Art and Architecture
Unit 6 Writing
In the various museums of Europe, America and England, there are over nine hundred plaques. Many of the plates in the British Museum were gathered in 1897, during the period of the British Punitive Expedition.
Previous studies by the Europeans visiting the city refers to its scale and size. The compound of the palace was build up along hall courtyards; some had corridors supported with wooden pillars fixed with brass plaques. During the 16th century, the plates symbolized Benin court life, just after Europe making its first contact with West Africa. As a result, the plaques portray the perception of Benin towards the Portuguese soldiers and traders.
Foreign trade was one of the key reasons why the king’s authority was linked with the river and ocean trade routes by which Europe exported goods to Benin. Mudfish are portrayed on the plaques because they hop out and inside the coastal mangrove swamp waters.
Leopards are another crucial symbol on the plaques. The symbols portray the king of Benin as a master of the tropical forest which surrounded most of Benin for an extended period. The leopards were domesticated and were displayed during momentous events such as mascots, and he sometimes used them as a sacrifice to his gods. Crocodiles on plaques symbolize the power of the king to discipline wrongdoers, while the python was god olokun’s messenger.
During the Oba ritual in Benin, a massive number of individuals played their crucial roles as officials, chiefs, representatives or craft guilds of the local communities. Most of the plaques perhaps symbolized characters or events such as the annual rituals, some of which still are carried out today by the king.
The figure of Oba is at the centre of this plaque alongside two long-haired European representatives on either side of Oba. The picture portrays the heavy burden of the king. The interpretation is based on king Oba Ewuare myth (1440-1470), that having stolen Olokun’s coral bead regalia, felt the heavyweight of the obligations that were symbolized by the spiritually-charged insignia.
Unit 7 Writing
From the 14th to the 16th century, illustrated books were a basic form of art in Iran. The arts thrived during a cultural revival that was conducted under the Ilkhanids of the Mongol dynasty, that reigned Iran and Mesopotamia between 1258 to 1336 C.E. the Ilkhanids reigned as foreigners and applied the power of images and words in support of their regime. As a result, indulgence texts were commissioned as didactic works of arts which were associated with heroes and kings of Iranian history, mainly those of the Book of Kings or Shahnama.
Was the most famous illustrated manuscript of the period, by the poet Abu al-Qasim Firdausi’s epic poem during 1010 C.E. the poem relates the early history, legends, and myths of Iran. Up to date, ten illustrated Shahnama texts still exists as shown by manuscripts established approximately between 1300 C.E. and 1350 C.E.
Also referred to as a folio from the second small Shahnama, is an illustrated script page in Brooklyn Museum’s collection. The “small Shahnamas” is a collection of three dispersed, undated and small manuscripts that were created during the 14th century in Iran. The art exemplifies the Shahnama narrative of the ruler Bahram Gur visiting a peasant’s home in masquerade. He overhears the conversation between the peasant and his wife, attributing the cow’s refusal to give milk to the ruler’s autocratic authority in the country.
With a gold robe at the centre of the art, Bahram Gur and the peasant are looking at the woman in a far edge. She is milking the cow, but they are focusing on her. According to the scholar Sheila Blair, symbolized an upgrade in the society.
The Seljuk painting style belonged to the Turkic dynasty of Central Asian nomadic origins painters in Iran during the 12th and 13th centuries. The style influenced the use of subdued and delicate tones against a plain gold background. The Ilkhanids may have adopted the technique as a supplementary way to incorporate Mongul rule into the native cultural traditions.
The Shahnama manuscripts were also created beyond the regions ruled by the Mongol. Shahnama manuscript was commissioned in Fars province in 1341 by Qawam al-Dawlah wa-al-Din Hasan, while Bahram Gur Peasant’s House was located in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. The Injuids also established the Shahnama manuscripts in their regime.