Shiva’s Family is a tenth century relief sculpture made of sandstone from a region of India known as Uttar Pradesh. The sculpture stands approximately two feet in height, one foot in width, and six inches in depth. This elaborate relief depicts Shiva, Hindu god of destruction, and his wife Parvati (Uma-Mahaeshvara) seated on a lotus, the symbol of the universe, which in turn is supported by the bull Nandin, the vehicle of Shiva. This theme of the divine couple is arguably the quintessential image of later Hindu period sculpture in north India because of its intricate and multifaceted details. The artistry found in the details of this sculpture present to the audience a great importance to these figures and the Hindu culture in its entirety.
Shiva is adorned with jewels along his arms, a wreath around his neck, as well as a tall and mighty head ornament. His soft, round body is seated with an open body gesture, and his glance is looking straight toward the viewer, beckoning us in. His head is placed in front of a halo, which marks an achievement of enlightenment or spiritual meditation. Positioned between his eyes, is an Urna, a third eye, which is a representation of the cycle of birth and rebirth that the Hindu culture is structured around. Tranquil and all-powerful, he clasps his trident (which is now broken off) and lightly presses his right foot against the ground to contain the warriors of Ravana, the demon king of the underworld, shown in the bottom center.
Seated next to Shiva is Parvati, who is embracing his body and all of his eminence. She is also sculpted into a soft, round body in the nude with very large breasts and a slight belly, emphasizing her fertility and womanhood. She is too embellished with necklaces, arm ba...
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In the general context of Southeast Asian art, the sculpture is surely not the earliest example of Shiva seated with his spouse Parvati. A number of examples from the fourth or fifth century can be located, though none of them have depictions of the “holy family” display represented of the divine couple, which is a defining iconographic component of the Shiva’s Family sculpture.5
The relief sculpture of Shiva’s Family is but only a small object, yet within the bounds of such a small object lies an expansive history of India, its religious foundations, and serves to maintain deep and important ideology of Hinduism. Each facet of the sculpture comprises knowledge of the culture and contains a story of its own. Holding so much substance, it is works of art such as these that enable us to grasp the history of our own world and conserve its magnificence.
Yuny and Renenutet is a two figure statue. It’s a double portrait with a frontal pose. It’s a relief sculpture with a male and female figure. Yuny and Renenutet are husband and wife. They are sitting down together on a bench. It’s a beach that highlights their bodies’ curves emphasizing their wealth. Both figures have nontraditional customs, but a more a fashionable custom. The chair that Yuny and Renenutet are seated is elegantly decorated. On the back of the chair, we see two scenes divided into two layers with inscription around it.
The Ancient Egyptian sculpture, “Statue of Nykara and His Family”, was sculpted during the late fifth dynasty. The sculpture is a depiction of Nykara, his wife, Nubkau, and son, Ankhma-Re. The statue is in poor condition with pieces of limestone missing and chips on the three subject’s faces and bodies. The painted limestone shows the conventional colors for the male and female subjects. There is a clear discoloration among Nykara and his son’s bodies. The brownish red color they once were has eroded to a light yellowish color, which resembles the purposeful color of Nykara’s wife. The hieroglyphs on Nykara’s seat insinuate that the sculpture is meant to be viewed from the front view. This is also evident by the way the three subjects are facing forward in frontal view. There are hieroglyphs on both the chair and base of the statue near Nykara’s wife and son’s feet.
The subject of this piece is also the Tara but in this one she is represented in eight different circumstances. The centre of the piece however is a larger representation of her while the others are a lot smaller and scattered. The various representations of the Tara show her in various circumstances which portray the Eight Fears. She is siting on a lotus and is wearing a similar type of head piece and jewellery as on the sculpture. The painting is colourful but is predominately deep green and blue with a little bit of red and orange on the figures. The expression on the bodhisattvas face is peaceful just like the sculpture but the painting overall is fairly crowded and filled with movement. It allows the eye to wander around in all directions. It has a mystical effect due to the clouds and rainbows on the upper half of the
Like the Lamassu, this statue is very large in size. Its proportions, however, are much more realistic and provide a different viewing experience as it is three-dimensional all the way around. It does, however, reveal sunken relief inscriptions around the base of the statue of what appear to be hieroglyphics. Again like the Lamassu, Tuthankhamun wears a headdress as well as a beard. He also wears a collar, kilt, and holds a dagger with representational meaning within the waistband of his kilt. The dagger he wears has the head of a falcon, symbolic for the god Horus, protector of kings. Tuthankhamun’s headdress and double crown point to his royal status and the beard shows his wisdom and ability to lead and rule. The statue’s massive size magnifies King Tuthankhamun’s power and status as a king in ancient Egypt even after death as he is thought to have been one of the most popular kings of ancient Egypt. The statue is seventeen feet tall and the largest statue of ancient Egypt. King Tutankhamun, unlike the Lamassu, was a king and did not stand alone in his sculpture. HIs power is represented in his rulership and size instead of in the symbolism of an object or animal. There are small feet that can be seen behind him on the base of his sculpture which are said to be that of his wife. The statue does not seem to be threatening, although powerful, it merely points to a great ruler of high status to be remembered always and forever worshipped rather than evoke fear of the Egyptian
Before the modern era sculpture was monumental; it had an unspoken meaning. Sculptures of this time were commissioned to commemorate a person or an event. They were eternal, designed to last and make people remember a legacy. When the modern era arrived there came a shift, the concept of sculpture became broader. They were still permanent but no longer site specific or placed of a pedestal; they became nomadic. Flash forward to the postmodern era and sculpture is the space it inhabits, as the site changes so does the meaning. They convey the human experience and become something broader than just a monument as Krauss puts it the realm of sculpture has become “infinitely malleable ”.
