Animal Motifs Research Articles

Animated Robotic Sculptures: Using SMA Motion Display to Create Lifelike Movements

This paper describes four animated robotic sculptures that are characterized by their use of shape-memory alloy motion display technologies to express lifelike movements, such as rustling leaves or squirming tentacles. These works of art combine plant and animal motifs with robotics to give their audience a sense of the objects being alive through their lifelike movements. These projects attempt to explore what it means to feel alive. They express the grotesqueness and scariness as well as the beauty of the mystery of life and living things.

The Study of Animal Motifs on the Compartmented Seals in Southeastern Iran

The Study of Animal Motifs on the Compartmented Seals in Southeastern Iran

Ornament, Text, and the Creation of Sishen Mirrors in Late Western Han and Xin China (ca. 50 BCE – 23 CE)

Towards the end of the first century BCE, ornamentation of Chinese mirrors shifted fundamentally from a symmetric design of largely repeated motifs to a unidirectional one of non-repetitive animal or human motifs, culminating in the so-called “Four Gods” (sishen 四神) mirrors. Scholars, however, have offered no explanations for this paradigm change. This article, by closely analyzing the ornament in relation to other elements in mirrors of different styles, demonstrates that the introduction of long expository inscriptions with narrative elements into late Western Han bronze mirrors redefined the relationship between the mirror and the viewer/reader, and played an important role in triggering the aforementioned shift in ornament. The author focuses on the changing styles and placements of the ornaments and inscriptions during circa 50 BCE to 23 CE. Finally, this article situates the change of mirror ornament in the historical context of the late Western Han and the Xin dynasties and speculates on its ideological and political causes.

Remeték, lovagok, szarvasok és oroszlánok

Medieval hagiography is full of animal motifs. Representations of animals in medieval literature is usually metaphoric. They could represent theological, moral or political notions. Animals frequently were the symbols of vices and virtues. On one hand researching the changes of the hagiographic topoi related to animals could shed light to the human-nature relationship, on the other hand it provides several pieces of information about medieval society, mentality, religious and folkloristic beliefs. Animal episodes are emphatic in the lives of the desert fathers and later in the Western eremitic movement. The animals appear as the companions of the lonely hermits, give food and help them in the fi elds, and they underline the self mortifi cation of the saint. The motive of the taming of wild animals expresses the holy man’s power over nature. The hermits transform the deserted wilderness into an earthly Paradise, where ferocious animals can live in peace. Hagiographical animal motifs were thoroughly researched by Anglo-Saxon, Italian and French medievalists, however in Hungarian medieval studies this topic is not on the highlight, due to the limited amount of the narrative sources. Present study researches the animal motifs in Hungarian hagiographical literature with special regard to the “the hermit and the hunter” topos – a denomination used by the British scholar, Brian Golding. Chiefl y I analyse the legends of Saint Gerhard, Saint Ladislaus, Saint Günther and Saint Andreas, the hermit of Zobor. The Life of Paul the hermit of Thebes by Jerome and the Dialoges of Sulpicius Severus also appear in the study, although they are not connected directly to Hungary, but the cults of Saint Paul the hermit and Saint Martin of Tours were widespread in the medieval Hungarian Kingdom. The Vitae Patrum, the History of the Pauline Order from the early 16th century by provost Gergely Gyöngyösi also appears in the study, because several hagiographic motifs occur in the work. The magic deer is a crucial motif in the texts, this can be also connected to the ancient pagan Hungarian folkloristic “myths”. ”However I research only the Western hagiographic parallels of this topos, and make little reference to the pagan origins. This topic has already been researched by several medievalists, art historians and ethnographers.

