with the names of countriesof the Mediterranean, including Portugaland Spain, where Napoleon's vast designs by this time had in fact been stymied. Our terracottagirl formerly graspedan olive branchof peace along with the draperyin her loweredhand, while the upraisedhand once brandisheda trumpet. JDD

Emile-Jean-Horace Vernet French,1789-1863 Jean-Louis-Andre-Theodore Gericault (1791-1824)

Oil on canvas i85 x i58 in. (47.3 x 38.4 cm)

Purchase, Gift of Joanne Toor Cummings, by exchange, 1998 1998.84

In the earlyI820S Parisiancriticswere hardpressedto decide which young painterhad greaterpromise,HoraceVernet or Theodore Gericault.This work is the homage of one

close friendand friendlyrivalto the other. It shows Gericaultas a Romantic artist,a type that had only recentlybeen developedin the wake of Byron'sfusion of life and art. It is the portraitthat recordedGericault'sappearance for futuregenerations. Vernet depicts Gericaultdeep in thought and possibly sufferingphysicallyas well. It was probablypainted in Parisin 1822or early 1823, when the young Gericaultwas stricken with the diseasethat claimed his life in 1824. In a lithograph made by Vernet in I823 Gericaultwears the same scarfon his head. GT

David Octavius Hill British, 1802-1870

Robert Adamson British, I821-I848

Newhaven Fishwives Ca. I845

Saltedpaperprintfrompaper negative IIn8 x 88 in. (29.5 x 21.7 cm)

The Rubel Collection, Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace, Harriette and Noel Levine, and Alexandra R. Marshall Gifts, 1997 1997.382.1I

Among the first to produce a large body of self-consciouslyartisticphotographs,the painterHill and the photographerAdamsonare bestknown for the hundredsof Rembrandtesqueportraitsmadeduringtheirbrief but prolific partnership.This image is part of a social-documentaryproject-the first in photography-that the team carriedout in Newhaven and other small but vital fishing

towns near Edinburgh.Becausetheir early paper-negativeprocesscould not recordthe fishermenat sea, Hill and Adamson focused instead on Newhaven's fishwives;dressedin traditionalstriped aprons and woolen petticoats, the women baited lines, unloaded and cleaned the catch, hauled the laden willow basketsup the hill to Edinburgh,and hawked their fish. In the age of the IndustrialRevolution and its attendant social problems Hill and Adamson presentedNewhaven as a model community bound by tradition, honest labor, and mutual support-qualities emphasizedby the carefulposing of figures and by the graphicstrength and gritty effect of the medium itself. This rarelarge-formatprint and twentyfive other exquisitelypreservedphotographs acquiredby the Museum were among those that Hill selected as his finest achievements, assembledin albums, and presentedto the Royal Scottish Academy in I852.

Roger Fenton British, I819-1869

September Clouds 1858-59 Saltedpaperprintfrom glassnegative I23

x I7A2 in. (31.4 x 44.3 cm)

The Rubel Collection, Purchase, Anonymous Gift, Curator's Discretionary Grant from The Judith Rothschild Foundation, and Thomas Walther Gift, 1997 1997.382.35

The towering figure in British photography of the I85os, Fenton championed the medium's place among the fine arts and mastered all its genres, including architecture,landscape, reportage,still life, and tableau-vivant. Unlike the immensely popular and widely distributedseascapesof his French friend and counterpartGustave Le Gray, with their theatricalsleight of hand (dramaticskies printedfrom a second negative),Fenton's expansivecloudscapesare intensely felt private meditations upon nature, printed once and kept in his personalalbums. The descendantof Constable'scloud studies and Turner'sexplorationsof atmosphere and light, SeptemberCloudsis so minimal and moving that it seems to hover between the visible and the imagined. Fenton infusedhis landscapeswith a distinctlyEnglish reverence for the observableworld, recognizing,like Wordsworthat Tintern Abbey, "In natureand the languageof the sense, / The anchorof my purestthoughts, the nurse, / The guide, the guardianof my heart,and soul / of all my moral being."Such photographswere among his last;within a few yearsFenton sold his equipment and negativesand gave up photography,as if, having achievedthe sublime, he found no furtherchallengein this art. MD

Charles Negre French, 1820-1879

Refectory at the ImperialAsylum, Vincennes I858-59

Saltedpaperprintfrom glassnegative I32 x I64 in. (34.2 X 42.5 cm)

Gift of Hans P. Kraus Jr. and Mariana Cook, in honor of Andre and Marie-Therese Jammes, 1998 I998. 32

Gatheredin the light-drenchedrefectoryof a newly constructedconvalescenthospital on the outskirtsof Paris,patients and staff alike turned their eyes and attention to the man with the enormous cameraat one end of the room, CharlesNegre. The resultingimage, here in a rareunmounted and unretouched proof print from the artist'sstudio, is the largestand most engaging in a seriesof photographsthat Negre was commissioned to make as documentation and celebrationof the ImperialAsylum at Vincennes, a charitable institution establishedby Emperor Napoleon III to provide those injuredon the constructionsite or in the factory-"the worker'strue field of honor," in the words of one of Napoleon's ministers-with care comparableto that given to the nation's military veterans.Trained as a painter in the same studio as Roger Fenton and Gustave Le Gray, Negre was one of the era'smost skilled photographersof architecture,possessinga particularsensitivityto the ways in which light and shadow animated the surfacesof centuries-oldmonuments. Here he seized upon the streamingsunlight as a vehicle to enliven the structureand texture of his picture and to suggest enhanced activity and health in the hospital inhabitants. MD 43

Julia Margaret Cameron British, 1815-r879

Zoe, Maid ofAthens Probablyi866 Albumensilverprintfrom glassnegative II

x 98 in. (3o. x 24.5 cm)

The Rubel Collection, Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee, and Muriel Kallis Newman Gifts, 1997 1997.382.38

A highly intelligent and deeply spiritual woman who appreciatedthe complexities of life, religion, poetry, and art, Cameron counted among her mentors and models many of the greatestminds of Victorian England-Tennyson, Herschel, Darwin, Ruskin, Carlyle,and others. When her children gave her a camerain I863, she strove to expressbiblical and literaryideals of innocence, wisdom, piety, or passion that she saw embodied in her family and friends, rather than aiming for preciselikenessesas did most professionalportraitphotographers. Here Cameron'ssitter was May Prinsep, her sister'sadopted daughter.By allowing Prinsep'sslight movement and by intention-

ally softening the focus, Cameron instilled a sense of breath and soul into this apparition, for the true subject of her photographwas a poetic evocation of love and longing. "Maid of Athens, ere we part, / Give, oh, give back my heart!"begins the verse composed by Lord Byron as he departedGreece in I8Io. In the poem that inspired Cameron, Byron swears By those tressesunconfined, Wooed by each Aegean wind; By those lids whose jetty fringe Kiss thy soft cheeks' blooming tinge; By those wild eyes like the roe, Zoe mou sas agapo [My life, I love you]. MD

Nadar (Felix Tournachon) and Adrien Tournachon French, 1820-1910; 1825-1903

Pierrot Laughing (Charles Deburau) 1854-55

Gelatincoatedsaltedpaperprint (verniscuir) Io0- x 78 in. (27.3 x 19.8 cm)

Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, I998 1998.57

The great mime Baptiste Deburau acted at the Theatre des Funambules in Paris, and after his death in I846 his son Charles, who looked just like him, continued the tradition. The Deburaus transformedthe commedia dell'artecharacterPierrot, a base and thieving knave, into a modern free agent, whose clever, quicksilvermaneuveringappealed not only to the lower classesbut also to the literati. Gautier, Champfleury,Baudelaire, and George Sand saw Pierrotas a metaphor for the creativeartist-autonomous, ironic, and endlessly imaginative. Also in the theateraudiencewas a journalist, caricaturist,and photographerwith the pseudonymNadar. In the fall of 1854he asked CharlesDeburauto pose for a seriesof photographsto publicizethe new studio he had establishedwith his brother,Adrien,but shortlyafterthe brilliantsessionthe brothers acrimoniouslysplit up. The Deburauseries was an immediatehit and won a gold medal at the ParisExpositionUniverselleof I855;ironically, the prizewas awardednot to Nadar but to his brother,who was just the sort of slippery roguePierrotrepresented.Here Pierrot,having eaten his fill or perhapsstolen a kiss, is feelingdevilishlygood and savorshis fortune MMH with characteristicwaggishness.

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas French, 1834-1917

The Infanta Margarita, after "Velizquez" 1862-64

Etchingand drypoint,secondstate 64 x 4 in. (17 x 12 cm) Purchase, R. W. Moncrief Gift, in honor of Janet Ruttenberg, and A. Hyatt Mayor Purchase Fund, Marjorie Phelps Starr Bequest, 1997 1997.240

The cataloguerof Degas'sprints, Loys Delteil, tells the story of Manet's and Degas's first meeting before a painting in the Louvre. Both artistsmade etched reproductionsof the Spanish portraitthought then to be by Velazquez (now attributedto Velazquez's workshop).Accordingto the anecdote,Manet

expressedsurprisethat Degas drew directly on his etching plate while standing in front of the painting. It was Manet's custom to producea preliminarydrawing,which was laterreversedso that the printedversionwould face in the same directionas the original. Degas's etched Infantashows the painting the wrong way, but that inaccuracyseems not to have concernedhim, as he sought mainly to reproducethe affecting awkwardnessof the shy princess,posed stiffly in her regaldress. Where Manet, in his copy, gave force to the composition's structureand brillianttonal contrasts,Degas dwelled on details that would imitate the Spanish picture'sdelicate and varied textures.Only two impressionsof his etching are now known. CI 45

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas French, I834-I917

At the Milliner's i88i Pastelonfive piecesof wovepaper, backedwith paperand laid down on canvas 274 x 27

in. (69.2 x 69.2 cm)

Signed(lowerright):Degas The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Partial Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 1997 I997.39I.

