King Tut!

Small gold coffinette which contained some of the kings organs.
You can see the projections behind it, and get a sense of the theatrical
nature of much of the exhibition. Still a beautiful, masterfully made object.

King Tut is back in New York, not at an art Museum, it has become so commercialized that they are holding the exhibition near Times Square in what they call, "The Discovery Center", which until this exhibition, I had never heard of before. While having fairly modest expectations I felt I had to go, it is a rare opportunity to see things from his tomb. I arrived around 11am, just as all the school kids were arriving in enormous buses. A large crowd was milling about and waiting. It turns out they were being ushered in as groups, and I went and paid my $31. for a ticket. Pretty steep. I then waited as groups were allowed in to pace the crowds in the exhibition. I feared that this did not bode well for my viewing experience, I expected to be jostled and to barely be able to see things at my own pace. Fortunately, once we watched the obligatory silly video about meeting King Tut, once inside, I had no competition for looking as much as I wanted. It turns out that most people are really not interested in looking at things closely, so I could go from piece to piece as I wanted with hardly anyone else looking at them. And it is a treasure trove of major Egyptian artifacts. While there is actually very little from King Tut himself, there are a number of masterpieces from his ancestors. The exhibition putatively attempts to put King Tutankamun in context, with objects from his immediate predecessors. One advantage of an exhibition like this is that it allows one to really see things, that when in Cairo are lost in the huge number of art objects demanding your attention. Unfortunately they did not allow photography, so I had to crib images from the web, and could not get all the ones I wanted. But this will suffice to hopefully induce you to see the exhibit yourself, it is well worth it.

Yellow sandstone head of Nefertiti.

This beautiful head is one of my favorite of the portrait heads of Nefertiti. Incredibly sensuous with the soft polish of the yellow quartzite, it combines a realistic quality with the abstracted perfection of a deity, which is what she became during the Amarna period. Originally the eyebrows and eyes were inlaid, and the hair or headdress finished in another material. This head alone is worth paying the price of admission.

Alabaster container with painted decoration and dyed red ivory details.

This beautiful container has a lion with his tongue lolling out, painted in black with scenes of the king hunting with four negro heads supporting it symbolizing the kings suzerainty over the empire as they portray the traditional enemies of the Egyptians. It is a beautiful, complicated, incredibly well executed object, and once again, you are able to really see it in isolation whereas in Cairo, it competes with the abundant treasures from that tomb.

Coffin of Tjuya, wood covered in gold plate and inlaid with glass and stone.

This coffin belongs to one of the parents of Queen Tiy, the consort of Amenhotep III, one of the greatest rulers Egypt ever had and the grandfather of King Tutankamun. While I have known of this coffin for many years, and even saw it in Cairo, it was so eclisped by King Tut's that I did not really give it the time it deserved. Here in this exhibition, it shines as it deserves to for it is truly beautiful, sublime and masterfully made.

Here is a detail of the face of Tjuya, you can see just how beautiful it is. I was very happy to truly see this great coffin and pay my respects to the one for whom it was made.

Gold covered funeral mask for Tjuya, with traces of fabric which originally wrapped the entire mummy. Again, beautiful in person, here it looks a little silly I know.

Small serpentine head of Queen Tiye.

This small, it is only just over 2 inches tall, head is a masterpiece, not only exquisitely carved with minute detail, it also captures the commanding presence of one of Egyptian histories great personalities, the Chief Queen of Amenhotep III. The daughter of commoners, her father was wealthy landowner who rose to high position during the reign of Amenhotep III. Despite her non royal blood, she nonetheless rose to greatness at her kings side. Almost alone among queens, Tiye is represented on the same gargantuan scale as her husband in many important monuments. No subservient supporting role for her, she appears as the kings equal in many monuments. The 18th Dynasty is notable for its strong women, from Queen Hatshepsut who ruled as Pharaoh herself, to Queen Tiye and Queen Nefertiti.

Alabaster head from one of Tut's canopic jars.

About as fine an image of the King as exists this stopper for a canopic jar is justly famous.

Royal isignia, gold, lapis, carnelian and glass inlays.

