the gift of a sasanian stucco relief

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The Gift of a Sasanian Stucco Relief

Author(s): M. S. DimandReviewed work(s):Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Vol. 35, No. 10 (Oct., 1940), pp. 191-192Published by: The Metropolitan Museum of ArtStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3256763 .

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BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ARTULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ARTcentury America was probably the mostversatile carriage-making country in theworld. While homely vehicles of Americanorigin bowled along the roads from coast tocoast, the most fashionable European typecarriages, coupes, victorias, sporting dog-carts, and road coaches were built to indi-vidual order by firms like Brewster andCompany in New York. The vivid colored

century America was probably the mostversatile carriage-making country in theworld. While homely vehicles of Americanorigin bowled along the roads from coast tocoast, the most fashionable European typecarriages, coupes, victorias, sporting dog-carts, and road coaches were built to indi-vidual order by firms like Brewster andCompany in New York. The vivid colored

THE GIFT OF A SASANIANSTUCCO RELIEF

The Museum's collection of Iranian artof the Sasanian period (A.D. 226-642) hasbeen enriched by a fine stucco relief, arecent gift from H. Kevorkian.1This relief isa welcome addition to the representativegroup of stucco panels excavated by the

THE GIFT OF A SASANIANSTUCCO RELIEF

The Museum's collection of Iranian artof the Sasanian period (A.D. 226-642) hasbeen enriched by a fine stucco relief, arecent gift from H. Kevorkian.1This relief isa welcome addition to the representativegroup of stucco panels excavated by the

SASANIAN STUCCO RELIEFVI OR EARLY VII CENTURYSASANIAN STUCCO RELIEFVI OR EARLY VII CENTURY

designs and books of working drawings forBrewster carriages, covering the periodfrom 1850 to I905, were given to the Mu-seum some years ago by William Brewster.Just when the evolution of carriagetravelseemed to have reached an agreeably satis-factory stage, machinery diverted it intonew developments. The railroads took overnot only the names, "coach," "cab," "fare,"from horse-drawn vehicles, but even theirshapes, while the first automobiles weremodeled on current carriage designs, andutilized all the science in construction thatthe coachmakers had learned from centuriesof experiment. ALICE NEWLIN.

designs and books of working drawings forBrewster carriages, covering the periodfrom 1850 to I905, were given to the Mu-seum some years ago by William Brewster.Just when the evolution of carriagetravelseemed to have reached an agreeably satis-factory stage, machinery diverted it intonew developments. The railroads took overnot only the names, "coach," "cab," "fare,"from horse-drawn vehicles, but even theirshapes, while the first automobiles weremodeled on current carriage designs, andutilized all the science in construction thatthe coachmakers had learned from centuriesof experiment. ALICE NEWLIN.

Museum at Ctesiphon,2 near Baghdad, thecapital of the Sasanian empire. Such panelswere frequently combined in repeat pat-terns on the walls of private houses andpalaces, as we know fromfinds in Ctesiphonand Kish in Mesopotamia. Very few stuccoreliefs with complete figure subjects areknown today.The new relief comes from an unknownsite in Iran proper. It represents a royalhorseman, probably a king or a prince, inhis war regalia, shooting with bow and ar-row. Following old oriental conventions his

1Acc.no.40.58.H. 162 in.,w. 182 in. Shownthismonth n the Roomof RecentAccessions.2Onexhibition n GalleryH8.

