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Pierre-Jean David d’Angers was the most prolific and one of the most important French sculptors of the first half of the nineteenth century. Throughout his almost fifty-year career (1819–1856) David remained true to his conviction that sculptural monuments dedicated to the achievements of great men and women most permanently and vividly express the greatness of a people. He continuously sought commissions for monuments portraying historical and contemporary figures whom he admired in order to commit their contributions to posterity. His most famous public commission, the figurative pediment of the Pantheon in Paris (1830–1837), which commemorates great men and was dedicated by a grateful nation, exemplifies these life-long principles.

Medallion

Pierre Jean David d'Angers

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863)

1828

Bronze, brown patina

This rosewater sprinkler is an elegant and charming example of the important manufacture of glass vessel goods produced in British centers like Birmingham for sale to the Indian and Near-Eastern markets. The lead glass produced in Victorian Britain enjoyed the double characteristics of brilliant clarity and sparkle, with the capability of being blown thick enough to provide the depth and strength for its surface to be wheel-cut into deep relief patterns. Catching and refracting the light, the end result is extremely decorative and proved remarkably popular both with the domestic market and for trade to the Indian subcontinent.

Rosewater sprinkler

F. & C. Osler

Rosewater sprinkler

ca. 1850

Cut lead glass with silver mounts

This is the right half of a double‑page opening to a volume of the Qur'an. Its patron is unknown, but we know that the calligrapher was Ahmad ibn al‑Suhrawardi, a famous student of the master scribe Yaqut al‑Musta'simi, and that the illuminator was Muhammad ibn Aibak, who collaborated with him on several outstanding Qur'ans. From the surviving parts of this Qur'an, it appears that the illuminator created a different geometric scheme to preface each volume.

Folio from a non-illustrated manuscript

Ahmad ibn al-Suhrawardi al-Bakri

Opening Folio of the 26th Volume of the "Anonymous Baghdad Qur'an"

706 AH/1306–7 CE

Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

Toward the close of the nineteenth century, the humble medium of stoneware—grès in French—won the attention of sculptors because of its earthy honesty and its capacity for reproducing the subtlest contours. The trade in stoneware sculptures grew so promising that the large firm of Emile Muller chose to advertise them along with the tiles and moldings for which it was known. This relief has chunks of masonry plaster on its back and must have been walled-in, possibly in Muller's showroom, as a sort of three-dimensional poster.

Relief

Alexandre-Louis-Marie Charpentier

Advertisement for Muller Stoneware Manufactory

1897

Glazed stoneware

The success of Toulouse-Lautrec's posters advertising Parisian cabarets such as the Moulin Rouge led him to produce deluxe editions of prints of Montmartre's performers, such as this one of the clown and dancer Cha-u-Kao. These lithographs were intended to appeal to fans and print collectors alike. Unlike Lautrec's other images that feature Cha-u-Kao performing, this one captures her off stage in a moment of quiet repose. Her frank pose and almost weary expression suggest we are glimpsing the person behind the persona.

Print

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

The Seated Clowness (Mademoiselle Cha-u-ka-o), from "Elles"

1896

Crayon, brush and spatter lithograph with scraper printed in five colors on wove paper with watermark (G. Pellet / T. Lautrec); only state

The late fifteenth-century rediscovery of the Roman emperor Nero’s palace, the Domus Aurea, or Golden House, spurred a revival of the fanciful decorations of part-human creatures amid leafy patterns—called “grotesques”—that were found on its walls and evoked the palace’s grottolike, subterranean spaces. Italian and Flemish designers of the period developed the style in tapestries, whose bright dyes and space-enveloping properties were suited to grotesques’ sinuous forms and skewed, otherworldly version of reality. Pope Leo X and the Genoese statesman Andrea Doria both commissioned grotesque tapestries from celebrated Brussels-based weavers; this panel, with its bold palette and fanciful, Antique-inspired motifs, was probably originally made for Philip II, King of Spain, to embellish a four-poster bed.

Tapestry

Cornelis Floris II

Panel with grotesques, from a set of bed hangings

ca. 1550–60

Silk, wool, silver and silver-gilt thread (20-22 warps per inch, 8-9 per cm.)

The writing on this panel reads al-akhirin, or "posterity." As the last word in the Qur'anic verse 26:4 ("And ordain for me a goodly mention among posterity"), its presence here may indicate that the rest of this inscription once went around the room where the panel was found. Although calligraphy adorned several of the buildings at Nishapur, this panel was the only inscribed architectural panel found in a domestic setting, perhaps indicating the building was also used for religious purposes.

Dado panel

Dado Panel

10th century

Stucco; carved, with some cast plaster elements

This Buddhist goddess personifies the symbol of the Karma family, the crossed vajra (visvavajra), which she holds before her body. Seated in a yogic manner, Karmavajri wears a tall three-part diadem and elaborate jewelry that has been cold gilded. She would have been worshipped as part of a set of images that constituted a Vajradatu mandala. Stylistic and technical similarities confirm that this work belonged to the same ensemble as the Buddha Amoghasiddhi (1984.211, which is complete with its original base)

Figure

The Esoteric Buddhist Goddess Karmavajri

11th Century

Silver inlaid with copper and gold