АНІМАЛЬНІ МОТИВИ У ДИЗАЙНІ СЦЕНІЧНОГО ПРОСТОРУ

Мистецтвознавчі дослідження з питань теорії, історії та практики художнього оформлення сценічного простору досить різновекторні. Вітчизняній науці бракує фахових предметних та системних досліджень, спрямованих на вивчення досвіду застосування анімальних мотивів – у розумінні використання на сцені недресированих тварин в якості характерного елементу – в дизайні постановок творів сценічного мистецтва. Мета дослідження – мистецтвознавчий аналіз анімальних мотивів у дизайні сценічного простору театрально-видовищних постановок у хронологічних межах від античності до сьогодення. Методологічну основу дослідження складають традиційні мистецтвознавчі методи: історико-культурний, історико-атрибутивний, реконструктивно-модельний, хронологічна дескрипція, що сприяють розкриттю образної трансформації анімальних мотивів у дизайні сценічного простору театрально-видовищних постановок. Анімальні мотиви в системі оформлення сценічного простору з наукового погляду предметно розглядаються вперше, що й зумовило наукову новизну дослідження. Авторкою зроблені такі висновки: дизайн сценічного простору має дуальну природу, виходячи з приналежності і до мистецтва дизайну, і до сценічного мистецтва; перцепція анімальних мотивів у дизайні сценічного простору несе естетичну і/або емоційну насолоду глядачам, обумовлену багато в чому притаманною тваринам імпровізаційною непередбачуваністю, що, своєю чергою, часто призводить до зайняття ними домінуючого місця в художньо-проектному конструюванні театрально-видовищних постановок; способи залучення тварин до дизайну сценічного простору можна систематизувати за функціональним призначенням: тварини як складник дизайну сценічного простору, тварини як ігровий дизайнерський реквізит, тварини як живі декорації, тварини як учасники сценічної дії; анімальні мотиви мають функціональні особливості в дизайні сценічного простору драматичних вистав.

Between Human and Animal

Abstract The traditional way of representing animals was either by a metaphor or by anthropomorphization. In parallel with the slowly growing ecological sensitivity of our times, in contemporary literature, animals are depicted as specific subjects. The study surveys a selection of representative works from world literature and groups them into thematic, motivic groups, tracking the route of animal motifs from the Antiquity to the present, with special focus on a set of Hungarian literary works that deserve a place in the “animal canon” of world literature. The survey is aimed at providing the background against which two contemporary Hungarian novels, Zsolt Láng’s Bestiarium Transylvaniae IV and Zsuzsa Selyem’s Moszkvában esik [It’s Raining in Moscow] will be discussed. These novels organically grow out of, but also displace, the outlined literary tradition, basing their aesthetics upon the subversive perceptual, narrative potential of the animal subject.

Transmission and Transformation of Knowledge and Iconography: Animal Motifs in Colored Manuscript Copies of Kunyu wanguo quantu and Kunyu quantu in Format of Folding Screen from Late Joseon Dynasty

Transmission and Transformation of Knowledge and Iconography: Animal Motifs in Colored Manuscript Copies of Kunyu wanguo quantu and Kunyu quantu in Format of Folding Screen from Late Joseon Dynasty

New Evidence from Decorative Patterns of Early Bronze Age Pottery at Yanik Tepe, Iran

New Evidence from Decorative Patterns of Early Bronze Age Pottery at Yanik Tepe, Iran

Interrogating the Diffusion of Metal Artefacts: A Case Study of a Type of Medieval Copper-Alloy Buckle

THIS PAPER INTRODUCES and discusses a group of broadly 14th-century single-looped buckles. These oval buckles are characterised by an outer edge which widens gradually towards its centre, thus providing a sizeable field either side of the pin rest. Two-thirds of the corpus of over 100 examples are decorated with engraved and punched motifs. These motifs comprise abstract forms, schematic or realistic vegetal or animal motifs, representations of humans and architectural features, and religious inscriptions. Such buckles are typical of the South of France, but are documented here for the first time from the eastern and southern coasts of England. Their presence in England can be framed in a commercial context; once diffused, they might have been copied, and other decorative motifs introduced in order to meet local needs. Compositional analyses revealed the existence of alloy groups with high proportions of lead or tin, potentially testifying to production in separate workshops.