The boy kings royal isignia, the Ureaus, with the vulture head symbolizing Nekhbet, and the cobra head and serpent representing Uadhet, the goddesses respectively of Upper and Lower Egypt, the great divide, the two kingdoms united under the rule of the Pharaoh.
This is a remarkable object, I think one of the few to survive from antiquity, the actual royal isignia worn by the king as part of his regalia at important functions. No doubt he had many other crowns, this was sort of an everyday marker of his divine status, worn alone or under another crown. As a child the image of the Ureaus, the two heads, vulture and cobra, looking forward above the face of the king, protecting him from harm, both spiritual and physical. Pretty powerful imagery and magic. Found on the kings head, under all the wrappings and the funerary mask.

Obsidian glass head from a composite statue of King Amenhotep II.
It is about life size, this image is the best I could find online.

Represented in the postage stamp size image above is an object that I have wanted to see for decades, one of the only obsidian heads from Egypt. Like the yellow quartzite head of Nefertiti, this comes from a composite statue, where the face, and exposed skin areas were in precious stones, the crown, body and garments in other materials. Obsidian boulders big enough to make this are not common, and the carving of it is masterful. The surface has a matte finish so it looks almost like wood, only on the break on the side do you see the glassy nature of the material. It is another rarely seen object of absolutely top quality, another reason to see this particular exhibition.

Springfield, Who Knew?

Plaster cast of a section of the Pergamon Altar, in Berlin.

Guess where I was this week? The picture above is a clue, but can only mislead. I won't make you guess, I went to the Springfield Museums, something I had thought of doing for awhile, but just had never done. I was heading that direction to pick some pieces up from a restorer, so Springfield being sort of on the way, I went. In part this decision was spurred on by the brief research I did on the Museums, plural I emphasize, and one of them has a collection of Japanese Samurai arms and armor. If you have been following my blog, you will realize this was a flame to me the moth. Also described was a room of Ancient Treasures and a hall of plaster casts. I held out little hope for their antiquities aspect, the website was not promising, but there was certainly enough for me to justify the outing.
So there I go, nearly get lost on the way there; the directions provided gave a map, very helpful, but the directions from the highway to the museum were very poor. After a few false turns, I found my way to a complex of buildings; there are five museums there; a Science Museum, the D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts, a Connecticut Valley History Museum (closed the day I was there), the G.W.V. Smith Art Museum, and the Springfield History Museum (which I did not manage to get to). It turns out that the time I had allotted for this venture was inadequate; the good news, I have a reason to go back. Below are some highlights.

Of course I went right for the G.W.V. Smith Art Museum where the Japanese steel is, of which there was a good bit on display, see the rack of short swords above. While dimly lit by florescent lights, and it was a cloudy day, I still got my fix of beautiful Japanese swords.

Some more of the beauties on display. Sadly I cannot really tell you what they are, the labeling was completely inadequate, old typewritten folded cards, sort of out of place, and not clear which applied to what, and mostly missing altogether. Some of the blades dated to the Kamakura period I gathered though, I believe here, one of the two lower ones. They also had spectacular examples from the late 19th Century.


Look at the gorgeous hamon on the lower blade, I have never seen such a fancy curlicue design on one before. Truly a tour de force.


Above two beautiful swords with gorgeous hamons, in this case they go right across the whole blade like smoke. You can see what I mean by the labeling, it looks haphazard. I suspect these swords are truly great examples, while I am still a neophyte in the field, I think I know enough to recognize exceptional examples of swordsmithy.

A display of pole arms; can you believe that these viciously curved blades, naginatas, are described in the label as woman's weapons? I don't think I could wield them effectively, let alone a petite Japanese woman. Pretty scary thought though, truly a formidable weapons.

This exceptional helmet actually does have a helpful label, it as being by the Great Master Armorer, Mychochnin Nobuiye, dating to 1519 A.D. It says that is a rare example which in Japan would be considered a "National Treasure". I would not know enough to know that, but believe them. I have a feeling many of the swords would also be held in high esteem in Japan.

