Luxury Objects Research Articles

Expressing Political Legitimacy and Cultural Identity Through the Use of Spolia On the Ambo of Henry II

AbstractThis paper will explore the significant role appropriated objects played in Ottonian artistic production through a close examination of the Ambo of Henry II. Created by the last Ottonian emperor for the Palace Chapel at Aachen between 1002 and 1014, the Ambo of Henry II abounds with spolia. I will argue that the spolia reused on the Ambo of Henry II presented an innovative statement of Henry II's political, economic, and cultural agenda. The spolia from ancient Rome and contemporary Byzantium portrayed Henry II as the political successor to an illustrious Roman past, and as an equal to the Byzantine emperors in the East. The luxury objects reused on the Ambo also served as commodities whose symbolic value increased dramatically when they were taken out of economic circulation and used on this precious artwork. Finally, the Islamic and Byzantine spolia on the Ambo allowed Henry II to define himself and his Western Roman Empire in terms of an Other, associating his rule with the power, prestige, and sophistication of contemporary and competitive foreign cultures.

Turkish occurrences of obsidian and use by prehistoric peoples in the Near East from 14,000 to 6000 BP

Obsidian was widely used as a raw material for making tools and luxury objects by prehistoric peoples of the Near and Middle East. To identify the origin of archaeological obsidians and the volcanic complexes which produced the blocks from which they were knapped, the different methods of mineralogy, chemistry or dating are used. In this paper we develop the geochemical identification of Turkish obsidian sources, from the volcano to the artefacts, introducing the use of spidergrams and argon geochronology as useful tools. This leads to a reevaluation of the possible obsidian sources, to the identification of new sources and to wider archaeological conclusions. Analyses carried out on a selection of samples of Turkish geological obsidians and obsidian artefacts from Near East sites demonstrate that this obsidian came essentially from central and south-eastern Anatolia. However, although there are numerous sources in these regions, at the present time only some of the deposits are known to have been exploited: in Cappadocia, Göllü Dağı (eastern flank) and Nenezi Dağı; in eastern Anatolia, the deposits of Bingöl and Nemrut Dağı, as well as a source on the northern shore of Lake Van (Meydan Dağı/Ziyaret Dağı ?). The obsidian from Cappadocia was widely used in central Anatolia; its use spread westward to the sea of Marmara, and eastward to the middle Euphrates, then along the Mediterranean coast to the Negev. The obsidian of Lake Van was diffused through the basins of the Tigris and Euphrates to the shores of the Persian Gulf, even reaching Arabia; to the west it penetrated the valleys of the Orontes and Jordan rivers as far as the Dead Sea.

Print Collecting and Popular Culture in Eighteenth‐Century Scotland

The most significant area of commercialization in art in the eighteenth century, judged by its impact on British cultural life, was the development of modern engraved print publication. Print collecting was a popular pursuit among the middle ranks and above, and the most common type of collection comprised ‘furniture prints’, dominated by portraits, that were used as wall decoration in houses. Most prints were produced in London, but the market was largely provincial, and a sophisticated system of production and marketing developed over the course of the century to ensure the wide and rapid distribution of this particular type of luxury object. Having outlined the character of commercial print production and provincial distribution in the first half, the essay moves on in the second half to consider some of the reasons why ordinary people sought to own and display prints. Based on samples and case studies of modest print collections in Scotland, which are used to illustrate a particular regional context, the complex and changing rhetorical role of prints relative to other luxury objects within the home is considered. Gender, regional identity, politics and patronage all played a part in determining the character of domestic print collections among the middling sort.

The Holsteinian housewife and the Danish Diva: Early Germanic female images in Tacitus and cemetery evidence*

In some regions of Northern Germany during the first centuries AD, males and females were buried in different cemeteries. In traditional societies this custom is apparently linked with a very low social status of the female. An analysis of graves of the Northern German cemeteries supports this idea. In East Holstein in particular, female graves present a poor and schematic equipment, mainly restricted to household utensils, whereas men's graves show greater differentiation and sometimes contain luxury objects. On the Danish Isles of Fyn, Lolland and Seeland men and women are often buried in the same place, and here the distribution of wealth seems to be just the opposite. In this article this is interpreted as a tendency toward variation in the roles of Holstein women living in the two regions.