“Les Névroses” de Maurice Rollinat: une tentative de retour/recours fin-de-siècle à la nature

Maurice Rollinat’s Les Nevroses (1883) exhibits a distinctively original feature as a work of poetry; it draws on two kinds of inspiration that are usually regarded as categorically opposed if not categorially exclusive, that, artificialist, of decadent poetry, on the one hand, and that, naturist, of rustic poetry, on the other. A close reading of the work suggests that the relationships between these two poetic trends are to be conceived not only in terms of opposition, as critics would normally do, but also in terms of hybridization. We intend here to draw attention to the main aspects of this singular hybridization of aesthetic codes and values, and to capture its global symbolic motivation by presenting it as a tentative decadent return/resort to nature. Through this aesthetic gesture, as we will suggest, Rollinat extends the “quivering” of modern sensitivity to natural order. By doing so, he allows for the use of pastoral and animal motifs which are usually excluded from poetic representation of fin-de-siecle modernity. Conversely, he also provides a new possibility of revitalisation or regeneration for the Baudelairian poetic paradigm. We will postulate that the fact that this possibility remains in the end unexploited by other poets and that Rollinat came to be associated, both in the eyes of his contemporaries and in the memory of posterity, with a rather unfortunate epigone of Baudelaire could be attributed to two reasons: his poetic ethos generally maladapted to decadent aesthetics and, more importantly, the radicalism of his endeavour which brings the decadent logic of the sensation to a point of self-contradiction pragmatically untenable.

Symbolic Study of Color in Bakhtiyari Textiles with Emphasis on Veris (Card Weaving)

Veris is a narrow weaving with a width of 2-10 cm. and a length of 1-8 m., often woven with woolen yarns by simple tools known as cards. This woven has a variety of applications, in the past for decorating clothes, the collar, the edge of the skirt, the belt, baby wrapping, hat bands, saddles and many other uses, the handmade strips were used. But today, more is used to decorate clothes. For the Veris weaving, the Bakhtiyari tribes use many motifs and designs most of which are based on their customs, habits, perceptions, insights, environment and their culture. In this textile, geometric, human, animal, herbal, inscription, positive and negative motifs are used. Red, black, blue, yellow, and dark green are main color in Bakhtiyari hand woven. Each of the colors in the Bakhtiyari tribes symbolizes an event. For example: red Veris for happy event, green Veris is for fastening infant and black tent, yellow Veris for expensive objects, blue Veris for fastening ordinary objects, black and white Veris for mourning events. In short, the composition of colors in the Veris depends on the type of application. This research, by examining the current literature and applying a fieldwork, implements a descriptive & analytical methodology to analyze and understand the “symbolism” in card weaving. The study will examine different motif shapes and explain the meaning of the motif among the Bakhtiyari tribes. For this purpose, different car woven samples will be illustrated and pictured for the reader. The study concludes that card weaving has decorative and functional meanings.

On the origin and formation of the early Qin Culture

Abstract The early Qin Culture refers to the Qin Culture from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring-and-Autumn Period. Considering its cultural composition, we will realize that it has three main sources, namely the Shang, Zhou, and Western Rong (Western Barbarian) Cultures. The elements derived from the Shang Culture comprised the furniture of waist pits and the custom of dog burial in graves, the use of human sacrifice, the interment of chariots and horses, the Shang-style pottery wares and the tradition of constructing huge-scale mausoleums. These elements reflect that the Qin people initially came from the east and had strong ties with the Shang Dynasty and were deeply influenced by the Shang Culture, and belonged to the Yin people (after the fall of the Shang Dynasty) in the broader sense. The elements absorbed from the Zhou Culture comprised the architectural types of ancestral temples and palaces, the adoption of the ritual vessels, the suspended musical instruments, the Zhou style pottery wares and the writing system. These elements indicate that the Qin people adopted the ritual and musical culture of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which had a great political significance at the early stage of Qin’s history. The factors derived from the cultures of the Western Rong ethnic group or the northern steppes included the flexed burial position, the golden body ornaments and chariots and horses, iron wares, animal motifs on utensils, recesses on the walls of the burial pits and the ditches around the graves, the use of bronze cauldrons and swords (daggers). Such elements reflect that during the development process in the Longyou region, the Qin people absorbed the cultures of the adjacent Western Rong ethnic group, the Eurasian steppes and farther beyond. The first kind of elements continued to predominate the Qin Culture down to the middle Western Zhou, then the second and the third ones arose from the late Western Zhou to the early Spring-and-Autumn Period, and simultaneously, the first were only present in the aristocratic burial activities. Based on the remnants of the Shang Culture, the early Qin Culture came into being by widely absorbing elements of the Zhou and Western Rong Cultures.