Recent researchhas determined that this remarkablepicture was the first of Degas's seriesof pastelsof millinery scenes. Like halls and racetracks,millinery dance-rehearsal shops provided Degas with unusual poses and distinctive color combinations. The psychologicalcenterof this pictureis the attentiveeye of the woman at the left, as she assessesthe impactof the hat being triedon by the woman at right.The compositionalfulcrum of the highly finishedpastelis the right elbow of the hatlesswoman, which bringsthe two togetherin an intimatemoment of unified purpose.The scene is set in a genericbut

elegantshop, with upholsteredsettees,parquet floors, tall mirrors,and plants in largeceramic pots. Degas was taken to such establishments by his tirelessfriend Mary Cassatt,who posed for at least one millinery picture, which belongsto the Metropolitan(acc.no. 29.100.38). All of the millinery pastels are richly worked in sumptuous harmonies,with bright ribbons and featherssetting off subdued streetclothes. Emile Zola and like-minded Realistwriters soon discovered,as Degas had, that the drama of modernlife took placein unexpectedcorners such as this. GT

Atelier of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (French, I827-I875)

La Negresse Auteuil, dated 1872 Castterracotta H. 24 in. (6i cm)

Gift of James S. Deely, in memory of Patricia Johnson Deely, 1997 1997.49I

Carpeauxand his atelierworked up a successful commercialedition of terracottabusts basedon the bronzefiguresconstitutinghis FourPartsof the WorldSustainingthe Globe, the centralelement of the fountain of the Observatoryin the LuxembourgGardens, Paris.The date of I872 on this sensitively detailedexamplecoincideswith his showing of the plastermodel of the group at that year's

Salon;the fountainwas inauguratedin I874. Carpeauxwas a liberalromanticwhose humanitariansentimentsare manifestin our bust derivedfrom the fountain'sfigureof Africa.He added a Michelangelesquesideward turn, ropes acrossthe chest that seem barely able to contain the young woman's energy, and the poignant inscriptionon the base Pourquoi!naitreesclave!(Why born a slave?) JDD

Edouard Manet French, 1832-I883

Madame Manet (Suzanne Leenhoff, 183o0-906) at Bellevue i880 Oil on canvas 3I3 x 234 in. (8o.6x 60.3 cm)

The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Partial Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, I997.39I-4

1997

The summer of I880 would prove to be the last great period of productivityfor Manet, who, in his late forties, suddenly found his life defined by illness. Sufferingfrom rheumatism, he, along with his wife, son, and mother, rented a house at Bellevue, a resort near Pariswith restorativewaters. In a surprising change for an artistwho habitually worked on grand studio compositions destined for the Salon, Manet executed a number of easel paintings out of doors, thus

adopting the technique associatedwith Monet, Renoir, and the Impressionists.But here, Manet adopted the fluent brushwork of an oil sketchwithout resortingto the flickeringstrokesthat Monet and Renoir used. Despite the free assuranceof Manet'smanner, he had made severalpreparatorydrawingsof this work, one of which was acquiredby the Museum this year (opposite). Manet posed his wife in strict profile against a lush parklikesetting. Focusing on

color harmonies and analogiesof form, such as the curvesof her bentwood chair and the brim of her strawhat, and carefullyavoiding details that might revealthe model's identity, Manet opted to makea splendidgenrescene ratherthan to portraythe woman with whom he sharedhis life. GT

I%.I

Edouard Manet

Ignace-Henri-Jean-Theodore Fantin-Latour

French, 1832-1883

Mmie douard Manet i880 Brushand blackwashovergraphite on blocpaper

French, 1836-1904

Summer Flowers Oil on canvas 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 6i cm) Signed,dated,and inscribed(upperright): Fantin / Bure'- Sept- / 880 Partial and Promised Gift of Susan S. Dillon, I997

68 x 458 in. (16.8 x 12.7 cm)

Purchase, The Annenberg Foundation Gift, 1998 1998.o06

1997-347

Fantin-Latourwas among the most gifted and prolific still-life paintersof his generation. He brought to the genre, which was revitalizedin Francewith the rediscovery of Chardinat mid-century,an approachthat won him considerablesuccessduring his lifetime,and-given Proust'slaudatoryremarks in Remembrance of ThingsPast-posthumous fame. Above all, Fantin excelled as a painter of flowers:for some forty years, often to satisfy the demands of a devoted British clientele, he produced a succession of floralpieces that range from informal cabinet pictures to more impressive,meticulously finished works such as SummerFlowers. This exquisite arrangementof dahlias, phlox, and roses picked from the artist'sgarden at Bure in Normandy is an exceptionally fine exampleof the style he perfectedin the I88os. During this period Fantin abandoned his youthful insistenceon ambitious and multifacetedcompositions for a sparer,more refinedaesthetic.He used neutralbackgrounds that enhance the luminosity of his delicate color harmoniesand simple vases that in his words "count for nothing, and don't distract the attention to be paid to the flowers." Ineluctably,the viewer'sgaze is drawn to the gardenbouquets he painted with unrivaled fidelity and sensitivityto nature. SAS

Throughout his careerManet dashed off spontaneousportraitsof people around him, often close friends and relatives.Frequently,a stylishly attiredwoman wearing a beribboned hat caught his eye; his pleasurein such a sight is evidenced in this piquant sketch of his wife, Suzanne, outfitted in summer dress. The study is relatedto Manet's oil that shows his wife seated in the gardenof their rented villa at Bellevue (opposite). Shaded by the brim of her strawhat, Mme Manet is scarcelyrecognizablein the "lost profile"of the preliminarysketch. (It is only the slightest line, following a telltale droop of the chin, that identifies her as the sitter.) In the painting, her face appearsin stricterprofile but is no less enigmatic. By happycoincidence,this candidink notationcomes into our handsat the sametime as Manet'sfinishedpaintingand demonstrates how geniusspringsfrom smallbeginnings. CI

Paul Gauguin French, 1848-I903

Still Life with Teapot and Fruit Oil on canvas I84 x 26 in. (47.6 x 66 cm)

Signedand dated (lowerright):P. Gauguin96 The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Partial Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 1997 1997.391.2

Many of the still lifes that Gauguin painted during his second trip to Tahiti are rich in associations.Often they reflectnot only his ties to his distant native country but to painterswho were important to him during his formativeyearsin France.This formidablecanvas,redolentwith allusionsto Polynesia and striking in its bold use of color and pattern, is one of severalthat recordhis abiding admirationfor Cezanne. Here Gauguin emulates one of his most cherishedpossessions:Cezanne's Compotier, Glass,andApples(privatecollection) of i880. In I896 it was among the few remnantsleft from a collection that the artist, once a successful stockbroker,was forced to liquidate

piecemeal to pay his debts. Over the years Gauguin steadfastlyheld on to the painting, which he representedin the backgroundof Portraitof a YoungBretonWoman(1889-90, Art Institute of Chicago) and hung prominently in his Parisianstudio. In Tahiti, and from memory, he made this homage, which, as one scholar noted, essentially"'translates' Cezanneinto Tahitian."He adopts Cezanne's plastic language-his shifting planes and spatial manipulations-and his motifs, including the evocative folds of the white napkin, but he then ingeniously substitutes mangoes, a Japaneseteapot, and an earthenwarejug for Cezanne'sfamous apples, compote, and glass. SAS

Paul Gauguin French, 1848-9o03

Two Women Oil on canvas 29 x 364 in. (73.7 X 92.1 cm) The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Partial Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 1997 1997.39I.3

In this commanding image Gauguin eschews exotic imagery,symbolic content, and abstract color for a more direct, intensely realized approachto a favoritesubject,Tahitianwomen. The result is powerful and distinctive.Appreciated by scholarsas both a figure painting and double portrait,it is one of severalworks Gauguin based directlyon a photograph. Yet here his relianceis only partial:from that imageof two nativewomen seatedon a stoop he extractedand monumentalizedthe figures, depictingthem close-upand half-lengthagainst a tropicalsetting. Ultimately,it is through facialexpressionand gesturethat Gauguin proveshis mastery:he effectivelycontraststhe

stalwartsolemnityof the elderwoman to the vulnerabilityof the youngerone. The painting bearsan intriguing relationship to a passagein Gauguin's Noa-Noa (1893-94), in which he comparesthe generational differencesbetween "the admirably dignified wife of the chieftain of Punaauia, clad in a orangevelvet dress"and "a centenarian relative"whose "deathmask"face bore a faint tattoo. Nonetheless, the picture is generallyconsidered a late work, made shortly before it was exhibited in 1903 at the Galerie Vollard,Paris,as Portraitsof Women.Recent scholarshiphas identified the sitters as aunt and niece ratherthan mother and daughter. SAS

NORTH

AMERICA

-1900

1700

Charles Le Roux American,I689-1745 Coffeepot New YorkCity, 1725-35 Silver H. 9p in. (24.8 cm) Purchase, Friends of the American Wing Fund, Sansbury-Mills Fund, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. Goelet, Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Rubin, Wunsch Foundation, Maxwell H. Gluck Foundation, Louis and Virginia Clemente Foundation Inc., and Anonymous Gifts, 1997 1997.498. Outstanding for its superb linear qualities, this vessel with its tall tapering body and high domed lid representsthe earliest form of coffeepot made in the Colonies and is a rarityin American silver. In its relianceon harmonious lines and proportions and on the

Bartholomew Le Roux I American(b. Holland), ca. I663-173 Pair of Trencher Salts New YorkCity,I690-I7I3 Silver H. 4Xin. (3.2 cm) Gift of Suzanne dePeyster and Valerie dePeyster, 1997 1997.488.5,.6 By about 1700, as mores changed and salt became more easily obtainable, small individual saltcellarsset one to each trencher,or plate, supplantedthe largestanding salt of medieval origin. These trenchersalts are among the earliestAmericanexamplesknown. They are exceptional not only for their exquisite design and workmanshipbut also becausethey have survivedas a pair. Their form is a simple and beautifullyproportioned composition, which balancesthe concave hemisphere of the well with the convex curve of the sides. Embracing the front of each salt is a cartouche containing the de Peyster family coat of arms and crest and engraved with characteristicallyluxuriant, New York early-Baroqueacanthusfoliage.The maker, BartholomewLe Roux I, left Holland (where he probablytrained)for London in I685 and not long thereaftermoved to New York. He was the firstof three generationsof New York silversmiths;a coffeepot(right)and salveralso acquiredthis yearby the Museum were fashioned by his son Charles.On loan from the de Peysterfamilysince I9II, the saltshave now, happily,enteredthe permanentcollection. FGS

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brillianceof the unadornedmetal it epitomizes the Queen Anne style, which dominated American silver from about 1720 to

Louis-Antoine Collas

I750. Typically, only a modicum of engraving

Eugenie Simons

disruptsthe reflectivesurfaces:on one side is a cartoucheof scrollsand foliage,the restraineddesign of which accordswith the reservedpoise of the piece. The arms are those of Assheton quarteringShepley, for

I827

Ralph Assheton (I695-I745) of Philadelphia.

