TwoForTuesday :

Wilhelm Hunt Diederich (USA, born Hungary, 1884-1953) Fire Screen, Made in NY 1920-30 Wrought and sheet iron On display at Philadelphia Museum of Art 2007-62-1

FishFriday :

Akio Takamori (American, b. Japan, 1950-2017) Self-Portrait with Fish, 1982 Stoneware, 14-1/4 x 1-7/8 x 5 in (36.2 x 40.3 x 12.7 cm) on display at Palmer Museum of Art 2021.43

#FishFriday :

Ernest Chaplet (France, 1835-1909) Entwined Fish and Eel, 1888-1909 Porcelain with sang de boeuf glaze Now on display at Philadelphia Museum of Art “Firing the Imagination: Japanese Intluence on French Ceramics, 1860-1910”

#TwoForTuesday :

Pair of Owl-Shaped Jars

China, Henan province, Western Han dynasty, 206 BCE-9 CE

Amber brown-glazed low-fired pottery

19 x 13.8 x 11.8 cm (7 1/2 x 5 7/16 x 4 5/8 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

2020.178.1-2

“Pottery vessels in the shape of owls were made since Neolithic times and throughout the Bronze Age. These jars in the form of vigilant owls may have provided a tomb occupant with grain in the afterlife. However, the meaning of these mysterious birds and the association of the owl motif with burial sites in China is not fully understood.”

#TwoForTuesday :

William Adolphe Bouguereau (France, 1825-1905)

Arion on a Sea Horse, 1855

Bacchante on a Panther, 1855

Oil on canvas

On display at The Cleveland Museum of Art 1980.238,1-2

“These paintings are from a series of eight works that Bouguereau painted for a Parisian home decorated in the style inspired by ancient Roman wall paintings found at Pompeii.

The ancient Greek poet Arion escaped pirates by fleeing on the back of a sea creature attracted by the poet's singing. In the companion picture, a bacchante, a female follower of the Roman god Bacchus, rides a panther and carries a pinecone-tipped spear called a thyrsus. The figures are silhouetted against a gold honeycomb-patterned background evoking ancient Roman mosaics Bouguereau had studied in Italy. The soft, waxy flesh tones and glimmering gold leaf were calculated to come to life when viewed under the mansion's gas lighting.”

#MetalMonday :

Ángel Botello (b. Spain, d. Puerto Rico, 1913-1986)

Egyptian Cat, n.d.

Bronze

On display at University of Delaware Museums’ new exhibit “Sight, Sound, and Motion: The Dimensions of Sculpture”

#MetalMonday :

Caparisoned Elephant

China, Liao dynasty, ca. 11th c.

Gilt bronze, 8.5 cm (7 5/16 in.)

The Cleveland Museum of Art 1980.24

“The six-tusked elephant holds the throne of Puxian (Samantabhadra), the Bodhisattva of Universal Virtue, who often appears with Wenshu (Manjusri), the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, on his lion-vehicle.

This impressive gilt bronze statue is solidly cast, except for the hollow at the center of its belly. The richly ornate saddlecloth exhibits superb craftsmanship and vivid representations of dragons among clouds, echoing the worldly splendor of the Liao material culture.”

Rabbit-Shaped Lime Paste Pot

Cambodia or NE Thailand, Angkor period, 12th-13th c.

Stoneware,4 5/8 x 5 7/8 x 4 1/4 in (11.7 x 14.9 x 10.8 cm)

Philadelphia Museum of Art 1970-11-1

#Baturday :

Edmond Lachenal (France, 1855-1930)

Vases in the Form of Lanterns, c.1885

Glazed earthenware, Hand painted earthenware

Now on display at Philadelphia Museum of Art “Firing the Imagination: Japanese Intluence on French Ceramics, 1860-1910”

“In 1870, at age 15, Edmond Lachenal apprenticed himself to the renowned ceramist Théodore Deck. At the Deck studio in Paris, Lachenal learned both production techniques and the non-Western styles and ornamental traditions which Deck was beginning to incorporate in his work. Lachenal brought these approaches with him when he established his own workshop in 1883. There he produced small and large Japanese-inspired plaques, vases, and sculptural objects.

