Divination Mirror

Bronze mirror

Mirror with "TLV" Pattern

Mirror with Jaguar or Coyote Mosaic

Mirror Back with Great Goddess

Mirror (Shinjūkyō) Based on Han Dynasty Prototype with Cosmological Design

Created by Reina Gattuso. 
Many ancient peoples viewed mirrors as magical. They believed mirrors were portals to the spiritual realm or tools with which to divine the future. 
There is a scientific explanation for how mirrors reflect light, of course. But this knowledge doesn’t stop their luminous surfaces from seeming magical. Across time and place, human beings have viewed reflective surfaces as portals to the divine or to the future. 

The first mirrors were likely the reflective surfaces of still water. Human-made mirrors entered the archaeological record around 8,000 years ago in Anatolia.1 Most societies associated mirrors with beauty and personal grooming. But some also attached a deeper ritual significance to them. 
 
This collection features ritually significant mirrors from ancient cultures around the world. Ancient Chavín-Cupisnique people likely used mirrors for divination, and buried mirrors with their dead.2 Aztec peoples, meanwhile, included small mirrors as part of royal regalia,3 while ancient Etruscans ritually smashed mirrors they included in tombs4. Ancient cultures in China and Japan decorated mirrors with symbolism that situated their users at the symbolic center of the cosmos.5 
 

Citations: 

1 Castro, Joseph. “Who Invented the Mirror?” Livescience, 28 March 2013, https://www.livescience.com/34466-who-invented-mirror.html. Accessed 25 May 2022. 
2 “Mirror.” Dallas Museum of Art, https://collections.dma.org/artwork/3288058. Accessed 25 May 2022. 
3 “Mirror with Jaguar or Coyote Mosaic.” Art Institute Chicago, https://www.artic.edu/artworks/132675/mirror-with-jaguar-or-coyote-mosaic. Accessed 25 May 2022. See also “Mirror Back with Great Goddess.” The Cleveland Museum of Art, https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1989.65. Accessed 25 May 2022. 
 
4 De Grummond, Nancy T. “On Mutilated Mirrors.” Votives, Places and Rituals in Etruscan Religion. Brill, 1 Jan. 2008. https://brill.com/previewpdf/book/edcoll/9789047442622/Bej.9789004170452.i-292_012.xml. Accessed 25 May 2022. 
 
5 “Mirror with “TLV” Pattern.” Art Institute Chicago, https://www.artic.edu/artworks/10522/mirror-with-tlv-pattern. Accessed 25 May 2022. See also “Mirror (Shinjūkyō) Based on Han Dynasty Prototype with Cosmological Design.” The Met, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/44835. Accessed 25 May 2022.

Magic Mirrors

Carved white jade leaf cluster ornament

Snuff Bottle in the Shape of an Eggplant

Two Monkeys on Two Peaches

Lotus-Leaf Dish

Carved white jade leaf for bowl and stand

Carved white jade flower form bowl and cover with stand

Bottle in the shape of a gourd

Vase

Created by Reina Gattuso. 
Ancient Chinese people believed jade could confer immortality. They obtained nephrite, one of the two minerals geologists call jade, from Turkestan and Siberia. In modern times, they also obtained jadeite from southeast Asia. Chinese scholars associated jade with courtly virtues including integrity, persistence, and moral purity.1 

In the Qing Dynasty, when most of the jade objects in this collection were made, artists carved particularly elaborate jade forms. They employed tools and abrasives to impart ornate designs on the extremely hard stone.2 Depictions of fruit, flowers, and vegetables were popular. 

Plant varieties hold spiritual meanings within Daoism and Buddhism. The lotus symbolizes spiritual growth from the mud of worldliness to the blossom of enlightenment.3 The peach symbolizes immortality.4 The gourd represents a wish for numerous offspring.5
 
Jade ranges in color from brilliant apple green to subtle grayish blue to pure white. Artists took advantage of this natural tonal variation to create startlingly lifelike vegetation. Their seemingly miraculous skill transformed an unyielding material into juicy lettuce leaves, plump peaches, and translucent lotus blossoms.

 
CITATIONS 


1 Lyons, Elizabeth. “Chinese Jades.” Penn Museum, 1978, https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/chinese-jades/. Accessed 16 April 2022. 
 
2 “Chinese Jades.” 
 
3 “Lotus.” Philadelphia Museum of Art, https://www.philamuseum.org/collection/object/318939. Accessed 26 April 2022. 