A squaresalverwith an upcurvedrim and bracketfeet and the identical arms engraved within a circularsurroundwas acquiredwith the coffeepot (acc. no. 1997.498.2).

It is one

of only two American salversof this form known. The coffeepotand salverremained together in family hands until recently. Both arethe work of CharlesLe Roux, a leadingNew Yorksilversmithof the second quarterof the eighteenthcentury,whose clienteleincludeda numberof prominentPhiladelphians.

French, i775-after I829 (act. in America 18I6-29)

Watercoloron ivory 38

x 22 in. (7.9 x 6.4 cm)

Signed(lowerleft): Collas/I827 Purchase, The Honorable and Mrs. Max N. Berry Gift, 1997 1997-520

Jeremiah Theiis American, i176-I774

Mrs. Jacob Motte (Elizabeth Martin) Ca. i755 Watercoloron ivory I 3 X i4 in. (3. x 3.2 cm) Purchase, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, by exchange,

1997 1997-340

French-bornCollas,who went by a varietyof pseudonymsin America,studiedin Parisand exhibitedat the Salonbeforesuccessfullydeploying his considerableskillsin St. Petersburg,

Russia;New YorkCity; Charleston;and New Orleans.Twenty-three-year-oldEugenie Simons of Martinsville,Louisiana,traveledthe then considerabledistanceto New Orleansin orderto be paintedby Collas. She sat for this, her engagement portrait (above left), on March 6, 1827. Collas portrayedher in the manner for which he was celebrated:her elegantly coiffed black hair, stylish red gown, ravishingtiara,earrings,and necklace are flawlesslydetailed. Miniaturesby Theiis, a Swiss-bornpainter who worked in Charleston, South Carolina, for a number of years, are exceedingly rare. His portraitof Mrs. Jacob Motte (above right) is one of three such meticulous works by this rathereclectic artist. The portrait bearsthe hallmarksof Theiis's work in oils, in which gleaming clothes and elegant coiffuresadorn the sober faces of southern colonists. Mrs. Motte wears a dazzling blue gown with fine white lace at the neck, and her hair falls in perfectringlets.Her portrait, said to be perhapsthe firstminiaturepainted on ivoryin America,is mounted in its original braceletcase. CRB

Jacob Anthony (probably Sr.) American(Philadelphia,Pennsylvania), 1736-1804 Oboe Ca. 1785-1800 Boxwood,ivory,and brass L. 224 in. (Y7cm)

Stamped:Anthony/ Philad.a / [flower] Purchase, Gift of Albany Institute of History and Art, by exchange, and Rogers Fund, 1997 1997.272

Very little information exists about Anthony, a German who emigratedto Philadelphia before the American Revolution and set up

shop on Second Street "at the sign of the German Flute and Hautboy." City directories identify him as a turner as well as musicalinstrument maker,and also, perhapsin error, brieflyas a mathematical-instrumentmaker. Anthony was among colonial America'searliest professionalwoodwind producers;his son, JacobJr., followed the same profession and appearsindependently in Philadelphiadirectories from 1793through I811.The few surviving Anthony instruments (including one clarinetand two flutesnow at the Libraryof Congress)revealsophisticateddesignsand impressiveskill at the lathe, but we cannot be certainwhetherour two-keyedoboe is the father'swork or the son's. Where the senior Jacob learnedhis craft is unknown, but possibly he lived in England for a while; the straight-toppedform of this instrumenttypifies oboes believedto have been playedin lateeighteenth-centuryBritishmilitiabands, althoughits delicateworkmanshipis superior to most, and it is slightlysmallerthan normal, indicatinga higherpitch. Remarkably,it shows litde sign of use and has been lovinglypreserved. LL

James Doull American(b. Scotland),act. ca. 1790-1820 Tall Clock ca. i8io Charlestown, Massachusetts, veneer, Mahogany,mahogany maple,maple inlays,whitepine, brass,andpainted iron H. 9ft. 33 in. (283.8cm) Purchase, Anthony W. and Lulu C. Wang Gift, I998 1998.12

Over nine feet tall, this majesticclock is among the finest and most aesthetically significantexamplesproduced in America during the Federalperiod (I790-I825). The manufactureof such pieces was a joint venture between the clockmaker,the cabinetmakerwhom he employed to furnish the case, and the patron. In this instancewe are able to identify with precision only the man responsiblefor the works, James Doull of Charlestown,whose name is painted on the appropriatelyoversizedthirteen-inch dial. The brilliantlyveneered and inlaid case, although unsigned, is quite likely by Thomas Seymour (1771-1848) of Boston, whose

signature-stylelunette inlays of shaded maple borderthe door and the lower part of the

case; they are also used to face the plinths below the brassfinials and the reeded and richly carved,engaged quartercolumns of curled maple. The clock dial depicts charmingly naive versions of the personificationsof the four seasons-standard motifs on imported Englishpainteddialsof the period-and a portraitin the tympanumof a young girl in an idealizedlandscape.These images may be by John Penniman (act. I806-28), an artistdocumented as having decorateddials for the renowned Willard family of clockmakersin nearbyRoxburyand Grafton. PMK

Young Boy's Suit (habit degage) American,ca. 80o5 Cottonand muslin L. overall(centerback)22 in. (55.8cm) Purchase,Judith and Ira Sommer Gift, 1997 I997.59oa-d Before the late eighteenth century children were clothed like miniature adults. Boys wore frocksfor their firstfive to seven yearsand

thereafterthe waistcoatsand breechesof men. Beginning in the I770s, in part in responseto the idealsof Rousseauand the back-to-nature movement, a more relaxedoutfit, based on laborers'garmentsand composed of a cropped jacket and full-length trousers,was adopted to ease a boy's transition from infancy to manhood. By the turn of the century, boys who had grown up with this attire had matured and popularizedlong trousersfor adults as well. This costume is interestinglyinconsistent. Though constructed for a boy still of an age appropriatefor a frock, it exhibits the formal double-breastedclosure, triangularlynotched lapels, cut-away tails, separatevest, ornate jabot, and coordination of textile generally reservedfor adult attire. While children of elevated social class in this period might have adopted adult costume at an early age, the pedestriantextile of this suit belies such an explanation.The fabric likewise excludes the piece from the realm of special-occasionwear. Despite, or perhapsbecause of, its puzzles, the suit is singularand fascinating. JAL

John Adams Whipple American, I822-189g

Cornelius Conway Felton with His Hat and Coat I85os

in doublecase Pair of daguerreotypes Each34 x 24 in. (8.3 x 7 cm) The Rubel Collection, Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace, W. Bruce and Dee Lundberg, and Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Gifts, 1997 1997.382.41

This raredaguerreotypediptych shows Cornelius Conway Felton (I807-I862), Eliot professorof Greek literatureat Harvard University,reachingfor his felt hat and duster. The first son of a poverty-strickenfurniture maker, Felton became one of the country's most renowned classicalscholarsand, in

I86o, Harvard'spresident.Although Felton donned academicrobes, he never lost his connection to the everydayexperiencesof common folk. He preferredscaling ancient ruins to sufferingthe ennui of Cambridge clubs and, like Lord Byron, was a sensualist who disdained constricting clothes. This witty photographlampoons the rigid formality of the portraitprocessthrough narrativegesture (the implied reachacross separateimages) and nuance (the delicate crush of the soft hat's crown). As opposed to the inflexible silk top hat worn by dandies and professorsalike, the broad-brimmedfelt hat was worn by outdoorsmen and was practical, casual,and fundamentallydemocratic. It could be worn in crowdedrailwaycarriages, while shooting in the country, and on archaeological excavations,placeswhere the top hat was both uncomfortableand unmanageable.