After seeing the Japanese armor I went on to see the cast hall which while small, is a great example of its type; a great teaching tool with the highlights of Classical and Renaissance sculptures, from the Pergamon altar above to the Hermes of Olympia, the Borghese Ares, to casts of sculptures by Michealangelo. The casts were well lit, given some drama to highlight them, which unfortunately the genuine ancient works of art in the large room after the cast hall were not. But the hall, titled Ancient Treasures, held a surprise for me.

What greeted my eyes upon entering the Ancient Treasure hall was a collection of ancient Greek and Roman sculptures that I knew well, having sold the majority of them to the collectors from which these came, Melvin Blake and Frank Purnell. These were two doctors, lifetime partners, who I knew from my days at Robert Miller Gallery and beyond. I sold them the beautiful male figure in front as well as a number of the others on display. They both died one after the other over a decade ago, and I had a call and some correspondence from one of the brothers dealing with the estate, but then heard nothing. I was totally surprised to see this collection here. I was however very unhappy with the presentation, there was no lighting to first allow you to see them, or to make them stand out. I hope this is an area that the Springfield Museums would be willing to improve upon because they now have a very nice small, but fine collection of rare ancient classical sculptures, thanks to the Blake/Purnell estate. I will discuss some of them below.

This beautiful torso is most likely of Ganymede, although it could also be a young Apollo, it is hard to know given its fragmentary condition. I discovered it with a dealer and it was not mounted properly, so I had a base made for it, and had some encrustation cleaned from it. At the time I was working for Robert Miller when I sold it to Blake/Purnell. It is of superb quality, the carving masterful, the marble is white and highly polished emphasizing its high quality. Originally the figure leaned against a tree trunk if Apollo, or a large eagle representing Zeus, if Ganymede. The other hand held either an arrow, if Apollo, or a libation cup if Ganymede. The cloak may indicate Ganymede however, as it is the type of cloak worn by a shepherd, which the young Ganymede was when Zeus swooped down in the form of an eagle to seduce him and carry him off to Mt. Olympus.


This head of Zeus, I sold to Frank and Melvin, who loaned it to Claudio Bravo, a very close friend of theirs who had an apartment adjoining theirs. He did a beautiful color print of it, which I wish I had a copy of. I bought it at Sotheby's, it came from an old collection and had a restored nose and was an a not very nice marble base. When I took the nose off and put it on a new base, you could appreciate the head for the dramatic and beautiful Zeus head it is.



This is a double herm, literally a two faced object, with one face back to back with another. This side was better lit, so I could photograph it, the other did not photograph well. This I sold to Blake/Purnell after buying it in London, again at auction, but an estate sale in which I think it was not even described as being Roman, which is most certainly turned out to be. This side has a bearded man with rams horns in his hair, so probably represents Zeus Ammon, an Egyptianized version of Jupiter. It is of beautiful quality and originally stood on top of a squared columnar shaft probably about 4 feet tall, and probably graced a garden or peristyle.

However the classical sculpture from the Blake/Purnell collection was not the only surprise in store, see below.

Look at this, a full suit of Jade armor, Chinese, Han Dynasty. The Metropolitan Museum in New York has nothing like this, I have never seen one outside of a traveling exhibition from China. I did not even know this was in Springfield. What this is is a funerary suite of armor, something I know only from the Han Dynasty in China; the belief was that jade would keep the corpse from decaying, conferring a type of immortality to the deceased. It is made of small pieces of jade, most of which have altered from their original green to a sort of greenish white, strung together with copper thread, with some carved coverings for the eyes, mouth, nose, and ears. Not really all that beautiful, it is nonetheless impressive and represents the height of extravagant funerary equipment; jade has always been precious and difficult to work, this is like burying yourself with your fortune. To have this here is pretty remarkable to me, and again, its display is not designed to make you aware of just how special and rare an opportunity it is to see an object of this level.

This little fang-yi, a sort of bronze box with lid, is a superb archaic Chinese bronze vessel, of world class quality and rarity. It dates to the Shang Dynasty, approximately around 1500 B.C. Again a gem that I had not expected to see in Springfield and poorly lit and displayed. It deserves much more respect than it is currently being given, as is true with much in the G.W. Smith Art Museum, which is one of the more interesting museums in our area.


