Type Of Sculpture Research Articles

Processing technology for the objects of mobile art in the Upper Paleolithic of Siberia (the Malta site)

Investigation of the technological aspects of the processing of the Siberian collection of animal materials opens up new possibilities for the historical and cultural reconstructions of archaeological materials. The complete collection of processed ivory reflecting technological cycles is shown in single sites of the Classical stage of the Upper Paleolithic in Siberia (Malta, Ust-Cova, Afontova Gora, Listvenka, and Jansky). Materials of animal origin from the collection of Malta (especially ivory) are suitable for their preservation for microscopic analysis. The Malta-site is the main archaeological site of the Upper Paleolithic in Siberia (dated near 19,000–23,000 years BP). The collection is represented by the more than 650 decorated objects of ivory, antler, and bone. A detailed study of the most part of the collection stored in the State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg) has established the general steps of processing the ivory, antler, and bone articles at the time of Siberian's Upper Paleolithic. Mobile art of Malta is well known in the scientific and popular press, but our study differs from other studies. The work is based on a set of morphological data, technical, use wear analyzes and experiment. The collection includes the sculptures of people, birds, fish, and animals as well as ornamented plates, rods, and personal ornaments. The microscopic analysis allows one to systematize the process of shape formation, the processing, and the ornamentation of Paleolithic sculptures and personal ornamentations of Malta. In addition, we propose certain stable sets of tools and techniques used to work with each of the selected morphological types of Paleolithic sculpture. We have identified all steps of manufacturing the mobile art pieces including flaking, drilling, carving, grinding, and polishing. A number of tools were employed for the manufacture of artifacts: hammer stones, retouches, bow-shaped drills, perforators, boring, different kinds of burins and knives, reamers, engravers, grinding tablets, and scrapers. The basic tools that were involved in forming shape were planer knives and some variants of scrapers. Burins and knives were employed to make decorative elements. According our opinion, In Malta's tool kit were: the bow-shaped drills, perforators, and burins, as well as different kind of burins were used for drilling the holes and forming of the ornamental elements. The different types of abrasives were also used.

Outdoor Pottery Sculpture in Ife Art School

The rich public outdoor sculpture practice of the Southwest of Nigeria still lacks scientific and empirical experimentation of non-conventional material for the production of outdoor sculpture, particularly pottery images. Although scholarship on public outdoor sculpture in the Southwest of Nigeria is becoming steady in growth, yet a reconnaissance study of the pottery sculpture in art practice and historical perspective has not been made. A study of this type of art, erected in the garden of Ife art school is exigent and paramount now that many of the works are not being maintained. The study underscores the inherent values in the genre of the art; and examined pottery sculpture types, its uses in public sphere and its development in morphology, iconic thematic and stylistic expressions. The study observed that outdoor pottery sculptures are impressive, apparent in sculpture multiplicity of type and dynamics; it is rare in occurrence in Southwestern Nigeria. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n3p219

A study of the origin and gilding technique of a Hispano-Philippine ivory from the XVIIth century

This paper reports on the multidisciplinary (historic-scientific) study of a Hispano-Philippine image of the Immaculate Conception from the XVIIth century, whose remains are preserved in the local parish of Íllora (Spain). FTIR spectroscopy was used to determine the origin of the sculpture's primary material, which helps us to know the circulation and commercial routes of ivory during the modern age. Comparative results with a certified African ivory reference sample indicate the Asian origin of our image. Historically, our results support the idea that Asian tusk ivory from India and South-East Asia were commonly carved by artisans in the area of Zhanzhou Port (Fujian province), and consequently by the same artisans when they settled in Manila.Scanning electron microscopy was used to determine the materials and gilding techniques used in this type of sculpture. This is a new aspect for Hispano-Philippine ivories, but a recurrent one for medieval ivories. The results obtained in this study allow us to present the gilding technique used to decorate the Immaculate Conception image as a water gilding (“guazzo”) over an oil/mordant gilding. Water gilding uses a layer of gesso and a layer of bole to make the gold leaf adhere, and was traditionally used for wood surfaces, but has also been documented in the cases of some medieval ivory sculptures.