4 Sun, Jason. “Chinese Hardstone Carvings.” The Met, June 2016, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hard/hd_hard.htm. Accessed 16 April 2022. 

5 Howard, Samantha, “Myth and Magic in the East Asian Ivory and Jade Collections.” Text modified by Glenn Roadley. The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, 2 May 2021, https://www.stokemuseums.org.uk/pmag/myth-and-magic-in-the-east-asian-ivory-and-jade-collections/. Accessed 16 April 2022.

Fruit, Flowers, and Vegetables in Chinese Jade

Yamashita Kinsaku II

The First Nakamura Tomijuro as a Woman Dancer

Iwai Hanshirō IV

Kabuki Actor Nakamura Tomijūrō I in a Female Dance Role

Young Man Playing the Flute Beside a Fence

A Young Woman Returning a Ball to a Young Man

Young Man and Woman Talking through a Bamboo Blind

Courtesan with a Young Man (Wakashu) beside a Screen

The Actor Arashi Wakano as a wakashu (youth) in a kappa (raincoat)

Samurai and Wakashu

Young Man (Wakashu) with a Miniature Flower Cart

The Actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu II in the Costume of a Fashionable Young Man (Wakashu)

Young Men of Fashion - A Set of Three (Wakashu sanpukutsui)

The Actor Sanagawa Ichimatsu 1st as a Wakashu (Fashionable Youth) in the Drama "Momo–Chidori Shiraume"

The Young Monkey Showman (Wakashu sarumawashi)

The Actors Nakamura Kashiwagi as a Wakashu (second from right), and Three Unidentified Actors as Yakko

In the Style of a Young Man (Wakashu fu), Left Sheet of Triptych (Sanpukutsui hidari)

The Actor Nakamura Riko as an Oiran Tying Her Obi

The Third Azuma Tozo as a Woman in a Black Kimono

Kabuki Actor Segawa Kikunojō III in a Female Role (Shizuka Gozen)

The Third Segawa Kikunojo as a Woman in a Crouching Position

The Actor Nakamura Rikō, as a Courtesan with a Sword

Segawa Kikunojo III as a Woman Standing under a Maple Tree in the Autumn

The First Nakamura Tomijuro as an Oiran Standing in a Room

The Third Segawa Kikunojo as a Woman Standing in a Room Having a Wave-pattern Dado

The Second Yamashita Kinsaku (1733–1790)

The Third Segawa Kikunojo as an Oiran

The Actor Iwai Hanshiro IV as a Woman in a Black Kimono

The Actors IV Iwai Hanshiro and I Bando Mitsugoro as Women Pilgrime in a shosa (Acting and Dancing) Performance

The Fourth Iwai Hanshiro as a Courtesan Dressed in a Pink Kimono

The Fourth Iwai Hanshirō as a Woman

The Actor Segawa Kikunojō as a Courtesan of the Ōmiya Brothel

The Actor Segawa Kikunojo Third as an Oiran

The Actor Segawa Kikunojo III as a Woman Standing near a Winding Stream

The Actor Nakayama Tomisaburo I in an Unidentified Role

Actors [Out of Costume] Like Mount Fuji [Without Snow] in Summer, by Ichiba Tsūshō

The Actor Yamashita Mangiku I in an Unidentified Role

The Actor Segawa Yujiro I in an Unidentified Role

The Actors Otani Tomoemon I as Emohei (right), and Sanogawa Ichimatsu II as Sanada Yoichi (left), in the Play Myoto-giku Izu no Kisewata, Performed at the Ichimura Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1770

The Actor Nakamura Tomijuro I as a Female Fox from Mt. Ubagadake in the Play Chigo Torii Tobiiri Kitsune, Performed at the Ichimura Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1777

The Actor Yamashita Kinsaku II as Miyagino Disguised as a Hairdresser in the Play Kosode-gura no Tekubari, Performed at the Morita Theater in the Second Month, 1772 (?)