And above was just the first floor, the second floor had more treasures, such as this colored marble bust, one of two, copied from a famous Roman portrait bust of a member of the imperial family of the second Century A.D. While not a "great" work of art, they are really beautiful and of the highest quality of sculpture and quite true to the original ancient busts. And there is more, a large collection of Chinese cloisonne, which is not of interest to me particularly but interesting that it is in Springfield. But much on the 2nd floor is in the process of re-arrangement, and so not really viewable. So this completes the Smith part of the museums.

Erastus Salisbury Field, American, 1805-1900

This Historical monument of the American Republic
1867 -1888, Oil on Canvas, The Morgan Wesson Memorial Collection

This remarkable and very large painting dominates the first grand central gallery of the D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts, opened in 1934 to house the collection of Mr. and Mrs James Philip Gray. It is a classic collection of the turn of the 20th Century, with a little of everything from 1400 on, an encyclopedic collection of European and some very good American art, mostly paintings. This odd painting by Erastus Salisbury Field, a local Connecticut Valley early American art star, is really a folk painting, not the best in terms of technical skill, but what he lacks in that, he makes up for the ambition of its vision. I think it may represent a real exhibition, but it looks like a fantasy painting from the Renaissance of the Tower of Babel doesn't it? Really sort of fabulous and so unexpected, I have never seen an early American painting like this.

Arthur Parton, American, 1842-1914 A Mountain Brook, 1875 Oil on Canvas.

This landscape is a painting by Arthur Parton, who was born in Hudson, NY, where I live. I have heard his name, and seen some of his paintings but this example is on a level that I was not aware he reached; it is a truly beautiful landscape on the same plane as Asher Durand.

Portrait of an Artist, oil on canvas
Unkown Artist, French, 19th Century

This gem is anonymous, but is so compelling and painted with such brio and great technical mastery, that it does not matter. It does not hurt that the subject is a beautiful romantic looking young man. I am in love. The label goes on to say:
"The creator of Portrait of an Artist" is an intriguing puzzle. For many years it was attributed to Eugene Delacroix and was believed to be a portrait of his close friend Baron Von Schwiter. However, further research revealed this to be unlikely. The mystery and the romantic beauty of this work continues to intrigue historians and art lovers alike."
We all love a mystery, particularly when the subject is such a beauty as this youth is.

Portrait Bust of the Emperor Caracalla
Gilt bronze and colored marble. by Thomas della Porta, the Elder, Italian 1520-1567

This magnificent and extravagant bust is of a type that has had many tacky and ill done imitations, every pretentious decorator wants a pair to decorate an entry way; however this example is superlative in quality. It represents the very pinnacle of late Renaissance sculpture and is an homage to Roman antiquity. A faithful copy of a Roman portrait it captures the ferocity of Caracalla, who killed his own brother Geta as he sought refuge in his mothers arms. The colored marble bust is done with the same level of quality as the bronze casting. This bust is in fact one of a pair flanking the entrance to the second floor of the D'Amour Museum, which has the classic time line arrangement of really good European paintings, ending with an exhibition celebrating 75 years of the museums acquisitions.

The last floor I visited was the first floor, which is dedicated to American paintings and among the usual suspects, an O'Keefe or two, and the rest, I spied this odd ball gem below.

Vermont Marble Quarry, about 1941
John Koch, American, 1909-1978, oil on canvas.

While not widely known and perhaps not a great painter, I find the barely repressed homo-eroticism of John Koch's paintings very attractive. He belonged to a moment in time, married, he spent much of his time in Provincetown, Mass., and lived for a time in Paris where he learned to paint. I came across him first when I was working for Robert Miller, when he handled a very sexy painting of the artist and his model, a nude young man who was lighting the artists cigarette. I had never heard of him before and come across his paintings rarely; thus I think it worthy of note. Art does not have to be "great" to be very satisfying. This is one such example I fear. See the detail below to get a sense of why I like Koch's work.

Detail of John Koch, Vermont Marble Quarry.

Koch's male figures are just plain sexy hunks, his female figures exert none of the pull they do. Perhaps that is just me, but I think it reflects his own interest, the woman are covers for the homo erotic feeling that pervades the canvas.

Portrait of Marcel Duchamp, 1923-1926
Florine Stettheimer, American, 1871-1944
oil on canvas.