Museum at Ctesiphon,2 near Baghdad, thecapital of the Sasanian empire. Such panelswere frequently combined in repeat pat-terns on the walls of private houses andpalaces, as we know fromfinds in Ctesiphonand Kish in Mesopotamia. Very few stuccoreliefs with complete figure subjects areknown today.The new relief comes from an unknownsite in Iran proper. It represents a royalhorseman, probably a king or a prince, inhis war regalia, shooting with bow and ar-row. Following old oriental conventions his

1Acc.no.40.58.H. 162 in.,w. 182 in. Shownthismonth n the Roomof RecentAccessions.2Onexhibition n GalleryH8.10101


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BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITANMUSEUM OF ARTULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITANMUSEUM OF ARThead and legs are shown in profile,while theupper part of his body is in front view. Onthe well-known Sasanian silver dishes, oneof which is in this Museum,3 the king isrepresentedas a supreme hunter, but on ourrelief he is shown as the supreme warrior.He wears scale armor, an ornate helmetover his crenelated crown, and a mantlewith fluttering ends. From his belt hangs aquiver with fluted decoration, and on hischest there is a pectoral with a double pen-dant. We also see the two wide ribbons sofrequently encountered in Sasanian art,which are the attributes of gods and kings.The trappings of the horse consist of pearlbands and twisted leather strips ending inlarge bell-shaped tassels.The panel is in high relief, originally en-hanced with polychromy, and has all thecharacteristic features of Sasanian sculp-ture. In style, especially in the skill withwhich the galloping horse and the vigorousaction are rendered, it recalls the royalhunting scenes on Sasanian silver dishes,which range in date from the fourth to theseventh century. The arrangement of theribbons, the horse trappings, and otherdetails recall particularly the silver dish inthe Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris repre-senting King Khusrau II (590-628). Wemay assign our relief to the period of thisruler, that is, to the sixth or early seventhcentury. M. S. DIMAND.

THE EMPIRE OF FLORAIn 1765 a Lyonese textile designer namedJoubert de L'Hiberderie charmingly de-

scribed one aspect of art in the Louis XVperiod as "l'Empire de Flore."' His wordsapplied most aptly to the state of affairs inhis own craft, for almost every silk fabricwas then consecrated to the natural beautiesof flowers. This vivacious but well-disci-plined floralstyle was new in textiles, havingbeen established only a few decades before.It had arrived with revolutionary impactwhen the producers of Lyonese silks, atlength discarding the conceptions of design

3 On exhibition in Gallery H 8.1 Le Dessinateurpour lesfabriquesd'etoffesd'or,d'argent,etde soie (Paris, 1765), p. 91.

head and legs are shown in profile,while theupper part of his body is in front view. Onthe well-known Sasanian silver dishes, oneof which is in this Museum,3 the king isrepresentedas a supreme hunter, but on ourrelief he is shown as the supreme warrior.He wears scale armor, an ornate helmetover his crenelated crown, and a mantlewith fluttering ends. From his belt hangs aquiver with fluted decoration, and on hischest there is a pectoral with a double pen-dant. We also see the two wide ribbons sofrequently encountered in Sasanian art,which are the attributes of gods and kings.The trappings of the horse consist of pearlbands and twisted leather strips ending inlarge bell-shaped tassels.The panel is in high relief, originally en-hanced with polychromy, and has all thecharacteristic features of Sasanian sculp-ture. In style, especially in the skill withwhich the galloping horse and the vigorousaction are rendered, it recalls the royalhunting scenes on Sasanian silver dishes,which range in date from the fourth to theseventh century. The arrangement of theribbons, the horse trappings, and otherdetails recall particularly the silver dish inthe Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris repre-senting King Khusrau II (590-628). Wemay assign our relief to the period of thisruler, that is, to the sixth or early seventhcentury. M. S. DIMAND.