LambastingLondon's commercial art bazaar, OscarWilde wrote: "Anation arrayedin stovepipe hats might have built the Pantechnikon possibly,but the Parthenonnever." JLR

Union Porcelain Works (manufacturer) American(Greenpoint,Brooklyn,New York), I863-ca. 1922

Cup and Saucer Ca. 1876

Porcelain H. (cup) 2 in. (4.9 cm)

Marked(on bottom):(ofsaucer,stampedin black) UNION/Porcelain Works;(of cup, painted in black) U. P. W /S. Gift of Marco Polo Stufano, in memory of John H. Nally, 1997 I997.430.I,.2

This diminutive cup and saucerwere once part of a complete tea set; along with a slop bowl in a privatecollection, they are the sole survivors.The service may have been included in the elaboratedisplay createdby the Union PorcelainWorks for the I876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.A critic writing in a contemporarytradejournal describeda set shown there, presumablythis one, as having "birdsof various kinds, in brilliant plumage, appearamong a mist of flowers on a backgroundof rich matt [sic] blue." The manufactorywas a highly successful firm that specializedin the production of porcelain, primarilyheavy-gradehotel china. It also produced a limited line of more delicate and artisticallyconceivedwares,many of which are coveted today. 56

The ornamentationon the cup and saucer is among the most lavish and elegant of any work known from the factory. Stylistically,it recallsporcelainsmade in Parismore than fifty yearsearlier.The distinctive rich matte blue providesa strikingbackgroundfor the ornate embellishment of delicate gold garlands of leaves.Also reminiscent of earlier Frenchworks are the oval reserves,framedin gold, depicting painstakinglyrenderedexotic birds and butterfliesamid flowersand foliage. ACF

Ellen Robbins American, I828-po05

Wildflowers 1875

Watercoloron off-whitewovepaper 20 x IOi in. (50.7 x 26.7 cm)

Signedand dated (lowerright): Ellen Robbins/ 1875 Maria DeWitt Jesup Fund, 1998 I998.3

During the late nineteenth century Robbins was a highly regardedspecialistin flower painting, along with better-knownpractitioners such as Fidelia Bridgesand George Cochran Lambdin. Like many gifted women of her time and place, Robbins turned the confines of the domestic sphere to her advantage: from an earlyage she collected leaves, grasses,and flowersin the vicinity of her Massachusettshome near the CharlesRiver, portrayingthem exactinglyin largealbums and later composing them in sometimes extravaganttableauxsuch as Wildflowers.Her metier appearsclosely relatedto the art of flower pressing,which she may also have practicedand which seems to have influenced the look of spatialcompressionin her compositions. However, by I875 Robbins's taste was shifting, along with much of America's, from Ruskinianrealismto the decorativeness of the Aesthetic Movement. This change in taste may also account for the flatnessof her design and surelyexplains the original gilded and ebonized frame surroundingthe picture. Autumn bouquets such as this one, composed of sumac, goldenrod, asters,gentians, and marshgrass,representthe artist'spreferredsubject matter and were popularizedin chromolithographicprints produced by Louis Prangand Company of Boston. KJA

Mary Cassatt American, 1844-1926

Lilacs in a Window (Vase de Lilas a la Fenetre) Ca. I880-83

Oil on canvas 244

X 20'8

in. (61.5 x

5I.I

cm)

Signed(lowerleft):Mary Cassatt Partial and Promised Gift of Susan and Douglas Dillon, 1997 1997.207

A darkauberginevase containing purple and white lilacs is shown placed on what seems to be a sill or work surfacein a greenhouse,with the adjacentwindow held open by a prop. This most simple of subjectsis presented with an angularfluency and dash characteristic of Cassatt'sbest work, which is not surprising given her love of gardensand flowers.

Pure still life is a great rarityin her oeuvre, usually concentratedon the human figure. However, on occasion she placed landscape or floral elements within her compositions as colorful backdropsand accents. This alluring picturewas originallyowned by Moyse Dreyfus, a Parisiancollector, who was a friend and earlypatron of Cassatt. JKH

John Singer Sargent American, 1856-1925

Mrs. Hugh Hammersley 1892

Oil on canvas 81 x 45 2 in. (20o57x 15. 6 cm)

Promised Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Douglass Campbell, in memory of Mrs. Richard E. Danielson Mrs. Hammersley (nee Mary FrancesGrant, ca. I863-ca. I902), wife of a banker and a

fashionableLondon hostess, is lightly poised on an elegant French sofa. Her willowy form and candid expressionsuggest Sargent'sability to characterizeand flattersimultaneously. Her gold-trimmed silk-velvetdress and the sumptuous setting announce his masteryof variedtexturesand patterns. Mrs. Hugh Hammersleyverified Sargent's skills among potential (but reluctant) English patronswhen it appearedat the New Gallery in London in I893. The positive reviewsit receivedthere and at the Salon of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Artsin Parisin 1894 finally quashed misgivings that his Madame X (MadamePierreGautreau;acc. no. I6.53) had arousedin 1884.The canvas, among the first of a seriesof ravishingimages by Sargentof glamorous English women that culminated in The WyndhamSisters(1899,acc. no. 27.67), is also a paradigmof the period'sinternational style of society portraiture. After Mrs. Hammersley'sdeath her husband kept the painting until 1923,when financial reversescompelled its sale.At Sargent's suggestionit was purchasedby Charles Deering, an Americanfriendwhose portrait Sargenthad painted in Newport in 1876and who collected Sargent'sworks. It descendedin the Deering family. HBW

for Tiffany before his death in 1898he created some of the most breathtakingpieces known from the firm. This vase exhibits a delicacy and fluidity not often associatedwith cut glass. Two of Tiffany's favoritemotifs from the natural world-lily pads and Queen Anne's lacesubtly emerge from the surface.The lily pads are carvedfrom a light spring green glass applied to the lower part of the vase, with stems of the same color seeming to float to the top of the vessel. The glass cutter has executed the delicate blossoms with exceptional skill, articulatingeach minute floret and rendering the blossoms from many different angles and in differentstates of maturity. ACF

Gustav Stickley American,I858-I942 Tall Clock Ca. I902-3 Oak, brass,copper,and glass H. 74 in. (i88 cm) Gift of Donald M. Brennan, in memory of Louis Henry Hollister, 1998 1998.126

Fredolin Kreischman[n] (probable glass cutter) Austrian, 853-1898 Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company (manufacturer) American(Corona,Queens,New York), I892-I902

Vase Ca. 1895-98

Casedand cutglass H. i2%2 in. (31.1 cm)

Inscribed(on underside):X3o27 Purchase, William Cullen Bryant Fellows Gifts, 1997 1997.409

This vase featurescased and cut decoration on a virtuallycolorlessglass form. The bluewhite opalescentrim is the resultof the vessel havingbeen reintroducedinto the hot furnace. Tiffany'smasterof this type of ornamentation was FredolinKreischmann(or Kreischman),a highly skilled glass cutter and engraverwhom Tiffany hired during the earlyyearsof his productionof blown-glassvases.Kreischmann had perfectedhis technique while employed at the leading proponent of this method, the Britishfirm Thomas Webb, in Stourbridge. In the five yearsthat Kreischmannworked

A study in simplicity and proportion, this tall clock embodies the Arts and Craftsprinciples of its gifted and artisticdesigner,Gustav Stickley. It is labeled with a large red decala joiner's compass surroundingthe Flemish motto "Alsik kan" (All I can) and the Stickley name within a rectangle-the shop mark Stickley used about 1902-3. Thus, the clock is an importantadditionto the Museum's choice collection of earlyStickley furniture and representsa relativelyrareform by this prolific maker, one that he chose to use in his own Syracusehome. With this gift, the AmericanWing adds a third post-Federaltall clock to its outstanding collection of timepieces. This one can be instructivelycomparedwith an equally simple but less architecturalexample made by Stickley'scontemporaryCharlesRohlfs for his home in Buffalo, New York, around 900o (acc. no. I985.26I), and with the more ornate, Moorish-inspired,Aesthetic tall clock by Tiffany and Company of about 1882(acc. no. 06.1206). Louis Henry Hollister, the previous owner of this clock, was a passionate,discerning collector of AmericanArts and Crafts material,and was for many yearsa devoted Museum volunteer. CHV

TWENTIETH

CENTURY Jean Dunand French, 1877-I942

Vase Ca. I925

Lacqueredmetal H. 6X in. (I5.9 cm) Signed(underside):JEAN DUNAND Purchase, Lita Annenberg Hazen Charitable Trust Gift, 1998 I998. I94

Bernhard Pankok German,i872-I943 Armchair Ca. I90o Oak and leather H. 374 in. (94.6cm) Purchase, Florene M. Schoenborn Bequest, 1998

I998.24 Son of a German cabinetmaker,Pankok studied painting in Disseldorf and Berlin before moving to Munich in 1892.There he developed his talent for designing furniture and for interior decoration,working in the Jugendstil (Style of Youth), a restrained, curvilinearGerman interpretationof the Art Nouveau mode popular during the I89os and the earlytwentieth century. In 1897, with

architectsand designersPeter Behrens, Hermann Obrist, Bruno Paul, and Richard Riemerschmidt,he founded the Vereinigten Werkstattenfur Kunst im Handwerk (United Workshops for Arts and Crafts). Pankokwas invited to show his work at a number of internationalexhibitions of decorativedesign. In 1901 he createdan ensemble for a lady's sitting room that was included in the Dresden InternationalExhibition and later in the highly important I902 Turin InternationalExhibition of Modern DecorativeArt. This oak armchairis part of the sitting-room suite. The shaped back of the chair flows into elongated,sinuousarmsand splayedlegs. Pankok did not rely on extraneous flourishes for dramaticeffect, but rather used animated, complex curves to achieve an

Althoughhe had trainedas a sculptor,Dunand beganto explorethe potentiallymore lucrative field of decorativearts,particularlymetalwork, about1905. Successwas immediate,and thereafterhis pieceswere regularlyincludedin exhibitions,notablythose of the Societedes Artistes Decorateurs,which promotedhigh standardsof designand production. Dunand becameinterestedin lacquerafter seeingChinese and Japanesemetalwork,on which the medium was frequentlyused as a decorativeand protective finish. In 1912in Paristhe artistlearned the closely guarded secretsof traditionalAsian lacquerworkfrom the JapanesemasterSeizo Sugawara(who also taughtthe BritishdesignerEileen Gray)and startedproducinga wide rangeof lacquer objects-furniture, decorativepanels,portraits, jewelry,and textilesas well as metalwares. Combining age-old technique with Modernist patterning, the masterfuldecoration of this vase satisfyinglyemphasizesits spherical form. The vivid color combinations and abstractmotifs are characteristicof Dunand's work from the I920s and I930s-the most creativeperiod of his career-and typify the sophisticatedtastes of the time. JDG

elegant design. JA

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Henri Matisse French, I869-s954

Odalisque with Gray Culottes I927

Oil on canvas 25y x 32 in. (65.4 x 81.2 cm)

The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Partial Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, I997 1997-400

"I do Odalisques in order to paint nudes ... I had seen them in Morocco, and so was able to put them in my picturesback in France without playing make-believe."One of Matisse'sfavoritesubjectswas the female nude, which he depicted throughout his long life and in many media. The languorous nude posing as an odalisque in an exotic setting is just one varianton this theme. Matisse set up an "oriental"alcove in his apartmentat I, place Charles-Felixin Nice, embellishing it with luxuriouslypatternedwall hangings to achieve the effect of the decorativetiles found in Moorish interiors.He rearrangedthese

props to createa varietyof backgroundsfor his series of odalisques of

1926-27.