I leave this post with this magical portrait by one of my favorite New York painters of the early 20th Century, one who is barely known outside of certain New York circles but who had a fabulous and truly bohemian life in New York during the first decades of the 20th Century. Born of a wealthy Belgian banking family, she and her sisters had a salon in their apartment and entertained everyone who was anyone in the art world of the time, and Duchamp, the most important artist of the time was among them. He is transformed into a saintly ghost here, with a halo in gray and white. It is a beautiful, surreal and respectful portrait, with only a hint of the playfulness that typify Florine's other paintings. It was a surprise to find it here in Springfield, but the afternoon was full of such discoveries.

In conclusion the Springfield Museums are worth the trip, they are not far from here, or anywhere in our area. If you are passing by or through Springfield, Mass., they warrant a stop. And no one else was there, as no one seems to even know about these museums. Now hopefully a few more will.

The Art of the Samurai Exhibition at the Metropolitan

Dear Reader, I have been wanting to post about this exhibition from the time I first saw it shortly after it opened in late October. (It runs until January 10th, 2010) One thing that kept me from doing so was being out of the habit of posting and my frustration with the fact that I could not take my own photos. However, even using the not great pictures on the Metropolitan Museums website is probably better than not letting people know about this amazing exhibition. It is a must see, and it brings together objects in one place that otherwise you would have had to travel all over Japan and beyond to see. The Met bills it as the first comprehensive exhibition of the arts of the samurai. What is remarkable is that it features a large number, nearly half the objects or so, of objects designated by the Japanese Government as "National Treasures", or "Important Cultural Properties"; objects of such significance to the Japanese that they cannot be exported or sold abroad, and are recognized nationally as being items of especially high value. You would not be able to see such a gathering of important and rare items in one place in Japan, as they come from all over the country.

The exhibition is a contrast between whimsy and deadly ferocity; the armor and helmets are colored, gilded, shiny and fantastical in form; the swords displayed as just blades are abstract perfection; pure, spare and deadly. The helmets in particular bring a smile to my face, they are so funny, who made this stuff up! Who in their right mind thought a pair of clam shells protruding like bat ears from a helmet was going to inspire fear and awe? But there it is, improbable, beautifully executed in metal, wood and lacquer. Of course, in full garb, not as disjointed objects, the whole presentation of a samurai must have been fearsome with their face covered by a mask, the helmet sometimes enormous above them, covered by flexible lacquered iron plate armor, and armed above all, with swords so sharp and strong that nothing could stop them.

I had to crib pictures from the Met's website and the catalogue and am not completely happy with the images, but they do serve to give a flavor of what is in the exhibit. I will start with what most amused me the helmets and armor:

Suite of armor with Multicolored lacing, with helmet featuring attachments in form of Kaji leaves. Muromachi, 15th Century. Iron, leather, gilt copper, lacquer, braid, and cord. Important Cultural property, Sana-jina Shrine, Shimane Prefecture

This suite of armor is remarkable for its completeness and fine condition. What amuses me is the sort of wreath of stylized leaves attached to the helmet forming almost horns.

Helmet in form of a Pagoda
Edo period, 18th century.
wood, lacquer, silk and iron.
Kyoto National Museum

Again, who thought a stylized cut out of a pagoda was going to inspire awe and fear? But somehow the scale of it, the total height of the helmet is almost three feet, and beautiful execution are remarkable, and the little horns above the brow are a cute touch, I am sure meant to intimidate, but the horns of a fallow deer are going to impress me? Not so sure about that.

Helmet with Crest in form of a Praying Mantis.
Edo period, 17th century.
Iron, lacquer, cord, silk, wood and papier-mache.

For me, this was the show stopper in the exhibition. This photograph does not do the helmet justice, to fully appreciate the ferocious mantis you have to see it from the side, where the mantis's raised front claws are poised to strike, its abdomen raised above its head in intimidating display and wings fully extended. One thing you have to hand to the Japanese was their respect and appreciation for insects, I can think of no equivalent in the West of an insect used so naturalistic-ally in the context of war. Yes the bee was a symbol for Napoleon, but not decorating a helmet like this. And this is just one of several bugs, and while this particular helmet is no longer on display, there are others nearly as impressive. Due to the fragility and age of many of the lacquer and silk objects were rotated out and into the exhibition.