Nutlet micromorphology and its taxonomic utility in Lamium L. (Lamiaceae)

This paper presents results of examination of fruit surface in the genus Lamium L. (Lamiaceae) using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The purpose of this study was to define new features that differentiate taxa difficult to identify on the basis of macromorphological features, such as species of hybrid origin and subspecies within Lamium. The results of our research show that the SEM analysis of fruit surface allowed defining new diagnostic features for almost all studied representatives of the genus Lamium except for L. confertum from L. coutinhoi and L. album subsp. album from L. album subsp. barbatum. The most useful feature in distinguishing the examined species was cuticle striation. I turn, the type of secondary sculpturing of the cell walls divided the species studied into two main groups. One of them consisted of four taxa (L. album, L flexuosum, L. garganicum, L. orvala) with thickenings of the cell walls in the form of irregular ridges and tubercles. The other one comprised all the remaining species, with cell wall thickenings forming regular papillae. The only species which could not be qualified to any of these groups was L. moschatum. The obtained results demonstrated also high similarity of L. galeobdolon to the remaining species of Lamium, especially L. flexuosum and L. orvala. This observation provides an argument for the inclusion of L. galeobdolon to the genus Lamium.

Seed micromorphology of central European Orobanche and Phelipanche (Orobanchaceae) in relation to preferred hosts and systematic implications

Holoparasitic genera within family Orobanchaceae are characterised by greatly reduced vegetative organs; therefore, seed micromorphology has proved to be a useful complementary taxonomic criterion. Seeds of 160 samples from 54 localities of 26 taxa of the Orobanche and Phelipanche genera occurring in central Europe, specifically from Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia, supplemented by samples from Spain, France and Ukraine, were investigated using scanning electron microscopy. Thirteen quantitative or qualitative morphological characters of seeds were analysed. The following three types of periclinal wall sculpture of seeds were identified: veined and fibrillar in Phelipanche; with oval or elliptic perforations (pitted) in almost all species of Orobanche; with outer periclinal wall smooth, granular or rugged (very rarely visibly pitted), impeding vision of the inner one, occurring only in O. gracilis Sm. and O. coerulescens Stephan in Willd. The influence of different hosts on the features of seeds of eight species is also presented, as well as relationships between seed morphology and taxonomic classification, including problematic taxa. The best diagnostic features include type of ornamentation of the periclinal wall, perforation diameter (in pitted sculpture), fibrillar diameter (in fibrillar sculpture) and width of anticlinal walls. Size and shape of the seeds and cells and the presence of median troughs are variable; however, these features can be helpful when using larger samples. The usefulness of micromorphological studies on seeds of Orobanche and Phelipanche is demonstrated.

La règle de la hiérarchie et l’organisation de la composition dans la sculpture monumentale de l’antiquité grecque

Using as a starting point Hans Luschey΄s critical monograph on the relation between left and right in the iconographical repertoire of ancient Greek art, in this paper I examine the strength of what could be called the canon of hierarchy. Drawing from different examples, I first reexamine a relief in Aegina (fig. 2), which allowed the identification of the sculptural type of the so-called Hera Borghese with the much discussed Polycleitus’ Aphrodite of Amyklai (fig. 1). Considering the Athena and Marsyas group by Myron (fig. 3), a bronze votive offering from Delphi (fig. 4) and other relevant works, I comment on the Pheidian Delphic group and the restoration of the east pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia. Thanks to the canon of hierarchy, I conclusively argue that the problem of the east pediment of the Parthenon can also be solved ; because the figure of the new-born Athena must have definitely been standing first on the left half of the triangular composition, namely in the most prestigious place on the right of her enthroned father.

Sculpture Collections in Early Modern Spain

Kelley Helmstutler Di Dio and Rosario Coppel have amassed and worked through an astonishing quantity of primary documents and have organized and synthesized the contents of those rich resources in this valuable publication. Their project focuses on collecting habits in Habsburg Spain, ranging roughly from the importation of Charles V and Maria of Hungary’s collections in the 1550s and their inheritance by Philip II through the inventories of the troubled Charles II (d. 1700). The book begins with an overview of their findings that works through the circumstances behind a boom in sculpture collecting, including the influx of wealth due to the Madrid-based court, travel to and from Italy by diplomats and artists, and archeological excavations of Spain’s Roman imperial past. Given the resources and artists at their disposal, the Habsburgs’ collections set the standards to which the Spanish aristocracy would strive. Di Dio and Coppel highlight a number of key sites for collectors and types of sculpture which emerged from extant archival sources. They explore garden statuary, portraiture, religious sculptures, modes of acquisition including gift-giving, travel, and inheritance, dramatic examples of the difficulties surrounding the transport of objects, and characteristics of display practices gleaned from archival documents.

