@ladykrampus / ladykrampus.tumblr.com
Middle Kingdom, late Dynasty 11 – early Dynasty 12 (2010–1961 B.C.)
Found in the tomb of Djehutynakht at Deir el-Bersha, Egypt, May 1915; excavated by the Harvard University – Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
The recently restored model shown here depicts plump steers being driven - reluctantly it seems - to a cattle count or perhaps to slaughter. The artist has taken pains to include lifelike details so that the robust animals contrast dramatically with their slouched, weary, and balding keepers.
Source: Museum of Fine Arts Boston (click the link to read more about these models)
Meir or Asyut, Egypt, ca. 2050 BC (Middle Kingdom)
Twelve oarsmen, a helmsman, and a pilot, or look-out, ferry their passenger, the tomb-owner. Such models were associated with religious beliefs, as they symbolized the journey of the deceased to Abydos, the traditional burial place of Osiris, lord of the afterworld. The tomb-owner is clothed with a shroud and is shown with a blue beard. This boat was probably placed in the tomb to assist the deceased in navigating the Nile of the underworld. Typically, models of passenger ships found in Middle Kingdom tombs occur in pairs. One to travel south, equipped with a sail, as the wind in Egypt blows constantly from north to south, and the other (as this model shows) propelled by rowers aided by the Nile’s current, to travel north.
From the Walters Art Museum
Your Open Access (free to read) Archaeology daily: Sepolture di epoca longobarda con guarnizioni da cintura di bronzo a Cassano d’Adda e Pozzuolo Martesana (MI). http://bit.ly/16vOuxB Maritime adaptive strategies in post-Pleistocene Southeast Asia: An ethnoarchaeological model for the nature and distribution of archaeological sites http://bit.ly/16vOuxR Additional Notes on the Heraldic Glass at Stobhall, and in the Magdalen Chapel Cowgate. http://bit.ly/1147Oz2 Seasonality and Site Function at Dead Man’s Cave (CA-TEH-290) http://bit.ly/16vOxtq Computers and the Study of Archaeology in British Columbia, Canada http://bit.ly/16vOvle
Learn more about Open Access and Archaeology at: http://bit.ly/YHuyFK
Left alone for years at the beginning of the 19th Century, French soldiers taken captive during the Napoleonic Wars found an unusually hobby — fashioning ornate replicas of British ships, out of beef and human bone.
French prisoners of war obtained bones from the food rations issued to them by their English captors. After gathering bones for use in model building, prisoners boiled the bones and bleached them in the sun, to make the bones easier to shape and carve. Pigs around the POW camp also helped to supplement the prisoners’ bone supply [as they] often uncovered human skeletons that were buried in shallow graves.
Many of these artists built mechanisms into their models [which] allowed for the sails of the models to be raised with ease and retract the cannons into the ship.
In addition to human, cattle, and mutton bones, prisoners made use of their own hair to fashion sail rigging, and tissue paper to create sails. On several occasions, visitors to the camp from nearby villagers and British officers would smuggle in pieces of turtle shell, silk, tools, and metal foil for the Frenchmen to use.
British Naval Officers clamored for the opportunity to buy the largest and finest models.
The prisoners’ ship-carving habits did not bother British officials [who] felt the hobby kept the prisoners happy and busy [and] boosted morale. British officers commonly organized civilian markets within the camps — bizarre craft fairs set in the middle of an actual POW camp where the captured soldiers sold their items.
[More detailed images at the source]
Modèle réduit de la Bastille
Œuvre exécutée dans un bloc de pierre provenant de la Bastille Anonyme vers 1789 - 1790 Pierre - 7 cm (H) x 95 cm (L) x 48 cm (P)S 503
@credits
After the Storming, people immediately wanted to conserve souvenirs from it. Palloy, in charge of its demolition, encouraged it by creating “relics” from the material of the building. This kind of models, small reproduction of the Bastille, was sent in every département and exhibited for the patriotic fests
Ray Harreyhausen’s Medusa at The London Film Museum.
Modèle anatomique de cheval du Dr Louis Auzoux au musée d’anatomie de l’École nationale vétérinaire de Toulouse
Dr. Auzoux’s models were designed to be taken apart and put back together. ‘Dissecting’ the models provided a similar experience to examining real human bodies or animals. The models were known as ‘clastic anatomies’ (from the Greek word ‘to break’) because they could be taken apart.
New sciences, new models
Dr. Auzoux originally developed his models of human bodies and body parts for professional medical training. Because they were so useful for general education, they were widely adopted for teaching purposes around the world.
The public also benefited from Dr. Auzoux’s knowledge, attending his lecture courses in anatomy and physiology that were specifically designed for a general audience. He even claimed that people could learn anatomy without the aid of an instructor simply by ‘dissecting’ the models by themselves, as many of the anatomical details were identified by labels in French. Other numbered labels, decorated with a small image of a hand, showed the order in which the models should be taken apart and reassembled by the student.
Dr. Auzoux founded a factory in his hometown in France for producing the models. Responding to changing trends in scientific research and education, the company began producing models of human embryos, animals and plants, as well as continuing to make models of adult humans.
In the 1820s Auzoux’s models gained the approval of scientific and medical academies and he proudly publicised this when advertising his models.
Auzoux himself used his models for demonstrations in his own private lecture courses on anatomy and physiology for general audiences. Auzoux’s company exhibited its teaching models at the industrial shows which took place in the second half of the 19th century, such as the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, where they received much praise and many prizes.
During the 19th century Auzoux models were sold throughout the world, until models in plastic or plaster increasingly replaced them.
Anatomical figures
French, Ivory, 18th century
Models of a man and a woman with removable pieces. The woman is pregnant.