The model for Odalisquewith Gray Culotteswas the twenty-six-year-old Henriette Darricarriere,who posed for the artistbetween 1920 and 1927. Besides modeling, Henriette also studied the violin, piano, ballet, and painting. Nude except for the low-waisted gray harem pants, Henriette's body looks more athletic than voluptuous, perhapsbecause at the time Matissewas influenced by Michelangelo, adapting poses from figuresin the Medici Chapel. SR

Lee Krasner American, o908-Ig84 Gansevoort I934

Oil on canvas 193 X 23

in. (50.2

X 60.3

cm)

Signedand dated (on reverse):LeeKrasnerI934. Gift of The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Inc., 1997 1997.403.1

Krasnerstudied at some of New York'sbest art schools (1926-32), including the Art Students League,Cooper Union, and the National Academy of Design, receivinga teaching degree from City College in I933. The following year, while employed in the muraldivision of the government-sponsored Art Projects,she independentlypainted this small, somber canvasof the docks around GansevoortStreet, near the apartmentshe sharedin West GreenwichVillage. It is interesting to note that Krasnerexecuted a large muralfor the W.P.A. in a building on one of these Hudson Riverpiers. She later recalled that duringthis periodshe "paintedcityscapes, scenes out the window, or from a rooftop ... [and] occasionally... would go down to the docks to paint." In Gansevoort(and in a second I935version) the sharplydefined lines and shapesof buildings, the streetsand ship masts, as well as the dramaticrecessioninto an eerily empty space, suggest the influence of the Italian metaphysicalpainter Giorgio de Chirico and the American Precisionists. Gansevoort,one of Krasner'sfew extant earlypaintings, gives little premonition of the radicaldeparture her work would soon take towardAbstract Expressionism,under the influence of her teacher,Hans Hofmann, and husband, JacksonPollock.

With the recent gift of three Burchfield watercolorsfrom the Isermanns,the Museum now holds twenty works by this independent American Modernist, spanning the years1915 to I963. The additions include two early views of Salem, Ohio, Burchfield'schildhood home, and this largework from his yearsin Gardenville,New York, which exploits watercolor as a major medium. Octoberin the Woodsis a grandpantheistic vision of natureand its changingseasonsthat bridgesseveraldecadesof the artist'soeuvre.In 1963Burchfieldenlargedthe compositionof a 1938 watercolor (about 30 by

inches in size)

to almost4 by 5 feet, by attachingadditional sheetsof paperto the originalwork. Painting over and around the earlierimage, he created a complex scene that mixed fantasywith spirituality.The expansivespace,filled with many trees,brightautumn leaves,and a reflecting pond, is suffusedwith deep shadowsand intensesunlight.In the treetopsexplosive burstsof energysuggestthe reverberating sounds of birdsand insects.Burchfieldcalled such enlargementsof earlierworks (which he beganto make in 1943)"reconstructions," attempts"to recapturethe firstimaginativeand romanticoutlook"of his earliestwatercolors. LMM

LMM

Charles Burchfield American,1893-I967 October in the Woods 1938 and 1963

Watercolor, gouache,chalk,and charcoalon joinedpapers,mountedon cardboard 45 8 x 57/

in. (115.3x 146.7 cm)

Signedand dated (lowerleft): CEB/ I938-63 Partial and Promised Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Isermann, 1997 I997.324

Pablo Picasso Spanish, 1881-1973

Jacqueline Dressed as a Spanish Bride 1961

Etchingand engravingonpaper I5A X II 5 in. (39.7 X 29.5 cm) Purchase, Reba and Dave Williams Gift, 1997 I997.90

Pablo Picasso

coast, where they spent the autumn and winAs in most of his portraits of

Spanish, 1881-I973

ter of I939-40.

Dora Maar Seated in an Armchair

her, Dora confronts Picassowith wide-eyed and high-strungintelligence. She wears one of her strikinghats and a pink sweateredged in blue and red. Her shining eyes compete with the starsin the noisily stripedwallpaper of their room at Royan'sHotel de Tigre. Picasso shows Dora both from the front and in profile, as he had earlierin the Weeping

I939 Oil on canvas 28? x 23 / in. (72.4 X 59.7 cm)

The Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls Collection, I998 I998.23

An artistand photographerin the Surrealist mode, Dora Maar (nee Henriette Theodora Markovitch,1907-1997) was the most intellectual of Picasso'smistresses.She was introduced to the artistearly in 1936and became his principalmuse for the next seven years. Picassopainted this portraitof Maar in the small town of Royan on the Atlantic

Women of 1937, his postscripts and com-

ments in all media to his largemural Guernica of the same year.These anguishedimages of Dora forecasther laterlife as a recluseafter Picassoleft her. In no other portraitdoes Dora appear ratherwhimsical, as here, with her darkhair placed absurdlybetween her mouth and nose. SR

In Cannes during the last days of March and the first days of April I96I Picasso etched and engravedsixteen differentcopperplates.Trial proofs from each were pulled by the master printerJacquesFrelaut,but no commercial editions were made. Four of these unpublished prints celebratePicasso'srecent marriage,and each is a portraitof his bride. Picasso labored most on the third portrait, a frontalview, which he developed in eighteen progressivestates. The eleventh state, reproducedhere, exists in eight examples. The black-on-white image deftly combines severalintaglio techniques-etching and aquatint as well as engravingand drypoint. Picasso had met JacquelineRoque in I952, when he was seventy-oneand she was twentyfive. They were wed on March 2, 1961.For both it was a second marriage.In Picasso's declining years,Jacquelinewas a calm and constant presence, and until he died, in I973, she servedas wife, secretary,housekeeper, nurse, and vigilant guardian.Jacquelinewas also his principalmuse, and Picasso repeatedly portrayedher handsome features, emphasizingher wide eyes with their dark brows. She grievedgreatlyat his death and became increasinglydespondent. In 1986 she committed suicide. WSL

obsession for Diana, whose approachto style transcendedfashion and yet single-handedly rejuvenatedthe British apparelindustry in a calculateddemonstrationof national pride. Included by the princessin an unprecedented charityauction that exploited the public's fascination to garnermillions for AIDS and cancercharities,these gowns were part of an attempt to extend her philanthropicinterests and, perhaps,to redefineher public image afterher divorce. Her untimely death confers an iconic aspect on the pieces and on her extraordinaryinfluence. JAL

Catherine Walker French,currentlyact. in London(birthdate undisclosed) Ballgown for a Private Dance

Ettore Sottsass Italian, b. 1917 "Carleton" Room Divider 1981

Woodand plastic laminate H. 763 in. (194.9 cm)

1990

Gift of John C. Waddell, 1997

Creamsilk organzaprinted withpink, blue, green,and apricotrosebouquets L. (centerback)57 in. (144.8 cm) Label (interiorside seam):CatherineWalker/ for / The ChelseaDesign Company/ London Gift of Mireille Levy, 1998

I997.460.1

Sottsassis not only one of the most influential designersof the latter half of the

twentieth century, he is one of the most paradoxical. While he has had a highly successful careerproducing industrialdesigns for the mainstreamcorporationOlivetti for everything from typewritersand computers to office landscapes,he has also been iconoclastic. He has createdstrikinglyunconventional consumer-orientedobjects that challenge the bourgeois audience at which they are aimed to reassessits assumptionsof the limits of "good taste." Between 1981 and I988 he and a small internationalgroup of like-minded designers, calling themselvesMemphis, created nonconformist furniture.The totemic "Carleton" room divider is an outstanding example of his Memphis designs. Although intended for a luxury market and of fine workmanship, it is made of cheap plastic laminates ratherthan fine woods. The vivid colors and seemingly random interplayof solids and voids suggest avant-gardepainting and sculpture.Yet, typical of Sottsass,underlying the surfacebrilliance is a wholly logical structuralsystem of real and implied equilateraltriangles. JSJ

I998.218

Ballgown for an Official Visit to Nigeria 1989

Whitesilk chifon printed withpurple tulips and greenleaves L. (centerback)66 in. (i67.8 cm) Gift of Mrs. Randolph Hearst, 1998 1998.219

Fascinatedby construction but without formal training,Walker establishedher couture house in I977. Her work tends toward lean, glamorouslyfluid pieces, often with a vintage influence and alwayswith a focus on the midriff.Here, on the right,pleatedand flowing chiffon lengthens the torso with a fitted halter bodice, dropped waist, and plunging back veiled only by the thinnest of self-fabric streamers.The straplessneckline on the left similarlyshowcasesstrong shouldersand exploits a lowered waistline. Both designs are poised without being rigid, poetic without being overworked. These two romantic gowns embody the legendaryimage and overwhelmingimpact of style icon Diana, princessof Wales. Clothes were a professionalobligation and personal 65

meagercircumstances.If Beuys'svision was determined by his experiencesduring World War II, Nerdrum's is shaped by the realities of a nuclear age. His postapocalypticworld is peopled by the mutilated, the demented, and the dysfunctional,who suffer the consequences of disintegratingsocietal structures. Haunting in its vulnerability,this selfportraitmakes it clearthat Nerdrum shares the fate of his subjects.Ratherthan boldly confronting the viewer, the artistis seen with his eyes closed and his mouth open as if about to emit some primalvocalization.Cut off just below the shoulders,his image tightly fills the space of the canvasand is spotlighted out of the murky backgroundby some unknown light source. Is this an intermittent appearance of light in the postnuclearwinter, or a divine force offeringcomfort and salvation? LSS

