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Oenochoe, the Greek word for wine vessel or jug, is a category of ancient Greek pottery with different variants. Copied and modified by ancient cultures, this earthenware pouring vessel was made in a pottery center in the Roman North Africa territory called Africa Proconsulares and exported throughout the empire. Made using a potter’s wheel and…
This black burnished earthenware terracotta juglet dates from the time the Jewish people returned from their exile in Babylonia to in the region called the Holy Land and the Levant during the Biblical Period. At this time in the Iron Age, coil construction was used to make utilitarian pottery often finished using the paddle-and-anvil method…
This small earthenware jarlet was made using a potter’s wheel, fired in a kiln and is one of many pouring vessels used throughout the Roman Empire. It was made in a ceramics center in Africa-Proconsularis, the name for Roman North Africa territories. Made from clay, it is covered with a beige or white slip. These…
Mingqi are ancient earthenware pottery items usually made using a bivalve mould and covered with a lead glaze that fired to a dark green. The lead in the glaze often combined with tomb dampness for centuries creating a chemical reaction changing its coloring into a lustrous and iridescent green seen here. Han mingqi were ancestral…
This earthenware cup is called a beaker, a term used by archeologists to describe small cups without a handle and held in the hands similar to Japanese ceramic teacups that also warm one’s hands. Items like this were made in Africa Proconsularis, the Roman North Africa pottery center and distributed throughout the Roman Empire). Using…
Scenes with landscapes, distant mountains, bodies of water and architectural structures in nature are common subjects in the Chinese aesthetic and closely related to the scholar’s beliefs and their way of life that includes Four Scholarly Pursuits (siyi) and Four Treasures of the Scholar’s Studio. The three main Chinese belief systems of Taoism, Confucianism and…
Nandi is among the most frequent Hindu deities worshiped in public places, temples, homes, or on a home altar throughout India. As one of Hinduism’s mythical animals, Nandi is Shiva’s vahana, (his mount that transports him), attendant and leader of his attendants and guardian of all four-footed animals. A recumbent image of Nandi on a…
Metal oil lamps (diyas) made for deities in Hinduism are recognized by distinct designs, symbols or figures which identify specific deities to devotees wish to offer their prayers used in homes and temples for daily prayers (puja). This heavy brass antique votive from India is a Vishnu diya with a shallow yoni shaped cup, short…
A stupa is a memorial shrine and a sacred burial mound to house sacred relics associated with the Buddha or other Buddhist saintly persons, a symbol of the Buddha’s enlightenment and a model of the Buddhist cosmos (McArthur, p. 179). Initially they were hemispherical mound-like shapes and were transformed in East Asia into a pagoda…
Nandi is among the most frequent Hindu deities worshiped in public places, temples, homes, or on a home altar throughout India. As one of Hinduism’s mythical animals, Nandi is Shiva’s vahana, (his mount that transports him), attendant and leader of his attendants and guardian of all four-footed animals. A recumbent image of Nandi on a…
This small antique-Chinese-wood-carving represents Mazu, which translates as “Mother Ancestor,” the tutelary deity “Protector of the Sea” who protects seafarers and is very popular among Taiwanese, Fujianese, and Cantonese sea cultures. This syncretic cult figure is the most imortant ofthe female Taoist-Deities and continues to be worshipped by Taoist, Buddhist and Popular Religion followers. In…
Leigong, (Lei Gong Leikung, Leishen), is the mythological Taoist and folk religion protective “Thunder God) The Chinese character Lei (雷) means “thunder.” An official of the Jade Emperor’s imperial court, Leigong was given responsibility for watching for injustices on Earth. He was ordered to punish earthly beings and wicked spirits who commit secret crimes or…
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