Helmet with crest of Clamshells.
Edo period, 17th-18th century.
Iron, lacquer, silver, gold, silk and wood.
Iwakuni Art Museum, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
(scanned from the exhibition catalog)

This helmet cracks me up, what look like huge bat ears are in fact clam shells, done in gilt and lacquered wood, outward facing in heraldic stance. Who thought this up, who ever thought that left overs from dinner, the discarded clam shells would intimidate your enemy? And yet like the pert ears of some diminutive dog, these ear like decorations indicate an enemy at full attention. I guess. Whatever, this helmet illustrates the whimsy, imagination and incredibly beautiful execution of the armor in the exhibition.

Helmet in form of Rabbit ears.
Edo period, 17th Century.
Iron, lacquer, wood and papier-mache.
Yasukuni-jinja Shrine, Tokyo
(scanned from the catalog)

Like the helmet before, this rabbit ear helmet is so over the top as to amuse rather than terrify. Only distantly resembling rabbit ears, they are almost like long horns, except for their concave red painted interior surface. Another example of many of the improbable forms of the samurai helmets in the exhibit.

The range of forms that the helmets take is so idiosyncratic that it leads one to think that they reflect their owners own wishes, beliefs, and how they wanted to present themselves to the world. It is almost as if each samurai had a vision quest and from it took an emblem that was theirs alone. Certainly on the massed field of battle, a distinctive helmet allowed one to be picked out from a crowd, which may partly explain the diversity of the forms employed. But there is a humor, whether intended or not, that makes this exhibition so rewarding for the viewer.

But last, but definitely not least, the swords. The swords are the real draw, nothing else like them exists in the West. The ultimate expression of the warrior, and the height of technological innovation for their time, just the blades are presented, no hilts or scabbards or fittings, those are displayed separately. When you learn how the blades were forged, you look at these lengths of steel with awe. It takes 16 men three months to make a true Japanese sword. The steel is specially smelted in a three to four day melt, then forged, folded and folded and again and again; as much as fifteen times or more, to create as many as a million layers of steel, producing an reproducibly hard and strong blade. To give it flexibility a lower carbon steel rod is inserted into the blank, all this forged again, shaped by hammer, before being tempered in a ritual heating and sudden cooling that produces the final shape and hardness. And then, another specialist, the polisher takes the blade and grinds and polishes it for two weeks to create the final shape and polish. In the exhibition is a great brief video of the process, and online there are others.

What impressed me about some of the blades in the exhibition was their extreme age, the earliest examples date to the Kofun period, that is Fifth Century A.D., and the recognizable polish, tempering line, and form of the true Japanese sword is seen as early as 7th Century with one of the most beautiful swords in the exhibition, a straight blade known "Water Dragon Sword" is Nara Period, 8th Century, and nearly in perfect condition. This is a continuous artisinal tradition, over fifteen hundred years old, and still being practiced today by artisans, some of whom themselves have been designated as living National Treasures. We have no equivalency in the West, our history is too fractured for a traditional form of art to have survived and be valued for a millenia and a half.

Below is just one example from the Met website, as the swords have to be seen in person to be appreciated.

Blade for a Slung Sword, known as "Dai Hannya Nagamitsu"
Kamakura period, 13th Century.
Steel, Length 29 inches.
Tokyo National Museum
National Treasure

Just one example of many, this blade is noteworthy for the wave like tempering pattern along its cutting edge, and is by one of the most renowned swordmaker of his day, Nagamitsu. To quote the exhibition catalogue:

"This sword is called "Dai Hannya name because in the Muromachi period it was valued at 600 kan (equal to about 2,250 kg of silver) and that there are 600 volumes -also refered to as kan- of the Dai Hannya Sutra (Heart Sutra)."