Adam Fuss British, b. I96I Love 1992

Silver-dyebleachprint 43'2 X 332 in. (10o.5x 85.I cm)

Purchase, Rogers Fund, by exchange, and Joyce and Robert Menschel Gift, 1997 1997.I95

Odd Nerdrum Norwegian,b. 1944 Self-portrait with Eyes Closed 1991 Oil on canvas 3IY4x 253 in. (8o.6x 65.4 cm)

Gift of James and Marie Marlas, 1997 1997.348

Nerdrum'spaintingsdemonstratehis uncommon command of academictechniques and knowledgeof Europeanarthistory.His artisticmentorsare the Renaissancemasters, Rembrandt,and Caravaggio,whose work is a farcry from that of Nerdrum'steacher,the Germanavant-gardeartistJosephBeuys,known for his installationsof organicmatter-such as fat and felt-and his politicalactivism. Nerdrum's figuresdesperatelyeke meaning and comfort from the most hopeless and

Throughout his careerFuss has stretched both the visual and the technical parameters of his medium. His fascinationwith early photographs,such as daguerreotypesand the photogenic drawingsof Henry Talbot, has led him to experimentwith the many and magicalways that light and photographic chemicalscan inscribemeaning. He welcomes photography'sdisconcerting inversionsand mysterioustraces,for he is less concerned with description than with poetics.

Richard Billingham British,b. 1970 Untitled I995 Chromogenic print mountedon aluminum 3I 2 x 47%2 in. (80 x I20.2 cm)

Purchase, Anonymous Gift, 1997 I997.353.3

Fiiss has made large-scaleblack-and-white and color images of light, water, the motion of snakes, the gesturesof babies, the radiance of sunflowers.His technique is the cameraless photogram, the hallmarkof such Modernist photographersas Man Ray and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, in which the image is formed by placing objects directly on the sensitive paper and exposing it to light. For this picture he placed two rabbits,their entrails intertwined, on the paper. The spectacular color effects result from the chemical interactions between the animals'visceraand the propertiesof the printing paper. Combining the expansivegesturesof Action Painting with the composed symmetryof a heraldic seal, Fuss turns the rabbits,a traditionalsymbol of fertility, into an emblem of the rapturous, often gut-wrenchingintertwining of two selves united in love.

Billingham'sdark,funny photographsof his dysfunctional familywere originallyconceivedwhile he was in art school as preliminarysketches for paintings. Like many young artists Billingham uses his tragicomic home life as a ready-made subject. Produced during the waning yearsof the Thatcher era,his picturesof povertyand desperationalso reveala side of Englandnot often seen in officialBritishculture,exemplified by his out-of-work,alcoholic father;his oversized,tattooed mother;and theirdrunkenbrawls,endlessassortmentof mangy pets, and kitsch-filledBirminghamhome. Producedwith an inexpensiveautofocus camera, Billingham'sphotographsmasqueradeas casualsnapshots, complete with the glowing red eyes, tilted horizons, and offkilter framing familiarfrom family albums. He deliberately uses such "faults"as aesthetic strategiesin the making of his pictures,while deftly tossing off an art student's ironic references to Ingres'sodalisques, Manet's black cats, and Francis Bacon's screamingpopes. In the process the artist uncovers a kind of perverse,unexpected beauty from the chaos of his surroundings.In our era of the memoir and confessional, Billingham'sphotographsare an object lesson in the skillful handling of volatile, potentially exploitativeautobiographical subject matterwith empathy, wit, and pictorial grace. DE

MMH/MF

Terry Winters American,b. 1949 Light Source Direction I997 Oil and alkydresinon canvas 74 x 98 in. (188x 248.9 cm) Francis Lathrop Fund, 1998 1998.17

Robert Rauschenberg American,b. 1925 Ground Rules (Intermission), 1996 Photogravureand intaglioprinted in colors 63 x 5I3 in. (i60 x 131.4 cm)

John B. Turner Fund, 1997 I997.203

This work, which belongs to the Ground Rules suite of four prints, combines Rauschenberg'sdistinctive manner of handling pigment, or in this case a developing solvent brushedon a plate, and traditional intaglio printing techniques of etching and aquatint. Utilizing photographstaken during his journeysin Europeand Asia, Rauschenberg has assembleda personalcollage. The viewer travelsthrough time and cultures;paired objects-elegant Hispanic angels representing Peace and Abundance and monumental Buddhist sculptureadorned by worshipers with flowersand seedlings-undulate across the surfacefrom "West"to "East."Central to the composition is a mother goat and her kid. Suggestingthe generativenature of Rauschenberg'screativeprocess, this beast made a first appearancein his earliercombine painting Monogram (I955-59;

Moderna

Museet, Stockholm), which was constructed of oil and variousthree-dimensionalelements, 68

including a stuffed angoragoat. Ragged edges between images weave together the artist's privateand public personas,the latter ushered in by the balustradeand rows of empty chairsbeckoning his audience. The subtitle of this print, Intermission,bids the spectatorto pause with regardto Rauschenberg'svirtuoso printmakingperformanceand to readdress subtle modulations of form, color, and tone with a fresh eye.

Winters is known for his highly evocative compositions filled with elements resembling botanical, cellular,and even architectural units. Like the sculptor Tony Smith, he has examined the ambiguity that exists between structureand open-ended organic growthtwo dominant themes in twentieth-century abstractart. Light SourceDirectionis a recent painting in which the artist,in his own words, "worked to conveya senseof physicaldensity."Exploring nuances of meaning that can be conveyed in marksleft by successivegesturesof the arm and color draggedinto color, the artisthas createda composition that is as much about gestureas it is about line. The layersof interwoven lines and webs recallthe skeins of Jackson Pollock's dripped paintings, such as Autumn Rhythmin the Museum's collection (acc. no. 57.92). In addition a centrifugalenergy is createdby horizontal and verticallines that intersectwith diagonals leading to the center like indicatorsof perspective. Over this dimensional grid several layersof circles and ovals spiralupward, creatinga cylindricalconcentrationat the middle of the composition.

EBD

LSS

AFRICA,

OCEANIA,

AND

THE

AMERICAS Page from an Illuminated Gospel Ethiopia (Lake Tana region),earlyI5th century Wood,vellum,and pigment PageI62 x IIX in. (4I.9 x 28.6 cm) Rogers Fund, I998 i998.66 TheAscensionis one of the twenty-four fullpage paintings that depict events from the New Testament in this illuminated gospel. This work documents the convergence of indigenous African forms with those of the Byzantine and Arab worlds, typified here by the manneredstylization in the portrayal of the protagonists.At the summit Christ appearsframed in a red circle surrounded by the four beasts of the Evangelists,while below, Mary and the Apostles gesture upward.Such elaboratelyornamented manuscriptswere frequentlypresented to churches by distinguished patrons. They reflect both the prestigeof their benefactorsand the erudition of the monastic scriptoriawhere they were created.Texts of the Gospels were considered the most holy writing, and the series of illuminations was intended to be viewed during liturgicalprocessions.The text and accompanyingimagerydraw upon Greek prototypes that were translatedto Geez, or ClassicalEthiopic, in the sixth century. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church was founded in the fourth century, when the king of the state of Aksum was converted to Christianity.However, during the sixteenth century Islamic incursions devastatedthe region, and most works of Ethiopian art that predatethe seventeenth century were destroyed at that time, making this book a raresurvival. A AL

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 速 www.jstor.org

Portrait Mask Coted'voire (Baulepeoples),i9th century Wood 7 x 35 in. (r7.8x 8.9 cm) Bequest of Adrienne Minassian, 1994 1997.277

Designed as part of a Baule theatricaltradition, known as "Mblo,"that combines dramatic skits and solo dances, this mask is an idealizedrepresentationof the prominent member of the community for which it was sculpted. Its lustrous curved surfacessuggest healthy skin set off by a delicatelytextured coiffureand facial scarifications.Within Baule culture, Mblo portrait masks are appreciatedas the most refined and longstanding form of artisticexpression.While they may depict either men or women, such works were generallycommissioned by a man

to honor a female relativeor createdby a carverin homage to a particularwoman's dance skills and beauty. Becauseof their importance, only the best dancersare eligible to wear portraitmasks in performance.On such occasions it is requiredthat the portrait'ssubject, or "double,"be present to accompany it. This work is of historic significance becauseit was exhibited in Parisat the GaleriesLevesqueas earlyas I913,in the first installationto displayAfrican sculptureas fine art, alongsideWestern works and Asian, Egyptian, and Precolumbianantiquities. In I9I5 the maskwas alsopublishedin Negerplstik, by Carl Einstein, a pioneering study of Africanart that establisheda new formalist appreciationfor such objects and inspired many Modernists. AL

Leper Mask BurkinaFaso (Bwapeoples),20th century Woodandpigment 34 x 9 3 in. (88.3x 24.8 cm) Gift of Thomas G. B. Wheelock, 1997 I997.444.7 Bwa plank masks are conceived to embody supernaturalforces that act on behalf of the families that commission and use them. In this example bold linear designs arejuxtaposed with sculpturalelements that extend the flat planes of the composition. These elements include a hook form projecting between the intersticeof the rectangularand circularfields and three figuralrepresentations that stand at the summit. The patterns and iconographythat enhance individual works are carefullydescribedto the artistby clan elders. These graphicelements are not merely drawn upon for their aesthetic qualities but are symbols associatedwith oral histories taught to young initiates and inscribed upon their bodies. In Bwa culture certain socially marginalpersonages,such as foreigners, dwarfs,or lepers, are perceivedto facilitate contact with the spirit world. Their representationin masqueradesmay be discerned through the overallperformance ratherthan the mask'siconographicfeatures. Contextual information for this work was documented by ChristopherRoy in the village of Boni in I983. 70