A comparative taxonomic study of nutlets of Stachys L. in Iraq

Nutlets of 22 taxa of Stachys (13 species and seven subspecies and two varieties), representing seven of the currently recognized sections distributed in northern Iraq were examined by light microscope. The basic shape of nutlets in most taxa studied is Obovoid, but Oblong also found in S.megalodanta Hausskn.& Bornm. ex P.H.Davis, S.setirefa C.A.Mey. subsp daenensis (Gandog.) Rech.f.and S. kurdica Boiss.& Hohen. var.kurdica, while the Subgloboid shape found in S. iberica M.Bieb. and S. inflata Benth., more over the Broad triangular shape was found in S. nephrophylla Rech.f. and S.lanigera (Bornm.) Rech.f.., the biggest size of nutlets was found in S.inflata L. and the smallest was in S.melampyroides Hand.-Mzt. Regarding sculpturing pattern of nutlet surface six basic types can be distinguishe and the reticulate type was the most common among the studied taxa, while the Foveate type appeared only in S. lavandulifolia Vahl.Symb. The type of sculpturing and the shape of nutlets are more useful than the size values, because there were convergence in the size values of the nutlets between species, it is seems that the type of the shape is useful in separating sections, rather than separating species within the same section, and the type of sculpturing is almost useful in separating between species within the same section.

A comparative taxonomic study of nutlets of Stachys L. in Iraq

Nutlets of 22 taxa of Stachys (13 species and seven subspecies and two varieties), representing seven of the currently recognized sections distributed in northern Iraq were examined by light microscope. The basic shape of nutlets in most taxa studied is Obovoid, but Oblong also found in S.megalodanta Hausskn.& Bornm. ex P.H.Davis, S.setirefa C.A.Mey. subsp daenensis (Gandog.) Rech.f.and S. kurdica Boiss.& Hohen. var.kurdica, while the Subgloboid shape found in S. iberica M.Bieb. and S. inflata Benth., more over the Broad triangular shape was found in S. nephrophylla Rech.f. and S.lanigera (Bornm.) Rech.f.., the biggest size of nutlets was found in S.inflata L. and the smallest was in S.melampyroides Hand.-Mzt. Regarding sculpturing pattern of nutlet surface six basic types can be distinguishe and the reticulate type was the most common among the studied taxa, while the Foveate type appeared only in S. lavandulifolia Vahl.Symb. The type of sculpturing and the shape of nutlets are more useful than the size values, because there were convergence in the size values of the nutlets between species, it is seems that the type of the shape is useful in separating sections, rather than separating species within the same section, and the type of sculpturing is almost useful in separating between species within the same section.

Systematic implication of seed micromorphology in Arenaria (Caryophyllaceae) and allied genera

Variations in seed micromorphology of 64 taxa of Arenaria and allied genera were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to evaluate their diagnostic value for systematic studies in the genus and providing additional evidence on delimitation of natural groups. Significant diversity was found in seed coat morphology both among and within genera. Size, color, and shape of seeds appear to be of low importance at species level but provide useful evidence at generic rank. Cerastium and Stellaria are well distinguished from Arenaria by serrate seed margins and solid columellae on testa cells. The sculpturing pattern renders most characters potentially applicable in taxonomy and phylogeny assessment in Arenaria. The studied taxa show four basic types of sculpturing, viz. colliculate, rugose, papillate, and smooth. The colliculate type which is characteristic for the core group of Arenaria (A. subg. Arenaria) can be further divided into five subtypes. The smooth seed surface with indistinct cell boundaries represents a synapomorphy for A. subg. Leiosperma, whereas the winged seeds along with rugose surface characterize subg. Odontostemma. Otherwise seed micromorphology rarely provides adequate evidence for separation of natural groups, especially at sectional rank. We hypothesize that the seeds are highly polymorphic in certain groups of taxa showing recent adaptive radiation, such as the annual species of Arenaria, and do not provide strong support for natural groups within the genus.© 2014 Elsevier GmbH

Milnesium berladnicorum sp. n. (Eutardigrada, Apochela, Milnesiidae), a new species of water bear from Romania.