The Actors Ichimura Uzaemon IX as Hata no Daizen Taketora Disguised as the Yakko Matahei (right), and Iwai Hanshiro IV as Umegae Disguised as the Poem-Diviner Omatsu (left), in the Play Mukashi Otoko Yuki no Hinagata, Performed at the Ichimura Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1781

The Actors Nakamura Shichisaburo III (right), and Ichikawa Junzo I (left), in the Play Nue no Mori Ichiyo no Mato, Performed at the Nakamura Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1770

Act Two: The House of Kakogawa Honzo from the play Chushingura (Treasury of Loyal Retainers)

The Actor Yamashita Kinsaku II as a Thunder Goddess in the Play Onna Narukami, Performed at the Morita Theater in the First Month, 1770

The Actor Segawa Kitsuji III as Murasame in the Play Gohiiki Kanjincho, Performed at the Nakamura Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1773

The Actor Arashi Hinaji I Dancing "Musume Dojo-ji" (The Maiden at Dojo Temple)

The Actor Bando Mitsugoro as a Man in Sumptuous Raiment, Standing in a Field, Mount Fuji in the Background

Kabuki Actor

Twee kabuki acteurs

The Kabuki Role: Wife Omaki

Drie kabuki acteurs trekkend aan een rode banier

Silhouette Image of Kabuki Actor

Mitate junishi no uchi

Ohatsu bespiedt ruzie tussen hofdames

Concubine Mekame in snow with umbrella

The Ninth-Month Kabuki Dance "Kikujido"

Kabuki Actors: Bando Mitsugorō and Iwai Hanshirō

Kabuki Actors Nakamura Gentaro and Ikushima Shingoro

Mirror Images of Kabuki Actors

Three Kabuki Actors Playing Hanetsuki

Kabuki players as the Eight Sennin (Triptych)

Segawa Senjo in the role of nurse Masaoka

Oiwa holding arrows

Sawamura Tanosuke

Lezende geliefden

The Actor Segawa Kikunojo II Dancing with a Parasol

Fourteen Actors

Kabuki Actor Segawa Kikunojō III in a Woman’s Role

5 Playing Cards with Kabuki Rolls, Poems, Trigrams

Kabuki Actor Segawa Kikunojō III in a Female Role

Kabuki Actors Osagawa Tsuneyo II and Ichikawa Danjūrō V

Kabuki Play Kusazuribiki from the Tales of Soga (Soga 
monogatari)

Kabuki Actor Segawa Kikunojō III in a Mad Female Role

Evening Glow on a Traveling Drama  [Chinese watching a Kabuki play]

Kabuki Actors Arashi Ryūzō II and Segawa Kikunojō III

Kabuki Actor in a Female Role Standing with a Fan

Kabuki Stars Before a Gracious Waterfall (Arigataki megumi no hanagata)

Hofdame Iwafuji met sandaal in haar hand

Hofdame Onoe zittend voor kamerscherm

The Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry as Kabuki Actors

Kabuki Actor Onoe Kikugorō III as the Spirit of the Courtesan Yonakishii

Kabuki Actors Ichikawa Yaozō III, Onoe Matsusuke I, and Sawamura Sōjūrō III

The Kabuki Actor Segawa Kikunojō II as a Woman Reading a Letter

Waitress Oritsu hiding a letter behind her back

The Kabuki Actor Segawa Kikunojo in the Role of a Courtesan Reading a Letter

The Advent of a Demon; Scene from a Performance in an old Kabuki Theatre

Actors as Genroku, Otsuma, and Shokuro, from an untitled series of half-block images of kabuki scenes

Acteur als vrouw trekkend aan rode doek

Two Dancers Performing a “Shakkyōmono” Kabuki Dance, from Spring Rain Surimono Album (Harusame surimono-jō), vol. 3

Two kabuki actors in the roles of a courtesan on a water buffalo and a traveling priest

Kabuki Scene at Kumagai's Camp, from the play The Chronicle of the Battle of Ichinotani (Ichinotani futaba gunki)

Man en vrouw in gevecht

Segawa Kikunojō III as Teruha

Sanjo Kantaro as a Young Woman Standing in a Wisteria Arbor

Actors as Fukashichi and Omiwa from the play "Imoseyama," from an untitled series of half-block images of kabuki scenes

“Act II, Scene 2: Along Train Tracks in America,” from the series The Strange Tale of the Castaways: A Western Kabuki

“Act II, Scene 5: At the Opera in Paris,” from the series The Strange Tale of the Castaways: A Western Kabuki

Actor Nakamura Senya as Tokonatsu in the Kabuki Play, "The Legacy of the Three-Comma Family Crest Revealed" (Mitsutomoe Katoku Binaki)

Representations of gender variance, crossdressing, and other non-normative expressions of gender and sexuality in Japanese "images of the floating world" ukiyo-e [浮世絵] woodblock prints and/or paintings of the Edo Period [江戸時代] and early Meiji Period [明治時代].