Wood masks are linked to all important events in Bwa village life. They appearat events ranging from initiations of young men and women to commemorativefuneraryceremonies. The creation of new masks occurs during the dry season and is the occasion for an annual celebrationat which they are inauguratedwith festivities. Performancesare organizedby individual clans that compete with one another to give the most elaborate AL and innovative displays.

faced"appropriate.It is the strength of the face, however, that gives the figure its commanding air. The minimally rendereddetails of the compact body underscorethe figure's great head. The southern state of Guerrero,on the Pacific side of Mexico, is mountainous and somewhat remote even today, and while many works of art were made there in Precolumbiantimes, its preconquesthistory is still imperfectlyknown. Authorities as yet do not agreeon the dating of sculpturessuch as this. Opinions varyfrom very early(thirdsecond millennium

B.C.)

to late (fourteenth-

fifteenth century). The term "Chontal,"as it applies to stone sculpture, is somewhat obscure in origin, but it also names the area north of the BalsasRiver, from which the works are said to come. JJ

TwentyFrog Ornaments,Probablyfor a Necklace Mexico (Mixtec/Aztec),i4th-i5th century Castgold Each X8 in. (2.I cm) Gift of Jan Mitchell and Sons, in memory of Ellin Mitchell, 1998 I998.39. -.20

casting from wax models and had a special liking for multi-element ornaments. Frogs, symbols of water and fertility in Aztec thought, were favoritemotifs for necklaces. In Aztec society the use of gold was strictly regulated.Only accomplishedwarriors,noblemen and -women, and wealthy merchants were entitled to wear gold jewelry. HK

Aztec gold metallurgywas so impressivethat even the Spanish conquerors,who were more interestedin the materialthan the aesthetic value of the works createdby Indian goldsmiths, genuinely admired their artisticexcellence. Regrettably,almost all the gold objects seized by the Spaniardsduring the conquest were melted down for easiertransportto Europe. The few survivingworks come from elite burials,undetected by the Spaniards, mostly in the stateof Oaxaca.These frog ornaments, formedby the lost-waxcastingtechnique, are said to have been found in Chiapas in southernMexico. They were most likely made by Mixtec goldsmithsof westernOaxaca, who arenoted for theirfinely crafted,smallscaleelite artworks. Goldworking technology was introduced to Mexico probablyin the tenth century from South America, where gold had been worked since the first millennium B.C. Mixtec goldworkersperfectedthe art of

Standing Figure Mexico, Guerrero(Chontal),beforei5oo Greenstone H. io3 in. (27.3cm) Purchase, Arthur M. Bullowa Bequest and Rogers Fund, I997 I997.383 The stone sculpture of Guerrero is one of the most stylisticallyconsistent of ancient America. Done principallyin hard, polishable stones of green or gray-greencolor and rarely exceeding sixteen inches in height, the sculptures are profoundly reductivein their formal simplicity. They are, at the same time, decidedly stylized in the particularityof specific characteristics.The facial featuresof the works in Chontal style-as can be seen in this figure-emphasize the nose and lowerjaw in a manner that makes the expression"hatchet7I

ASIA Tomb Figure Representing a Court Lady Chinese,Tangdynasty(617-906), late 7th-early 8th century Woodwithpigmentsand gilding H. 19 2 in. (49.5 cm) Gift of Enid A. Haupt, 1997 1997.442.7.2

The lithe figure and gracefulcarriagedate this rarewood sculptureof a court attendant to the late seventh to early eighth century, one of the peaks of Tang-dynastyfunerary art. Sculpturessuch as this one, made principally of painted and glazed pottery, are known as mingqi,or spirit goods, and were placed in tombs to provide for the deceased's needs in the afterlife.Female attendantswere generallyproduced in groups for use in the tombs of imperialor aristocraticwomen. Like their putativemistresses,the ladies-inwaiting are dressedin the height of fashion. This figurewearsa high-waisted,low-necked, long-sleevedgown that is coveredby a tightfitting sleevelessbodice. Tracesof green at the bottom of her gown and gold, red, and black on her bodice hint at the vibranceof her attire and providean interestingparallelto contemporaneousceramicswith strikingthree-color or sancaiglaze. Her hair is worn in an elaboratetopknot, also typicalof the era.After the mid-eighth century,tomb sculpturesof court attendantsfeatureplump beautieswearing loose clothing, illustratingthe changingdefinition of comelinessthat marksthe second half of the Tang dynasty. DPL

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EmbroideredPatchwork

WangAo

Chinese,Yuandynasty(1279-I368) Needleloopembroideryovergiltpaper on silk

Chinese,1450-1524 Farewell Poem

62 5 x 25 in. (I59 x 63.5 cm)

Ming dynasty (I368-1644),

Purchase, The Vincent Astor Foundation

Hangingscroll,ink on paper

dated I498

Gift, 1997

8I 3 X 25 in. (207.6 x 63.5 cm)

1997.380

The C. C. Wang Family Collection, Gift of C. C. Wang, 1997

This textile representsan earlyform of needlelooping, an unusual embroidery method. It is similar in style, construction, and technique to an altarcover in the Enkakujitemple treasuryin Kamakura, Japan, an example of needleloop embroidery that is traditionallydated to the thirteenth century. Registeredas an Important Cultural Property,the Enkakujipiece has long been associatedwith the Chinese monk Wuxue Zuyuan, who traveledto Japanin 1279 and is known there by the name Mugaku Sogen

1997.438.2

(I226-1286).

Wang Ao, a native of Suzhou, was one of the most famous literaryfiguresof his day; he also enjoyed a successfulcareerat the court, rising to the position of Grand Secretaryand Junior Tutor to the emperor. Wang createdthis monumental hanging scroll at the height of his court careeras a farewellpresent for his friend and fellow officialWu Yan (act. late fifteenth century). Wu had been deputized by the emperorto serve as an honoraryescort to his uncle, Xu

The patchwork,composed of fifty-three squaresand triangles,has examplesof twentythree differenttextiles. These range from satin and figuredplain weave to damaskand complex gauze. Thus, the patchworkcan serve as a resourcein the study of thirteenthcentury Chinese textiles. The textile is notable for its extreme delicacy. Each unit of the patchworkis embroidered, predominantlywith floral and vegetal scrolls, each with a blossom or vegetablein the center and leaves and tendrils issuing from the encircling stems. As a first step in the embroideryprocess,gilt-papershapes were cut for the centralmotifs. Rows of looping stitches were then worked over the paper layer,with minute openings in the embroidery that allow the gold to shine through.

retirementfrom the Grand Secretariat.Following the poem on the scroll, Wang added a personal note detailing this event. He then signed the piece with all of his court titles, thus transforminga privategift into a powerful public testimonial of Wu's honoraryrole as the emperor'semissary. As befits this kind of formal presentation piece, Wang has written out his text in dramaticlarge-scalecharactersthat show off to maximum advantagehis distinctive style of lean, angularbrushworkwith its sharp, firm movements. The scroll holds special significancefor the donor, C. C. Wang, who also comes from Suzhou and who traceshis family lineage back to Wang Ao.

JCYW

Pu (1428-1499),

on the occasion of Xu's

MKH

crickets,and two white rabbitsofferedfor sale. The subject of peddlersfirst became popular during the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279),when paintings typicallyshowed a rustic knickknackmerchant offering his wares to a group of country urchins. During the conscious revivalof Song academic styles sponsored by the Ming court, this subject was transformedfrom a genre image of daily life to an opulent fantasyset within the grounds of an aristocratichousehold. There, an elegantly dressedservant,acting the role of peddler, offers a specializedselection of expensivewares to the pamperedmale children of the family. Such idealized images functioned not merely as entertainingdecoration but also as auspicious emblems of a wellgoverned empire enjoying the rewards of peace and prosperity. MKH

Incense Burner Chinese,Ming dynasty(1368-I644), Jiajing period (1522-66),dated in accordancewith 1564 Porcelainpainted in overglazered,green,and yellow enamels Diam. io/ in. (26.7 cm) Gift of Stanley Herzman, in memory of Gladys Herzman, 1997 1997.. 8

Bird Peddler Chinese,Ming dynasty(I368-1644), late Isth-early i6th century Hangingscroll,ink andpigmentson silk 63/ X 384 in. (i6o.5 x 98.5 cm) Purchase, Oscar L. Tang Family and The Vincent Astor Foundation Gifts, I998 1998.48

A jaunty bird peddler is surroundedby six young boys who admire their recent acquisitions or greedilyeye other temptations. In addition to various species of birds, the peddler'sportabledisplay also featuresa rich assortmentof intricatecages, gilt perches, ceramicdishes, lacquerjars, and other paraphernaliarequiredto care for the birds,

The dedicatoryinscription on the rim of this censer can be translated"The Wu [family] offers this in worship to the Temple of Xuantian Shangdi, that he may protect the peace of the family and home, in the jiazi year of the Jiajingperiod."Because it is markedwith a cyclical date, which corresponds to 1564in the Western calendar,this piece is frequentlycited to document the attribution of late-Ming-dynastyporcelains. Xuantian Shangdi (the Lord of the Black [Pavilionsof] Heaven), a Taoist god, is also called Zhen Wu. The descending winged feiyu long(flying fish-dragons)seen here apparentlyare an innovation of the Ming dynasty.They combine the salient featuresof the conventional dragon and of the fish, having the former's body and horns and the latter'sallover

the indigo-dyed background,is a charming example of the suo, a costume used in kyogen (literally,"crazywords"), a form of drama. These short comic interludesuse buffoonery in vernaculardialogue and mime to provide a change of pace and mood in a programof Noh, the highly poetic and ritualizeddramatic form that developed under shogunal patronagein the fourteenth century. In contrast to the rich silk garmentswith elaborate woven or embroidereddecoration used in Noh, kyogencostumes are typically made of hemp with simple decoration of natural images renderedin a dyeing technique. This suowould be worn with matching long trousersfor the role of a samurailord, the standardbutt of the comedy, or with shorter trousersfor the role of a commoner. BBF

scaling, with two sets of fins instead of a dragon'sfour legs. The crestingwaves below the fish-dragonssuggest that these fanciful creaturescould representthe legendarycarp as it succeeded in swimming past the Longmen (Dragon Gate) rapidsand was beginning to be transformedinto a lordly dragon, a metaphor for passing the coveted, triennial ImperialCivil ServiceExaminations.