It boggles the mind, a single sword being worth the two and half tons of silver. Yes that is right, tons of silver. Granted silver is not gold but that is an enormous value for a simple steel blade.
To read the catalog entries is to get lost in a whole vocabulary that attempts to put into words slight visual differences between blades. I will quote from one such description from the catalog entry for 86, a dagger by Masamune:

"The forging pattern is itame (wood grain), formed by mixing hard and soft steels, and is rich in ji-nie (visible crystals of steel in the flat area of the blade) with chikei (bright, short curving lines). The hamon (tempering pattern) is gunome mixed with notare (compact, irregular waves and broad undulations, respectively), has numerous nei, and is rich in variations, including areas of nioi, a tight, "snowlike" pattern comprising a crystalline structure in which the individual crystals of the steel are visible to the naked eye. Nioi is sometimes likened poetically to clusters of blossoms on distant cherry trees....."

As you can read above, there is a whole language in Japanese to describe the patterns visible on the swords resulting from the chemistry and forging of the steel. It is rather like reading the description of wines, an attempt to put into language a sensuous experience that is beyond verbalizing. It makes for tough but rewarding reading, forcing you to really look at what otherwise appear to be relatively similar if not nearly identical lengths of sharpened steel. You then start to see the patterns on the blades and one really is distinct from another.

Of course my inquiring mind posits the question; after all the enormous effort and labor that goes into the forging of a sword such as these, does it produce a demonstrably superior blade to any other? How would a typical European knight fared against a Samurai? Would one of these fabulous swords sliced the knight up into pieces, armor and all? I'd like to think so, but I don't know, they never faced each other in battle. By the time the Europeans encountered Japan they already had guns, so had the edge on the sword weilding Japanese. Of course the Japanese quickly adopted Western armaments, and became a world power by the beginning of the 20th Century.

On a concluding note, the Times had a little blurb noting that more men have been going to this exhibition than is usual, which is interesting. Certainly I am fascinated, and normally I eschew masculine things, but like Achilles who was hiding in the womens quarters in drag, when shown swords, went right for them, and blew his disguise and so was drafted into the Trojan war. Perhaps it is in our male dna, a fascination with weapons regardless of our various persuasions. Just a thought.

Archaic Greek Horse fragment

I have not been posting for awhile, but I recently acquired a bronze horse head that has me very excited. See the photo below:

While small, it measures just 2 1/2 inches high by 2 3/4 inches wide, it is monumental in feeling, beautifully sculpted and very expressive. The volumetric and stylized treatment of the locks of the mane date the piece to the early 6th Century B.C. It is early archaic, the period just following the Daedalic period when Greek art is starting to come into its own drawing from influences from the Near East and Egypt. It is just a fragment probably part of an attachment to a large bronze vessel, perhaps from a horse such as flank the hydra handle from the Schimmel collection below:

photocopy of Hydra Handle from: Ancient Art, The Norbert Schimmel Collection

Edited by Oscar White Muscarella

Verlag Phillip Von Zabern. Mainz. W. Germany 1974

This handle has horse protomes of a type which my fragment may have come from. On my example the back is relatively plainly done, indicating it was meant to be seen principally from the front, which is typical of a handle or vessel attachment. However it is interesting to note that the horses in this hydra handle are not nearly as well modeled as my new acquisition.

Recently a scholar brought my attention to an Archaic Greek bronze tripod in Berlin, which is probably an even liklier parallel of the type of object my horse head came from. See below:

Bronze Tripod decorated with animal heads and figures,

from Metapontum, mid-6th Century B.C.

Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

The horse heads on the top are very close to mine, as you an see below. However, the modeling on mine is more naturalistic, the eyes again are not symbolic glyphs as in the Berlin example. But the scale and probably configuration of the head and limbs make it very likely that my head comes for such a tripod, and of the same period.

Detail of the Berlin Tripod above showing the horses, which have similar manes.

Note however that they eyes are done as stylized symbols as opposed to naturalistic eyes.

Below is an even closer parallel in type since it has the two front legs upraised, as must have been in my piece. This comes from another tripod like that above, and was in the Christos Bastis auction at Sotheby's New York. However even this, which is charming, is less sensitively modeled than mine, its eye again is an ideogram, rather than a seeing eye. Also the mane is less articulated and detailed than in my example. But the type is exactly what mine probably was.

A Greek Bronze Protome, ca. 6th Century B.C. Scanned from the

catalog of the Christos Bastis sale, Dec. 9, 1999, in New York, lot 78.

