Final Flashcards
Shiva from Tiruvenkadu
1011, Chola Bronze. Lost Wax Casting. Gift of chief of military regiment of king. Extremely detailed. Emphasis on softness, sensuousness. Buried when news of Sultanate coming arrived. Would be washed and adorned for puja, but when in museum no longer a holy object/vessel of deity. Problematic presentation in museums.
Hoysala
Prominent empire in South India - Karnataka. Carving style extremely elaborate - “a riot of carving.” Unfortunately, a lot of the carving was used by British to claim decadence and moral degeneration of Indians.
Chennakeshava Temple
Begun 1117, Belur. Hoysala temple. Bracket figures bear inscriptions. Built to commemorate king’s victory over Cholas. Inscriptions with names of sculptors - bombastic titles. Hoysala schist soft and lends itself to carving. Brackets in corners - celestial beings.
Loving couples at Khajuraho Temples
10th-11th century. Chandella kingdom. Evidence of sensuality/sexuality in ancient art. Found in the joining wall -a kind of visual pun as the sanctum=bridegroom and hall=bride, and mithunas between. Images often taken out of context, depicted as if very prominent and located at eye-level. Theory that iconography process from unmanifest in garbha griha (linga) to unmanifest-manifest outside sanctum (6 headed sadashiva) and Shiva’s many manifest forms outside. Often he is flanked by women, who by this time were necessary to include because of associations with fertility, abundance, auspiciousness. 16 types. Theories of mystic union with divine, tantric sects, reference to allegorical play that happened at court.
Qutb Minar
Late 12th-Early 13th, Delhi. Minar - used for call for prayer but this one too high so basically a symbol of Islamic supremacy. Dynastic script on the minar - playful treatment of script including that from the Quran unusual (flowers, etc) as it would never happen elsewhere - the script too sacred. Distinction between two kinds of iconoclasm - violent statement vs. neutralizing for reuse.
Qutb Mosque
Late 12th-Early 13th, Delhi. Focus on pillars. Elements from 27 Hindu temples. Pillars from temples not high enough so stacked one on top of each other. Issues of iconoclasm - violent statement vs neutralizing for reuse. In order to neutralize, did not always completely remove image - sometimes just took off the face or eyes. Hindus were the ones who did the neutralizing. Reusing vs. building new things could also be an issue of economics. Indian craftsmen -> corbelled arches.
Taj Mahal
Begun 1632, Agra, Marble. Love theory prohibited further study of monument so that inscriptions only published in 1989. They all refer to Day of Judgment - hardly good subject matter for love monument. Throne of God Theory. Jawab - echo. Moonlight Garden Theory - places Taj at center as opposed to at back of complex.
Akbar-Nama
1590-1597. Akbar-nama was created from a manuscript of Akbar’s life - essentially a pictorial diary of everything he did. Clerk was to note down day to day activities such as time awoken, etc. Pages of pure text interspersed with images such as Akbar Restrains Hawai. Akbar’s justification for figural painting.
Akbar restrains Hawai
1590-1597. Scene from Tales of Akbar. Painted Basavana and Chitra. Akbar’s feat of riding ferocious elephant Hawai in competition with another elephant - get on bridge and due to extreme weight pontoons go up and down. His servants and advisors freak out. Naturalism and emphasis on diagonal movement. Possible emphasis of European prints.
Hamza-Nama
1557-1573. Basavana. One of Akbar’s first commissions – something a kid would like. Fantastical creatures. Mixture of fact, fiction, folk tales. Could not read or write so he had a lot of paintings done, and had them performed to him.
Jagat Singh’s Ramayana
1648-1652, Mewar, Sahib Din.
Hanuman Searching for the Mountain of Herbs
1648-1652, folio from Jagat Singh’s Ramayana, Sahib Din. Compare to the same scene from Akbar’s Ramayana, completed 1589.
Indrajit and his Magic Arrows
1648-1652, folio from Jagat Singh’s Ramayana, Sahib Din.
Blair Conversation Piece
1786, Johann Zoffany.
Dasasumade Ghat
1789, Thomas and William Daniell.
Benares
1873, Edward Lear.
Victoria Terminus
Opened 1887, desgned by F.W. Stevens, Bombay.
University Convocation Hall
1869-74, designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, Bombay.
University Library and Clock Tower
1878, designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, Bombay.
Viceroy’s Palace
1931, designed by Edwin Lutyens, New Delhi.
King George V Memorial
1931, designed by Edwin Lutyens, New Delhi.
War Memorial Arch
1931, designed by Edwin Lutyens, New Delhi.
Maharaja Sayajirao III of Baroda
1882, Raja Ravi Varma.