Shaped like Japanese paper lantern[s], th[ese] vase[s] [are] decorated with two sculptural brown bats. Lachenal may have been influenced by the work of the Japanese potter Miyagawa Kōzan (1842–1916), whose prize-winning ceramics were displayed at the Paris Universal Expositions of 1878 and 1889. Kōzan was celebrated for his decorative technique taka-ukibori (sculptural relief), in which he decorated the surfaces of his wares with realistic three-dimensional high reliefs and sculptures, such as a crab climbing on the edge of a bowl.”

#FishFriday :

Fish Plate, c.1868-79

Made in Canton (Guangzhou), China [Qing Dynasty] for export to U.S. market:

part of the official presidential china collection of Ulysses S. Grant

Porcelain w/ enamel & gilt decoration

7/8 x 9 3/4 in (2.2 x 24.8 cm)

On display at Philadelphia Museum of Art

For #FishFriday :

Fish wallpaper at The Warhol Museum

(designed by Andy Warhol in 1983)

#TwoForTuesday :

Plate (with two #parrots)

Made in Jingdezhen, China, c.1720; decorated in Holland, c.1725

Porcelain (hard-paste), Lime (alkaline) glaze; H 2.95 cm, Diam. 20.9 cm

On display at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library 2000.0061.015

“Print source for bird motif: p. 144, no. 44, engraving of Parrots in a northern European setting by Adriaen Collaert, 1580, no. 7 from Avium Vivae Icones.”

#TwoForTuesday :

Cranes and Serpents, 475-221 BCE (Warring States Period)

China, State of Chu (reportedly from Hunan province,Changsha)

Lacquered wood with polychromy

132.1 x 124.5 cm (52 x 49 in.)

On display at Cleveland Museum of Art 1938.9

“A different style of ritual art developed in the state of Chu in South China. In addition to bronze vessels, lacquered wood artifacts expanded the repertory of ritual implements.

This extraordinary sculpture was probably a drum stand for supporting a suspended drum in ritual ceremonies. It is unique among other excavated drum stands of the Chu, which typically show two birds standing on tigers. The theme of the bird stepping on the serpent was common in the Chu visual culture. Yet the slender proportions and seemingly flimsy structure of this particular set raise the question of whether it was utilitarian or mostly served symbolic functions in the tomb.

The birds' and serpents' bodies have designs painted in red lacquer and yellow pigment against the black lacquer. Scientific analyses confirm the additional use of a blue or green pigment that has been discolored over time.”

#TwoForTuesday:

Jean-Michel Basquiat & Andy Warhol

Collaboration (#Lice) + Collaboration (#Crab), 1984-85

Acrylic, silkscreen ink, and oil stick on linen

On display at The Andy Warhol Museum 1998.1.489,490

#FrogFriday 🐸:

Frog-Shaped Guttus (Oil Vessel)

South Italian, Apulian, 4th c. BCE

Painted ceramic

Diameter: 1.5 cm (9/16 in.); Overall: 5.8 x 11.2 x 9.1 cm (2 5/16 x 4 7/16 x 3 9/16 in.)

On display at The Cleveland Museum of Art 1985.176

“Guttus is a Latin word referring to a small vessel with vertical spout and ring handle, probably used for pouring small amounts of precious oils. Often, mold-made ceramic gutti take the form of animals, with realistic painted decoration. This lifelike frog features black stripes and alternating black and white circles.”

#TwoForTuesday + #TurtleTuesday :

Paul Wayland Bartlett (USA, 1865-1925)

1. Frog on Tortoise, c. 1915

Bronze

1. Crane on Turtle, c. 1890-1905

Bronze

On display at Washington County Museum of Fine Arts A1039,59.0446, A1039,59.0427

#TwoForTuesday:

Rabbit Tureens, c.1755

Chelsea Porcelain Factory, London, England

Soft-paste porcelain with enamel-painted decoration

On display at Winterthur’s Campbell Collection of Soup Tureens 96.4.2,3

“Figures of rabbits and hares were popular ceramic ornaments, but tureens in the form of life-size rabbits appear to be peculiar to the Chelsea factory.”