Costumefor Ky6gen Comic Drama Japanese,Meijiperiod (1868-1912) Hemp dyedwith indigo W. (wristto wrist)84 Y5in. (215 cm) Purchase, Mrs. Roger G. Gerry Gift, 1997 I997.209.I

This jacket, with its startlinglybold decoration of white lotus renderedin resist against

SGV

Bottle Korean,Koryodynasty(918-1392), I2th century Stonewarewith tracesof incidentalashglaze

Takuo Itoh Japanese, b. I947

Shibori-Dyed Kimono '995

H. 638 in. (41.6 cm)

silk satin damask Polychrome-dyed

Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1997

L. (center back) 72 in. (182.5 cm)

1997.34.26

Stamped(interior):Takuo Gift of Takuo Itoh, 1997 I997.228a-d

The resist-dyeart of shiboriis exquisitelyrepresentedby this furisode(swinging sleeves) kimono for a young woman. A technique that dates at least to the Silk Road era (in Japan especiallythe eighth century), shiboriutilizes folding, stitching, binding, sheathing, and knotting to protect areas of fabricfrom penetrationduring dyeing. Becausekimono textiles such as this fretmotif satin damask (traditionallycalled sayagata) have a fixed loom width and are rarely cut during garment construction, and becausekimono size and shape are standardized, a dyer must plot his design exactly on the fabricyardage.The uninterruptedback areais traditionallythe main focus for display, and Itoh'svirtuosocraftsmanshipachieves a continuous pattern that crossesnot only the center-backseam, but also, more impressively, the jump between body and sleeve. In addition, this magnificent design, composed of irregulargeometric areasof color circumscribingelements from nature as well as architecturalforms, exhibits extreme intricacy of composition, resistknotting, and pigmentation. To ensure crispnessof design, each knot is hand tied eleven times. Moreover, Itoh's revivalof the virtuallylost technique of including as many 3,600 knots per shaku(approximatelyone squarefoot) results in exceptional detail and vibrancy,and demands as much as two yearsof labor for each masterpiece.

One of a newly acquiredgroup of twenty-six early Koreanceramicsdating from the third to the eleventh century, this elegant bottle in the shape of a gourd is a rareexample of the little-studied black stonewareof the Koryo dynasty. It has a slightly rolled lip, a narrow ridge at the neck, and a small circularvent aperturehigh on the shoulder. Its addition to the Museum's collection fills a gap in our substantialholdings of Koryo ceramics,the most numerous and well known of which are

celadon wares, characterizedby a greenish glaze over a light-colored stonewarebody. In contrast, this piece, which is unglazed except for the incidental settling of ash and other kiln debris, derives its color from the high iron content of the clay. This type of ware is also distinguishablefrom contemporaneous underglaze-ironpainted celadons, the black or dark brown hues of which result from an iron-rich pigment applied to the object before glazing. The high-temperaturefiring techniques of the Koryo differedlittle from that of earlier periods;with the exception of Chinese stoneware, Koreanceramicsof the Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C.-A.D. 668) are the earliest known high-firedpottery in the world. HAS

JAL

Panelfrom a Buddhist Ritual Crown CentralTibet,ca. late IIth-early i2th century Distemperon board II Y x5y

in. (29.5 x 3 cm)

Purchase, The Vincent Astor Foundation Gift, 1997 I997. 52

Book Coverwith Manjuvajra and ConsortFlanked by Lamas CentralTibet, late i3th century Distemperon wood 55 x I64 in. (14.4 x 42.4 cm) Harris Brisbane Dick Fund and Louis V. Bell Fund, 1998 1998.75

This panel is the only one to survive of a five-leaf crown that was probably used in Esoteric Buddhist initiation ceremonies and is the earliestknown such Tibetan ritual object. It featuresthe Tathagata(Transcendent Buddha)Vairochana,"the ResplendentOne," seatedon a lotus set on a steppedbase guarded by lions. At the center of the base a tri-ratna (threejewels) emblem, symbolizing the Buddha, his teachings, and his followers, is in front of a cloth that spills over the throne. Vairochanais seatedin a cross-leggedposture and makes his characteristicgesture, bodhyagri,holding in his right hand a ritualobject, probablya vajra,or thunderboltscepter.He is richlyadornedwith jewelrytypicallyworn by TranscendentBuddhas,and an auspicious rainbow arcs around him. A chakra(wheel), the sign of the family of powersand attributes usually associatedwith him, is placed above his head and is likewise surroundedby a rainbow. The bottom section of the painting is unadorned,with two holes indicatingthat it was probablymeant to be sewn to and covered by a cloth headband.The panel'ssuperlative condition and beautifuldrawingplace it among the finest earlyTibetan paintings.

Tibetans emulated the Indian reverence accorded to Buddhist manuscripts,and in Tibet the covers that shielded the texts were sometimes painted on the exteriorwith elaborate designs and, more rarely,on the interior with depictions of sacredsubjects.At the center of this book cover is a six-armed, threeheaded Manjuvajra,an Esoteric form of the bodhisattvaManjushri, seated in ecstatic embracewith his consort, the three-headed, six-armedgoddess Vidyadhara.The couple sits on a multicolored lotus pedestal.At either side is a lama seated on a similar lotus and surroundedby a red nimbus. The monks gaze toward the central deities and hold their hands in gesturesof instruction:at the right, a form of vitarkamudra(religiousdiscourse) and at the left, dharmachakramudra (the the wheel of the The of law). quality turning of the portraitureis extremelysensitive, conveying not only a feeling of great individuality but also one of inwardness.The Nepalese style of the painting, seen in the jewelry, the facial characteristicsof the deities, and the scrolling foliate pattern that fills the central nimbus, first became popular in Tibet in the thirteenth century. SMK

Elements of a Ceremonial Horse Armor Tibetanor Mongolian,mid-isth to earlyi7th century Leather,steel,gold leaf,pigments,and textile Left neckpanel, h. i95 in. (49.Scm); rightneck panel, h. i93 in. (5o.2cm);flanchard,w. 244 in. (6I.5 cm) Purchase, The Collection of Giovanni P. Morosini, presented by his daughter Giulia, by exchange; Bashford Dean Memorial Collection, Funds from various donors, by exchange; and Fletcher Fund, by exchange, 1997 1997.242a-c

These three elements-right and left neck panels and a flanchard(protectiveflap suspended from the side of the saddle)-are the remainsof the most elaborateand decorative horse armorknown from Tibet. The use of heavily armoredhorses in Tibet probably dates from as earlyas the sixth century and was still occurringin the earlytwentieth century. By that time, however, horse armor, along with other forms of armorand weapons, was seen mostly on ceremonialoccasions and in religiousfestivalssuch as the Trapchi Tsisher(the Review at Trapchi), a procession of cavalrythat was part of the monthlong

New Yearcelebrationsformerlyheld each year in Lhasa,the Tibetan capital. These elements are made of overlapping bands of stiff leather.The vivid decoration consists of repeatingpatternsof stylized lotus, peony, and other blossoms, which are made of stencil-cut and glazed gold leaf set against alternatingreddish-orange,black, and maroon grounds. Each neck guard is further elaboratedby a pierced steel filigreepanel filled with a sinuous scroll (patra)pattern. In the center of the flancharda single row of polished steel lamellae recallsthe martial origins of this ornate ceremonial armor. DJL

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Publication title: THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART BULLETIN

Publicationno: 885-660 Date offiling:OctoberI, 1998 Issuefrequency: Quarterly No. of issuespublishedannually:Four Annualsubscription price:$25.00, or freeto MuseumMembers Completemailingaddressof knownofficeofpublication:Ioo0 FifthAvenue,New York,N.Y. I0028-I198 orgeneralbusinessofficeofpublisher: Completemailingaddressof headquarters FifthAvenue,New York,N.Y. I0028-oi98 IOOO Full namesand addresses ofpublisher,editor,and managingeditor: The MetropolitanMuseumof Art, IOOO FifthAvenue,New York,N.Y. 10028-0198 Publisher: FifthAvenue,New York,N.Y. I0028-OI98 Editor:JoanHolt, IOOO ManagingEditor:None Owner:The MetropolitanMuseumof Art, Ioo0 FifthAvenue,New York,N.Y. I0028-OI98 and othersecurityholdersowningor holdingonepercent Knownbondholders, mortgages, None and othersecurities: or moreof thelocalamountof bonds,mortgages,

Averagenumberof copies duringpreceding12 months (Oct. 97-Sept. 98) A. Totalcopies printed(net pressrun) B. Paidand/orrequestedcirculation I. Salesthroughdealers,carriers, streetvendors,and countersales 2. Mail subscription(paidand/orrequested) C. Totalpaid and/orrequestedcirculation D. Freedistributionby mail E. Freedistributionoutsidethe mail F. Totalfreedistribution(sum of E and D) G. Totaldistribution(sum of C and F) H. Copies not distributed I. Office use, left over,unaccounted,spoilage 2. Returnsfrom news agents I. Total (sum of G, HI and H2) J. Percentagepaidand/orrequestedcirculation

Singleissuesnearest to filingdate (July98)

122,664

I23,025

None

None 116,600 116,600 2,700 3,725 6,425

II5,925 II5,925

2,650 4,039 6,689 122,614 50 None 122,664 94.5%

123,025

o None 123,025 94.7%

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