The Eye and the Hand: Arts and Crafts of Morocco

The Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum recently presented a vibrant display of Moroccan arts and crafts which encompassed a diverse range of media, including textiles, woodwork, pottery, ceramics, leatherwork, and jewelry. Together with a collection of Jean Besancenot's photographs of traditional dress from the 1930s, this exhibition provided a rare glimpse into the rich dimensions of Morocco's visual culture, which tends to be overlooked. Moroccan luxury objects and religious art from the classical Islamic period are scant in United States collections compared to holdings in European and Moroccan collections, and therefore receive little exposure. Likewise, many African-art exhibitions tend to focus on sub-

Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern China

Books about things - the literature of Ming connoisseurship ideas about things - themes in Ming connoisseurship words about things - the language of Ming connoisseurship things of the past - uses of the antique in Ming material culture things in motion - Ming luxury objects as commodities anxieties about things - consumption andclass in Ming China. Appendix: Selected prices for works of art and antique artifacts c1560-1620.

Floraculture and the Sensorium: The Culture of Flowers . Jack Goody. ; Scents Appeal: The Silent Persuasion of Aromatic Encounters . Gabrielle J. Dorland.

TACK GOODYS LATEST OFFERING, The Culture of Flowers, is a delight. A study of the symbolic import of flowers in different cultures, it commences, properly enough, with a conundrum: Why do Africans have so little interest in the culture of flowers, particularly as compared with Europeans and Asians, for whom flowers so importantly in commerce, symbolic representation and aesthetic sensibility? Goody's answer, developed in great detail in this large and wonderfully illustrated book, hinges on the double sense of that word culture. He reminds us that it can mean both that peculiar thing anthropologists are always trying to figure and the activities surrounding the cultivation of domestic plants and all the processes involved in their transformation from natural or wild plants into objects of use, desire, enjoyment, and prestation. Comparative floraculture, however, makes only part of his story, for he is also concerned with the representation of flowers as symbolic forms in a wide range of media, including the written texts that have configured both the culture of flowers and the cultures of flowers. We might put the question another way: Why do some peoples develop sensuous sensibilities for such non-utilitarian plants that, no matter how wondrously colorful and fragrant, are doomed too soon to fade and die? Goody first outlines the Near Eastern idea of the garden, with its associated meaning of paradise, and traces its diffusion and development in the ancient world as pleasure grounds, places of both retreat and ostentatious display for priests and kings. The spread of gardens to Greece and Rome secularized them and made them emblems of luxury for the wealthy. Flowers were also desacralized in discursive texts describing their properties and methods of cultivation. Flowers became objects of commerce in the form of garlands used as decorative offerings to deities or as crowns worn in celebrations and rituals. In time, garlands came to replace blood sacrifice and were offered as substitutes for animals. In Rome flowers ultimately came to be regarded with ambivalence, not just because they were luxury objects, but because their increasingly widespread cultivation took too much arable land out of food production and because their use in ritual as substitutes for blood came to symbolize the decay of manliness and martial spirit.

New Perspectives on Byzantine Ivories

The study of Byzantine ivories has traditionally included inquiries into and assessments of their style, iconography, groupings, dating and technique. However, three plaques at the Metropolitan Museum challenge us to extend these approaches in a more unexplored direction. Traces of polychromy on these mainly creamy white ivories open a new set of questions when we imagine their original appearance as brightly colored. Is the color original? Were other ivories also painted? What other practical and functional considerations are inferred? While the presence of color confirms the association of these ivories with illuminated manuscripts it also reflects an aesthetic consistent with and relating to other Byzantine luxury objects and media. The implications of this aspect of Byzantine ivories require further investigation.

Venus Victrix : à propos d'une intaille d'époque romaine, de Murviel-lès-Montpellier

While the figure of Venus Victrix engraved on the onyx found at Murviel-lès-Montpellier (Hérault) is easily identifiable, the reason why such a stone was used remains a mystery. The preference given to this type of Venus by the Roman glyptic (lst century B.C. to 4th century) was not in relation to a precise function attributed to the goddess (function of protection, political propaganda or devotion). Used as a seal and/or as a ring, this engraved gemstone was a personal possession whose function can probably never really be defined ; representing a well known figure, as a luxury object, it is a sign of the Romanization of a part of Gallo-Roman society.

A Wax Miniature of Joseph Boruwlaski

Previous articleNext article No AccessA Wax Miniature of Joseph BoruwlaskiPriscilla GracePriscilla Grace Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Metropolitan Museum Journal Volume 151980 Sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/1512759 Copyright 1981 The Metropolitan Museum of ArtPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.