In a lichen sample collected from a tree in Bârlad town (Vaslui County, Romania), a new tardigrade species belonging to the genus Milnesium (granulatum group) was found. Milnesium berladnicorum sp. n. is most similar (in the type of dorsal sculpture) to Milnesium beasleyi Kaczmarek et al., 2012 but differs from it mainly by having a different claw configuration and some morphometric characters. Additionally, the new species differs from other congeners of the granulatum group by the different type of dorsal sculpture, claw configuration and some morphometric characters.

Sculptures of Discord: Public Art and the Politics of Commemoration in the Basque Country

This article looks at the politics of public art in the Spanish Basque region of Euskadi, and focuses on the ongoing debates about sculptures commemorating ‘victims of terrorism’. Should they be exclusively dedicated to the victims of E.T.A., the Basque left-wing separatist group, which, since the end of the Franco regime, turned into what many consider a “terrorist” organization? Or should such sculptures also honor the suffering of those who have experienced violence at the hands of the Spanish state? Opposing political factions in Euskadi contest these questions. I analyze the impact of this contestation in Euskadi on the type of public commemorative sculpture created and on the public interaction with it. The article explores the role that politics play in the appreciation of such artwork, as well as the impact that politics has on the artist. Based upon ongoing ethnographic research in the region, this work contributes to our understanding of the importance of public art as a form and function of identity politics.

Reconstructing the evolution of umbonal sculptures in the Unionida

‘Umbonal sculptures’ of freshwater mussels (Unionida), which ornament the early ontogenetic shell, have long been used for species identification. Specificity of these sculptures to higher taxonomic levels and their value for phylogenetic reconstruction are still under considerable scientific debate. In particular, the distribution of beak sculpture morphotypes across the unionoid phylogeny and, consequently, evolution of this character remain poorly understood. Based on an examination of 187 taxa, covering five of the six extant unionoid families, this study presents a new model of character evolution of umbonal sculptures in the order. Ten morphotypes were recognized and conceptualized into the cladistic characters sculpture presence and category. Optimization of sculpture presence on two recent hypotheses of palaeoheterodont phylogenetic relationships using the program Mesquite indicates a sculptured common ancestor of the extant Unionida, with multiple losses of the umbonal ornament occurring subsequently within the clade. Reconstruction of changes in sculpture category is ambiguous and demonstrates the need for further research into the evolutionary relationships of freshwater mussels in general and of their early ontogenetic sculptures in particular. Ambiguity is reduced in analyses applying a model with unequal costs of transformation between character states, which was derived from observations on intermediate forms and polymorphisms. These analyses suggest ‘V-shaped’ or ‘nodulous’ sculpture as the plesiomorphic sculptural category for Unionida. The relatively low levels of homoplasy inferred for V-shaped, pseudo-radial and double-looped sculptures suggest that these types may comprise useful guides to relationships within Unionida. The high degree of homoplasy of W-shaped, pseudo-concentric, wrinkled and single-looped sculptures, on the other hand, renders these sculpture types less fit for such purposes.

Fine structure of Quercus pollen from the Holocene sediments of the Sea of Japan

Holocene dispersed pollen from two cores from the shelf zone of the Korean Bay and from the deep water zone of the south of the Sea of Japan were studied by means of light and electron (scanning and transmission) microscopy. Three sculpture types were observed: rod-like, rugulate-granulate and (micro)verrucate. Ten conventional groups were separated according to the sporoderm morphology and ultrastructure. Possible specific attribution was suggested based on the comparison with published data on modern and fossil oak pollen. The perspective of further application of electron microscopy for this taxon is discussed.

Vizantijskaja derevjannaja skul'ptura

The paper is devoted to the Byzantine wooden sculpture, least known and conserved segment of artistic creativity in Byzantine empire. All such artefacts, well known to experts for a long time, are commented in the text. These art objects are observed in comparison to the so-called minor sculpture as well as to the other other types of sculpture. Also special emphasis is on the problems of style of the sculptural works in question.

