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1351
David Vases
The David Vases were created in the Yuan Dynasty. They are a pair of white porcelain vases with cobalt-blue underglaze created in Jingdezhen kilns. The David Vases were recorded to be used as a form of prayer at a Buddhist altar for peace, protection, and prosperity. They are decorated with floral motifs to symbolize donor’s high status, or were used to attract prosperity. The dragon symbolizes the emperor and the yang counterpart while the phoenix symbolizes the empress and yin side. -
1400
Machu Picchu
Machu Pichu is in Peru just 50 miles from Cuzco. Located 9000 feet above sea level Machu Pichu was a forgotten settlement until it was found by an American Explorer named Hiram Bingham in 1911. It was home to the Inca emperor Pachacuti and more than a thousand people. The design of Machu Pichu was made to look like a natural part of the mountain such as the buildings, the use of ashlar masonry which are stones meticulously cut, and Terraces. -
1469
Coyolxauhqui
Coyolxauhqui also known as She of the Golden Bells is from the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan now known as Mexico City. The myth behind the disk tells the story of how Coyolxauhqui met her tragic death by the hands of her brother Huitzilopochtli. Representing the power of the Mexica the disk was an important part of a sacrifice ritual. To honor of the moon goddess captured enemies were sacrificed at the top of the pyramid, and thrown down to land where the goddess stone resided. -
1487
Coatlicue
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Period: 1487 to 1520
Coatlicue
Located near the Great Temple when Coatlicue was found she was reburied because of her appearance, and was rediscovered in 1790. Coatlicue shares similar characteristics to other Native American art such as statuary freestanding and contour rivalry. There are two snakes rising from the severed area to form one giant snake head. Coatlicue is wearing a necklace of hands and hearts, a human skull, claws, saggy breasts representing mother hood, and like her name implies is wearing a skirt of snakes. -
1495
Splashed-ink (Haboku) Landscape
Sesshu Toyo was a well respected famous Muromachi painter. Being of of the few of Japanese artists who were able to travel to China to learn and study Chinese art, he was able to include old Chinese techniques into his own Japanese pieces. His piece Splashed-ink (haboku) landscape was a very unique because of the integration of Chinese and Japanese techniques. -
1582
Taian teashouse
Sen No Rikyu was responsible for turning the Japanese tea ceremony into a very intimate practice between people and nature. Rikyu designed teahouses to be small so that the people who entered had to crawl on their hands and knees while while being forced to to bow to everyone in the room so that it would make everyone equal. Nature was also incorporated into the designs to bring awareness to the world around the. The Taian teahouse in this picture is the last teahouse that Rikyu still standing. -
Nail Figure
Throughout Africa, there is a practice of empowering figures (and other objects) with special powers specific to the materials used. Only certain people were able to make these pieces with their identities being protected, but only priests were able embody them with power. Each object can only be activated in a specific way, the Nail figure shown was only able to be activated by driving a nail into it. -
Asmat Bisj Poles
The Asmat people that reside off the southwestern coast of New Guinea had a belief that no one dies of natural causes, but that death can only come by supernatural means or by a direct attack on someone's life. When one of their own people would die, it was important to them to seek out revenge and to take a life for the one that was taken from them. In these events, the Asmat people would erect a bisj pole as a promise to take another's life for their loved one's life that was taken. -
Linguist's Staff
Some artifacts created and collected in Africa didn't hold special powers, but instead showed a sign of authority and class. Osei Bonsu created the Linguist staff to be carried by the man who is able to speak for a king. This was created with the thoughts of an old proverb in mind "Food is for it's rightful owner, not for the one who happens to be hungry" to embody the idea that the throne belongs to the king, not someone who wants power. -
Rent Collection Courtyard
Ye Yushan's installation Rent Collection Courtyard, was constructed of life size clay figures showing what life in China was like before the Change in the government to communism. The installation includes many figures hard at work and struggling to be able to pay their bills while one individual (the landlord) is sitting back and lounging in a char watching all of these people around him work hard and suffer. This was to show people that communism was better than the times before.