THE EMPIRE OF FLORAIn 1765 a Lyonese textile designer namedJoubert de L'Hiberderie charmingly de-

scribed one aspect of art in the Louis XVperiod as "l'Empire de Flore."' His wordsapplied most aptly to the state of affairs inhis own craft, for almost every silk fabricwas then consecrated to the natural beautiesof flowers. This vivacious but well-disci-plined floralstyle was new in textiles, havingbeen established only a few decades before.It had arrived with revolutionary impactwhen the producers of Lyonese silks, atlength discarding the conceptions of design

3 On exhibition in Gallery H 8.1 Le Dessinateurpour lesfabriquesd'etoffesd'or,d'argent,etde soie (Paris, 1765), p. 91.

that had come to them in the precedingcentury from Italian sources, set up newstandardsthat werequintessentially French.This break with the dominant tradition ofthe past, which thus helped to establish"l'Empire de Flore" in France and theprimacy of France in European silk weav-ing, was perhaps the most significant singleadvance in textiles since the close of theMiddle Ages. Consequently, when con-sidered as illustrating phases of this de-velopment, the several fabrics exhibitedthis month in the Room of Recent Acces-sions take on an additional interest. Someof them show the conditions before therevolt;others reveal the resultsof revolution.

A remarkable English velvet of the be-ginning of the eighteenth century is an ex-ample of the earlier type (fig. i).2 It waswoven at Spitalfields, a district in Londonwhere a number of French Huguenotweavers had found asylum and work afterthe Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in1685. It comes from Boston House in Mid-dlesex County near London, where in thetime of QueenAnne it probably formedpartof the hangings for a bed. A royal bed of thesame era in Hampton Court Palace stillpossesses its original velvet draperies,whichare almost identical in design and colorwith our new fabric. The two velvets mightwell have been made by the same manu-facturer.Our immediate interest in this piece,however, lies not so much in its history asin its design and the way it was woven. Thepattern is a concoction of fanciful archi-tectural motives inspired by Genoese vel-vets but conforming to the rather ponder-ous English taste of the period.The weavingis most expertly done. Two colors of thevelvet pile, claret red and tawny yellow,appear against a creamy satin ground. Aswas often the case, even with velvets ofmuch earlier periods, some of the pile wascut, the remainder left uncut, thus creatingtwo shades of each color, both the red andthe yellow. Following the traditional meth-ods, no attempt was made to get even asemblance of modeling into the design,which conveys the usual flat, two-dimen-

2 Acc. no. 40.70. RogersFund. Cisele voidedsatinvelvet.L.84in.,w.21in.

that had come to them in the precedingcentury from Italian sources, set up newstandardsthat werequintessentially French.This break with the dominant tradition ofthe past, which thus helped to establish"l'Empire de Flore" in France and theprimacy of France in European silk weav-ing, was perhaps the most significant singleadvance in textiles since the close of theMiddle Ages. Consequently, when con-sidered as illustrating phases of this de-velopment, the several fabrics exhibitedthis month in the Room of Recent Acces-sions take on an additional interest. Someof them show the conditions before therevolt;others reveal the resultsof revolution.

A remarkable English velvet of the be-ginning of the eighteenth century is an ex-ample of the earlier type (fig. i).2 It waswoven at Spitalfields, a district in Londonwhere a number of French Huguenotweavers had found asylum and work afterthe Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in1685. It comes from Boston House in Mid-dlesex County near London, where in thetime of QueenAnne it probably formedpartof the hangings for a bed. A royal bed of thesame era in Hampton Court Palace stillpossesses its original velvet draperies,whichare almost identical in design and colorwith our new fabric. The two velvets mightwell have been made by the same manu-facturer.Our immediate interest in this piece,however, lies not so much in its history asin its design and the way it was woven. Thepattern is a concoction of fanciful archi-tectural motives inspired by Genoese vel-vets but conforming to the rather ponder-ous English taste of the period.The weavingis most expertly done. Two colors of thevelvet pile, claret red and tawny yellow,appear against a creamy satin ground. Aswas often the case, even with velvets ofmuch earlier periods, some of the pile wascut, the remainder left uncut, thus creatingtwo shades of each color, both the red andthe yellow. Following the traditional meth-ods, no attempt was made to get even asemblance of modeling into the design,which conveys the usual flat, two-dimen-

2 Acc. no. 40.70. RogersFund. Cisele voidedsatinvelvet.L.84in.,w.21in.I 22

the gift of a sasanian stucco relief

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