울산 천전리 암각화 동물문 연구

Point-engraved animal motifs of Cheonjeon-ri Petroglyphs seem to be the product of hunting rituals based on worship of rocks. Their creators seem to have engraved the images of animals praying to the gods, the masters of animals, that they be allowed to hunt the game as easily as if the animals were stuck on the rocks.BR The large number of female and male animal couples and large bucks with exaggerated antlers reflected the creators’ hope that the animals hunted will reproduce and recover the lost numbers. The fertility of animals mattered greatly to both the animals themselves and to humans. The people who attempted point-engravings on Cheonjeon-ri Petroglyphs also hoped to catch whales and sharks on the sea.BR Compared to Bangudae Petroglyphs, the people who point-engraved and those who line-engraved and ground geometric patterns were not linked either in time period or lifestyle. While those who left images on Bangudae Petroglyphs sought to avoid overlapping with previous petroglyphs, the people who left geometric patterns on Cheonjeon-ri disregarded the works of previous period, damaging them in the process. They did not know people who left point-engraved animals nor their meanings.BR If the people who left geometric patterns on Cheonjeon-ri relied on agriculture, those of animal motifs were of a different group that relied on hunting as the main way of life. Considering the composition and the layout of the geometric patterns, their creators may be from the Bronze Age. The creators of point-engraved animal images likely belonged to the hunter-gatherer groups of Neolithic Period.

Nová stříbrná kaptorga ze středních Čech v souvislosti s konkrétním výrobním okruhem(?) v Praze

In response to the new find of a small silver trapezoid casket — i.e. kaptorga — from the grave of female H 2103 from Hostivice-Palouky, we focused our paper on the small group of such amulet caskets from Central Bohemia, decorated with engraved animal motifs on a punched background and with a knot made with the assistance of a pair of compasses on their lids and dated to the 2nd half of the 10th century. The kaptorga from Hostivice belongs to the Bohemian openable construction type IA, and was decorated with an engraving of a pair of birds with their heads turned on eitherr side of a stylized tree of life with leaf-shaped tendrils. Most of the finds from Hostivice, Klecany II, Praha-Lumbe Garden were produced in Prague during the 2nd half of the 10th century.

Interpreting the Tri Mandala Concept on the Motif of Gringsing Wayang Kebo Woven Cloth

Gringsing wayang kebo woven cloth is one of specialty cloths owned by Tenganan Pegringsingan Village, Manggis Sub-district, Karangasem Regency, Bali. This research aims to interpreting the Tri Mandala concept on the motif of gringsing wayang kebo woven cloth. The approach of this research is descriptive qualitative. Techniques for collecting data are observation, interview, and documentation, data analysis is using interactive analysis model and the validity of the data will be confirmed with triangulation technique. The result of this research shows that the motif of gringsing wayang kebo follows the of Tri Mandala concept that consists of 3 parts, Main pattern, Center pattern, and edge pattern. The motifs consisted of each pattern are 1). The motif on the main pattern consists of the plus, swastika, building, and scorpion motif; 2). The motif on the center pattern consists of an animal motif, floral, mountain, wayang; and; 3). The motif on the edge pattern consists of plus sign (+) and sun.

Semiotics of Animal Motifs in the Jewelry of the Achaemenid Era

Achaemenid art is a combination of different nations' art and a reflection of thought and religion of the era. Plant, human, animal motifs and a combination of them have been used in the art of the Achaemenid era. But the abundant use of animal motifs, especially in jewelry, has distinguished the Achaemenid art. The present paper aims to study the animal symbols in the jewelry of the Achaemenid era. Following a definition of the symbol, it evaluates the role and status of animal symbols in Achaemenid jewelry by categorizing and analyzing those motifs. Descriptive-analytic method has been used in this paper and data has obtained from library research. According to the results of the study, it can be found that the symbolic animal motifs were used in the jewelry of the Achaemenid era to express the power and majesty of the king and the sovereignty; they demonstrate the Iranians' particular viewpoint toward the world, religion and custom of the era and artistic qualities of the related nations.