The Warka Vase is a uniquely large piece that was laboriously built, and carefully decorated. The images on the Warka Vase are significant and have iconographic meanings unique to the Uruk people and the cult of Inana. The images reference common practices in cuneiform and iconography of the time and place the Warka Vase was made and can be cross compared with other pieces from the time to understand the symbolism of this brilliant piece of art. To understand who is in the images, what they are doing and how they relate to one another may bring unique insight to the practices of the cult of Inana.
Drysdale, Jilian Miller. “Faces of the Goddess.” Synchronicity. Dec. 1999/Jan. 2000: 29-31. Sirs Renaissance. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
This piece reminds me of the “Terracotta Warriors” in the Shaanxi province of China. c. 210–209 B.C.E. The Terracotta Army was sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. This too was a form of funerary art buried with the emperor and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife.
The works of art from the Archaic Period, Classical Period, and Hellenic Period developed physically and mentally, and the study of their aesthetic differences from period to period allow for a decided contrast and comparability. This interpretation has had a profound effect on the art world and that continues even in today’s world. The importance of Greek sculptures is evident in the storytelling of the gods, the people, and the culture. We use these sculptures as a tool to go back into the past of the Greek people, letting us admire how far mankind has truly come, whether it is in art or intelligence. Generation after generation has been and will continue to be able to see for themselves the society, culture and uniqueness of these periods through the wonderful sculptures that came out of ancient
Sculpture is a medium that artists in ancient Greek commonly used to express spoken truths in an unspoken form. Every piece of ancient Greek sculpture has more than what the eye sees to explain the story behind the [in this case] marble.
Christmas 2012, my mother and I visited family in Chicago and during our trip, we took a day to see the sites of the city. There were many sculptures to view but the one that particularly caught my eye was located in the Millennium Park, known as “The Bean” or Cloud Gate. This well known sculpture was made by Indian-born Anish Kapoor. Kapoor was born March 12, 1954 in Mumbai, India to Punjabi and Iraq-Jewish parents. (6) He moved to London in 1973 to study at the Hornsey College until 1977 where he went to the Chelsea School of Art for one year. In the 1980’s, Kapoor started to become recognized for his sculptures and installations while he began to use materials such as stone, aluminum and resin. Kapoor was honored with the Turner Prize for contemporary art in 1990 after being represented by Great Britain at the Venice Biennale. (6) The 21st century was the beginning of Kapoor’s large in scale career and his unique use of form, space, and materials. 2004 marked the year where Chicago gained a new piece of art that changed people’s view of the city and was Kapoor’s first public piece in the states. Kapoor designed and created the sculpture called Cloud Gate or its adopted name of “The Bean”. The price of the sculpture ended up to be 23 million dollars and it was made in California, taken apart, and then shipped to Chicago in July of 2004. (1)
Inc, E. T. (2003). A monument of Imeasurable beauty & love. Retrieved Feb 11, 2012, from Taj Mahal: http://www.tajmahal.travel/
Sri Nandanandana, “Preaching in India’s Northeast For Cultural Preservation” VaiShnava News February 21, 2003; Retrieved information Dec. 9,2003 http://www.vnn.org/world/WD0302/WD21-7837.html
In the following essay, I will be comparing and contrasting to architectural pieces by the Indians. The first is the Taj Mahal, a building constructed from white marble that took seventeen years to build in honor of Shah Jahan’s wife, Mumtaz Mahal (Z. Haq). This piece of architectural beauty belonged to the Mughal’s, the Muslim emperors in India (Z. Haq). The second is the Great Stupa at Sanchi, a holy, dome shaped structure that covers the body of the Buddha in honor of him and his contributions to Buddhism (Fischer, Julia). Furthermore, this structure was made of ruins, rocks, mud, and covered in bricks (Fischer, Julia). Both pieces of architecture are significant to the Indians, however they do contrast in some ways.
Shiva is known as the destroyer of the world, but he also has many other roles. According to The Hindu Traditions Shiva is the; creator and destroyer, movement and tranquility, light and dark, and man and woman. These roles tend to be contradicting but Shiva has these roles in order to show that these things are more closely related than they appear to be. There are four main images of Shiva and they include: Mahayogi, Nataraja, Ardhaharishvara, and lingam. The four images of Shiva represent his different roles. The image of Shiva as the Mahayogi presents him in meditation and in a serene state. In this state Shiva is wearing animal skins and his eyes are only half open. The animal skin is a representation of being in touch with nature and his eyes are symbolizing that he is only partially in the world according to The Hindu Tradition’s. In the Mahayogi image he also tends to have a three prong trident that represents dominance over intelligence, mind and body. The cobra wrapped around his neck is his power over ego and in his hair is where the goddess Ganga lives. The image of Nataraja is one of the more famous images of Shiva and it displays him dancing. He is famous for his dancing and is often referred to a...