Tardigrada from Arctic tundra (Spitsbergen) with description of Isohypsibius karenae sp. n. (Isohypsibiidae)

AbstractFive species of Tardigrada were found in two moss samples collected from the Hornsund area (Ariekammen, Spitsbergen) including one new to science. The new species, Isohypsibius karenae sp. n., differs from the other similar congeners mainly by having a different type of cuticular sculpture, a different macroplacoid length sequence, by the presence of lunules and cuticular bars under claws as well as by some morphometric characters. The current study increases the number of Isohypsibius species known from Svalbard to thirteen.

Funerary Arts and Tomb Cult: Living with the Dead in France, 1750–1870 by Suzanne Glover Lindsay (review)

Lindsay, Suzanne Glover. Funerary Arts and Tomb Cult: Living with the Dead in France, 1750-1870. Burlington: Ashgate, 2012. Pp. 254. ISBN: 978-1-4094-2261-7 What do monuments for the dead reveal about the living? And to what extent are these structures, which attempt to immortalize fallen heroes and departed loved ones, inextricably linked to the social and political climate of a specific time and place? These questions are at the heart of Suzanne Glover Lindsay's Funerary Arts and Tomb Cult. Lindsay argues that modern effigy tomb sculpture asserts that the individual existed (because he died), with an identifiable place in historical time; her study explores how this monarchical--and, the eighteenth century, out-dated and under-represented--form of funerary art was revitalized and transformed to embrace modern views of death and commemoration in nineteenth-century France (128). In demonstrating how the social, religious and civic concerns that shaped the metropolis were frequently replicated within the policies governing the necropolis, this study situates effigies within a broader context in order to explore how a modern, urban people went about, as the subtitle cleverly states, living with the dead in France. In spite of a somewhat narrow focus on a particular type of sculpture--the recumbent effigy (gisant) that reproduces the corpse of the deceased--Lindsay's text nevertheless embraces an interdisciplinary approach, with a particular emphasis on how funerary sculpture regularly intersected with issues of architecture (notably the buildings that housed funerary monuments) and landscape (in the form of outdoor, garden-like cemeteries). Looking at burial and commemorative practices during a time of social and political upheaval, Lindsay argues that changes in funerary practices that began in the eighteenth century--caused the public health crisis resulting from a too-close contact with the dead and the disruption of the Revolution--forced an obstinate populace to advocate for the continued proximity of their deceased friends and family members. While the nineteenth-century city is often discussed as a site of increasing distance and alienation, the cemetery remained a space that drew diverse communities of mourners together, so that by way of this physical and psychological intimacy, the effigy tomb fulfills the promise of union and reunion across the mortal threshold given at the funeral (202). Beginning and ending the book with detailed readings of Godefroy Cavaignac's tomb in the Montmartre cemetery, executed sculptors Francois Rude and Ernest Christophe, Lindsay documents a dramatic shift in funerary sculpture. …

Comparative palynomorphological investigation of the representatives tribe Antirrhineae Dumort. (Veronicaceae Durande)

Pollen grains of 22 species from 6 genera of the tribe Antirrhineae (Veronicaceae) were studied using light and scanning electron microscopy. Pollen grains of the studied species are 3-colporate, prolate, spheroidal and oblate-spheroidal, small and middle-sized. It is established that pollen grains are characterized by the common sculpture type, which is reticulate. Diagnostic features at the genus level are the structure of apertures and sculpture, shape and size of pollen grains. Pollen morphology supports the suggestion of a close relationship between Linaria, Antirrhinum, Misopates and Cymbalaria. The genera Chaenorhinum and Kickxia have the distinctive palynomorphological characters.

Three Palynological Puzzles

Three aspects of palynology in which core questions remain unanswered are reviewed. These are (1) the function of the huge range of types of exine sculpture of iso- and microspores that they share with many of those seen in angiosperm pollen; (2) the selective value of multiple apertures in eudicot pollen; and (3) the worldwide spread of very similar striate bisaccate pollen, apparently derived from at least three separate and very different gymnosperm plant groups in the Permo-Trias, when the macrofloras of that time show such strong biogeographic segregation.

The Aula and Laboratorio of the Portuguese royal sculptor Joaquim Machado de Castro

Joaquim Machado de Castro (1731-1822) was the Portuguese royal sculptor best known for his equestrian statue of King Dom Jose I in Lisbon's main square. Although Machado de Castro worked in many different materials and on many different types of sculpture, he wanted to be recognized as a sculptor a la gran maniera romana. This article seeks to demonstrate the organization of his workshop, and the methodology of work he pursued to attain this goal.