Crouching Tiger...

These two Chinese pillows were at an exhibit at the Museum for East Asian Art here in Cologne, and the tiger one really made me smile :-)

The top one is stoneware, 13.3 cm high by 38.1 cm long, and dates to the 12th century.

The second one is earthenware, 14 cm high by 29 cm long, and dates from the 12th - 13th century.

Both photos are from the Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Köln copyright the Reinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Africa, Africa!

One of my major gripes is that many people tend to think of the Byzantine empire as only being Greece, Egypt, and part of Asia Minor. I find that the most interesting artwork, however, comes from the fringes, and is a unique combination of regional and traditional Byzantine style. The further away from Constantinople you go, the more regional the art gets. In my opinion, The Sudan (Nubia) and Ethiopia belong to those ignored areas of Byzantine art. Although they, like Russia, were never part of the Empire, they both were christianized by the Byzantines (Nubia in the mid 6th century and Ethiopia in the mid 4th) and, as a result, their cultures and artwork were very much influenced by this. Here are two examples of Nubian frescos, these two both come from Faras.


The first one depicts Queen Martha, protected by the Virgin Mary and a martyred soldier, and dates from the 11th century. Martha's dress is a beautiful mix of traditional style and Byzantine ceremonial garb.


The second image shows a Nubian princess being protected by the Virgin Mary, and dates from the 12th century.

Both are in the National Museum at Khartoum.















The next image comes from an Ethiopian illumination, dating before 1350. It is a depiction of the angels leading Mary to Temple. It comes from the Cloister Estifanos at
Lake Hayq.

In this illumination, you can really see the mix of Byzantine themes and style, with very Ethiopian elements. What is especially typical of the region are the noseless, mouthless faces and the oversized eyes. What I love about it is the beauty that lies in its simplicity.

It is now located in the National Library at Addis Ababa, Inventory number A.5










Source: Volbach, W.F., J. Lafontaine-Dosogne. "Propyläen Kunst Geschichte, Band 3: Byzanz". Propyläen Verlag, Berlin.

eh? speak up...

While you do see ear cleaners all over medieval Europe, I particularly like the way these ones are made. They just look so....happy.

Translation of Description:

Ear Cleaners (Kapouschki), 12th century, bone. 8,8 x 1,5 cm, 9,7 x 1,5 cm. NGM KP 32143/A 74.13, NGM KP 35471/1066

Source: "Nowgorod: Das goldene Zeitalter der Ikonen." Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hirmer Verlag München, pp. 210-211, plate 191.

When you run out of tinker toys...

This is one of the strangest churches I've visited. From Wiki:
"The Basilica of St. Ursula in Cologne contains the alleged relics of Ursula and her 11,000 companions.[13] It contains what has been described as a "veritable tsunami of ribs, shoulder blades, and femurs...arranged in zigzags and swirls and even in the shapes of Latin words."[14] The Goldene Kammer (Golden Chamber), a 17th century chapel attached to the Basilica of St. Ursula, contains sculptures of their heads and torsos, some of the heads encased in silver, others covered with stuffs of gold and caps of cloth of gold and velvet; loose bones thickly texture the upper walls.”[15][16] The peculiarities of the relics themselves have thrown doubt upon the historicity of Ursula and her "11,000 maidens." When skeletons of little children, ranging in age from two months to seven years, were found buried with the sacred virgins in 1183, Hermann Joseph, a Praemonstratensian canon at Steinfeld, explained that these children were distant relatives of the eleven thousand.[17] A surgeon of eminence was once banished from Cologne for opining that, among the collection of bones which are said to pertain to the heads, there were several belonging to full-grown mastiffs.[18] The relics may have proceeded from a forgotten burial ground.[19]"