Gender Variance and Sexualities in Ukiyo-e [浮世絵] and other related artifacts

Markt in Damascus

A Bazaar

Bazaar in Damascus

Bazaar in Constantinopel

A Cairo Bazaar

Turkish Carpet Bazaar, Cairo

[Bazaar, Rug Merchants]

Bazaar in Smyrna

Egypt and Nubia, Volume III: Bazaar of the Coppersmiths, Cairo

Egypt and Nubia, Volume III: Bazaar of the Silk Mercers, Cairo

Een bazaar in Gezirah

La foire du Caire (The Cairo Fair)

Entrance to Bazaar

Overdekte gang in de Turkse bazaar van Tunis

Kralen en stoffen kraam met verkopers in Cairo

Markt met handelaren en bezoekers in Jaffa

Markt van Assoul in Egypte

Gezicht op de markt van Qasr an Nil in Caïro

Algerian Pirates

Arab Market

The Arab Jeweler

An Arab Horse Merchant

Kruidenierswinkel met klanten in Cairo

The Old Clothes Dealer, Cairo

Koperslagerwinkel in Cairo

Winkel met potten en vazen in Cairo

La Foire du Caire (The Cairo Fair)

Klanten bij een winkel in de souk van Tunis

Arcade met zittende figuren in de parfumsouk van Tunis

Drie mannen zittend langs een weg bij de souk te Fez

Arcade met liggende figuren in de souk van Tunis

Poultry Market, Tangiers

Market Day Outside the Walls of Tangiers, Morocco

Market in Tangiers [Mercato di Tangeri]

Straatgezicht in Petit Socco, Tanger

Koopman te Sousse, Tunesië

Kooplieden in een bazaar in Constantinopel

Bazaars, also known as souks, are famous markets in many parts of the world. Bazaars are common in a region extended from Morocco, across the Middle East and North Africa to as far as India and China. They have been central to daily life in cities and countryside alike for a long time. Bazaars vary a lot in their architecture, social role, and merchandise. Bazaars in busy city centers were different from those in the desert. But they all attracted diverse crowds from all walks of life, and were characterized by a capturing atmosphere that charmed European travelers, becoming a defining feature of "The Orient". In spite of changing over time, bazaars endure in many cities, still attracting visitors who enjoy the experience of times past.

Depictions of Bazaars

Convent of St. Saba

Temple Banner with Pilgrimage Sites and Scenes from the Svayambhu-purana (Ancient Text of the Primordial Buddha)

Monastery of Mega Spileon, Greece

Monastery of San Francesco di Civitella in the Sabine Mountains

Fushan Monastery

The Monastery of San Pedro (Our Lady of the Snows)

Looking for a Monastery in the Misty Mountains

Ru-Shan Monastery

Created by Noa Rui-Piin Weiss.
 
Monasteries are meant to be retreats: buildings separated from everyday society for monks, nuns, or other people of faith to commit themselves to a life immersed in religion. Across cultures, monasteries have been built in ways that communicate seclusion, both through their location and their architectural choices. However, the function of monasteries also depends on their accessibility. They are sites of pilgrimage and places for lay people to participate in religious life alongside the cloistered. This collection of works highlights the balance between openness and isolation in representations of monastic life. Some depictions show figures making their way to monasteries, while others focus on the surrounding natural environment that encloses these remote buildings.

Monastic Isolation

Pharmacy Jar (albarello)

Pharmacy jar (albarello)

Albarello, veelkleurig beschilderd met bloemranken en ovaal wapenschild

"Albarello" with a Shepherdess Lifting Her Skirt

Apothecary jar (albarello)

Albarello

Created by Reina Gattuso. 
For pre-modern Europeans, magic, medicine, and cooking existed on a continuum. Spices often served all three functions.1 Europeans have craved Asian incense and spices since the ancient Greek era, and obtained them largely through Arab and Persian traders on the westernmost edge of the Silk Road. 

Ideas, technologies, and art also traveled along the Silk Road. Albarellos are one such artistic form. Artisans made albarellos of majolica, or tin-glazed earthenware. 
Artisans first started making these spice and medicine jars in the Middle East and Central Asia. The oldest example in this collection dates to Samarkand in the 10th century. The jars likely entered Europe through Al-Andalus, in modern-day Spain,2 and became common in medieval and renaissance Spain and Italy. The tin-glazing technique, which originated in 9th century Iraq, traveled with albarellos.3 
 

This collection of albarellos, dating from the 9th to the 16th century, demonstrates the strong North African influence in Spanish and Italian art. Muslim rulers controlled both the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily for much of the medieval era. Artisans decorated one 14th century albarello, from the Kingdom of Granada, with pseudo-Arabic letters. Meanwhile, a few Italian examples feature “Moro” motifs, North African Moorish-inspired figures in turbans. Moro designs remain popular in Sicilian art. 