Height: 7 1/8 inches.

When I first saw my bronze horse head, I was immediately reminded of a favorite piece of mine in the Met, a fragmentary marble horse head that nonetheless is commanding, incredibly expressive and beautifully sculpted, see below:

Head of a Horse, Attic, 2nd quarter of the 6th Century B.C.

Marble, Height: 13 7/8 inches, Bequest of Walter C. Baker 1971

scanned from: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Greece and Rome.

published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987

Let me quote from the accompanying text:

"In Archaic art the horse is probably rendered with more care more consistently than any subject aside from the human figure. Not only was it valued for such qualities as beauty and speed, but ownership of a horse was available only to men of means. In Athens, for example, the middle class of citizens were called the "knights", being those who could maintain a horse and fight in battle on horseback.......This extraordinary piece shows every possible sensitivity to the articulation and texture of the horse's face; at the same time, the mane and forelock are ordered into stylized locks that convey the resilience of horse hair but that would hardly fall so regularly in real life...."

This could have been written about my little bronze horse head, it shares not only the stylized volumetric locks in its mane, but the sensitive modeling commented on above. Parallels for my horse head are quite rare and hard to find, but here are a few below:

Horse and Rider, cast separately, 3rd quarter of the 6th Century B.C.

Bronze, Height: 23.6 cm. London, British Museum

Scanned from Greek Bronzes by Claude Rolley

Sotheby's Publications, London, 1986

Again, this horse shared the stylized volumetric treatment of the locks of the mane, but while of a similar scale to my horse, the head of this horse is not done with the same level of sensitivity or detail, the eye for example, is an abstract glyph rather than the eye of a living horse looking back at you as in my horse head. However, the example above is a complete figure, of a fairly large size for a bronze, making it quite an important and rare thing.

The other parallel that came to mind when first looking at this piece are objects from the Norbert Schimmel Collection now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Here is one of several that feature horses of a similar style to mine:

Mitra with Horse Protomes, Greek from Crete, 7th Century B.C.

Height: 15.4 cm, width: 24.2 cm.

Scanned from Ancient Art, The Norbert Schimmel Collection

Edited by Oscar White Muscarella, Von Zabern, W. Germany 1974

One of several pieces featuring horses, they all share the same stylized mane and expressive faces. While just a repouse relief, the quality is not equal to that of my horse.

Below are other views of the bronze horse now in my collection:

Here you see how the eyes are modeled in the round, not as mere glyph symbols, giving the horse expression and a focused gaze; it looks back at you.

This side view allows you to glimpse the sensitive modeling even of the underneath of the horse head, and again, you can see that focused gaze given by the sculptural modeling of the eyes.

The back view. Here the mane is rendered as a flat surface and in general there is less of the detailed modeling on the front view. This is typical of ancient Greek art when an object was meant to be seen primarily from one view, the other was done summarily. But the fact that it is finished and not rough or unfinished indicates that this object was fully cast in the round.

While we may never know precisely what this horse head came from, it remains a very rare example of the early Archaic style, when Greek Art was rapidly developing, and one style follows another in rapid succession until the culmination of the full Classical Style which was to remain with variations for nearly a thousand years through the Roman Period, the art style of the Mediterranean World.

The worlds first Mullet

What a great portrait, soulful, romantic, he has high cheekbones, who could ask for a sexier guy?

I was at the Metropolitan Museum this past Tuesday, just going through the Greek and Roman Galleries, and came across this head, always a favorite of mine. From the front, he is a beauty. But from the side, it hit me, he has a mullet haircut! My god, who would have thunk it! Just proves the point, there is nothing new under the sun.

Here you being to see, the haircut is very precise, a Caesar cut from the front, carefully arrange locks very correct and formal, but the back, long loose tresses. Business up front, party in the back; isn't that what a mullet is?

Here you see the full view of the side. To be fair, this is a beautiful Roman portrait from the early 2nd Century A.D., and probably depicts either a barbarian, with a distinctive hairdo, or a member of a cult, whose haircut reflects his dedication to a deity. But isn't it a funny and unexpected haircut to see on a Roman portrait? He beats Donny Osmond's mullet!