BENTUK DAN FUNGSI RAGAM HIAS CANDI BUMIAYU III KABUPATEN MUARAENIM

This article is about the form and function of Bumiayu III temple located in Muaraenim regency of South Sumatera Province. This study aims to develop and provide insight and information to the general public both artists, culturalists, art lovers, lovers of local culture and culture of the archipelago, who should know about the form and function of Bumiayu III temple.In cultural studies of the archipelago, the study of the existence of Bumiayu III temple is rare in South Sumatra.Therefore, the existence of decoration in the temple of Bumiayu III here is described briefly and presented qualitatively interactively with the Aesthetic Nusantara approach.Research method that is various relevant data can be used in supporting the continuity of research.Data collection starts from the study of observation, documentation, interview and literature study. From result of analysis to form and function of decoration of Bumiayu III temple ie; The explanation of the background of Bumiayu III temple, the purpose, the origin of the history of the temple Bumiayu III, continued the exposition of the function of the temple ornament consists of personal functions, social functions, and physical functions, in addition described also about the form of temple decoration ; motifs of plants (flora), animal motifs (fauna), and human motives (figures of deity) at Bumiayu III temple located in Muaraenim regency of South Sumatra Province.Keywords: shape, function of decoration of temple Bumiayu III

The Study of Meanings of Motifs on Artifacts Discovered from Archeological Sites of Gilan Province and their Classification based on Dumézil’s Trifunctional Model

Gilan is one of the historical centers which has drawn the attention of archeological and art researchers due to the fact that unique artistic works have been discovered from its archeological sites. The present study seeks to review the meanings of motifs on archeological artifacts discovered from Gilan and to classify the artifacts based on Dumézil’s trifunctional model. This study aims to increase awareness of form and content of designs on historical works of Gilan and to detail historical background of Gilan. To do this, motifs are classified and symbolic meanings of motifs of artifacts discovered from Gilan are consequently detailed. Finally, the three functions of the sacral, the martial and the economic which constitute Dumézil’s trifunctional model for social and cultural structure of Indo-European tribes are used to study the artifacts discovered from Gilan. In general, motifs on archeological artifacts of Gilan could be divided into four groups of plant, animal, human, and abstract which could be analyzed through Dumézil’s trifunctional model. Mixed animal motifs are related to first function and show a sacral function. The artifacts on which war and hunting scenes are represented are concerned with second Dumézil’s function namely “the martial”. Plant and animal motifs and some human figure designs such as figures of historical women are related to certain notions such as life and living which could be categorized into the economic function.

Motion graphic and animation in motifs of Iranian pottery

Painted containers have a long history in Iranian art. In reviewing pottery motifs, human and animal motifs are considerable. The drawn motifs of the pottery indicate several moves from a human or animal character, sequence of which cause the viewer to see different forms of motion in a visual plan. This study was based on the theory, in which the designers of these motifs besides paying attention to the beauty of the pottery drawings, have tried to create motion elements of a character in a visual medium and different states; moreover, the theory was aimed to answer these questions: which sense of motion had Iran's artists in visual recording and repeating human animal motifs on pottery? What was the purpose of accomplishing it? Understanding these historical motifs, and determining their direction, can become a rich and supportive resource in Iranian contemporary art - especially animation.

Motion graphic and animation in motifs of Iranian pottery

Painted containers have a long history in Iranian art. In reviewing pottery motifs, human and animal motifs are considerable. The drawn motifs of the pottery indicate several moves from a human or animal character, sequence of which cause the viewer to see different forms of motion in a visual plan. This study was based on the theory, in which the designers of these motifs besides paying attention to the beauty of the pottery drawings, have tried to create motion elements of a character in a visual medium and different states; moreover, the theory was aimed to answer these questions: which sense of motion had Iran's artists in visual recording and repeating human animal motifs on pottery? What was the purpose of accomplishing it? Understanding these historical motifs, and determining their direction, can become a rich and supportive resource in Iranian contemporary art - especially animation.