CITATIONS 

1 Mitchell, Laura. “Magic or Medicine? Healing Charms in Fifteenth-Century English Recipe Collections.” The Recipes Project, 12 Sept. 2012, recipes.hypotheses.org/149. Accessed 21 March 2022. 


2 “‘Albarello’ With a Shepherdess Lifting Her Skirt.” The Walters, art.thewalters.org/detail/32876/albarello-with-a-shepherdess-lifting-her-skirt/. Accessed 21 March 2022. 


3 “Tin-glazed Pottery.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin-glazed_pottery. Accessed 15 April 2022.

Albarello Jars from the Medieval Apothecary

Cymbal

Bell (Nao)

Drum

Bracelet Bell

Incised Strombus-Shell Trumpet

Bow harp

Pan Pipe

Sistrum (rattle)

Sistrum Inscribed with the Names of King Teti

Castanets (clappers)

Menat necklace from Malqata

Created by Max Levin.
 
Wind, percussion, and string instruments comprise many of the earliest preserved musical instruments on earth.
 
This collection focuses on some of the world’s ancient instruments found in Curationist’s collections. Paleolithic bone flutes are considered the oldest preserved musical instruments on earth. Before these, other less hardy organic materials such as seed pods and sticks could have been used to make organized sounds. The wooly mammoth and swan bone flutes found in caves are predecessors to other wind, stringed, and percussion instruments used in ancient times. These instruments created music for rituals, war, and other occasions.

Musical Instruments from the Ancient World

Fragment of Mawa' or Ma'a (Sacred Heirloom Textile)

Painted Textile Depicting Celestial Musicians

Long Cloth

Patolu with Elephant Design

Palampore

Quilt or Carpet

Created by Reina Gattuso. The oldest archaeological evidence of dyed fabrics in India dates back to 2500 BCE.1 In Southeast Asia, traders along the Maritime Silk Road exchanged Indian textiles for precious spices.2 Indonesians particularly treasured Indian textiles, passing them down as family heirlooms imbued with spiritual meaning.
 
Before the 1500s, Europeans largely relied on Persian and Arab intermediaries for luxury goods from Asia. In the 1490s, the Portuguese sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to establish the first direct sea route between Europe and Asia. Dutch traders quickly followed. The Dutch government chartered the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC) in 1602. For almost two centuries, the VOC traded, massacred, and plundered its way to dominance of the global spice trade.
 

This collection includes a sample of Indian fabrics from the 14th to the 18th century. The oldest, a piece of dyed 14th- or 15th-century Gujarati cotton fabric found in Indonesia, predates Dutch colonialism. Others were commissioned or traded by the VOC. 
 

The collection includes examples of kalamkari and patolu techniques, as well as lightweight cotton chintz. The textiles display a combination of Indian, Indonesian, and European designs meant for various external markets, reflecting the trade influences of the era. 
 

CITATIONS 
1 The Victoria and Albert Museum. “Indian Textiles: Nature &amp; Making.” Google Arts and Culture, artsandculture.google.com/story/indian-textiles-nature-making-victoria-and-albert-museum/YAUROUQuPAXOJw?hl=en. Accessed 21 March 2022.
 

2 “Maritime Silk Road.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Feb. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Silk_Road. Accessed 21 March 2022.

Indian Textiles on the Maritime Silk Road

Pair of Akuaba Figures Seated on a Stool

Pair of Akuaba Figures

Fertility Doll  (Akuaba)

Fertility Doll (Akuaba)

Created by Reina Gattuso. 
The Akan peoples, including the Asante, Fante, and other groups in current-day Ghana, are matrilineal. Akan people share a powerful legend about fertility. A woman named Akua wanted to conceive a daughter, but was not able to. She approached a diviner, a spiritual practitioner, for help. The diviner told her to have a carver make her a wooden figure, and to care for this carving as though it was a real child. Soon after, Akua conceived and then gave birth to a baby girl. 

Thereafter, Akan women began to commission wooden akua ba—literally “child of Akua”—figures as fertility aids. Akua ba have breasts and other features representing idealized young women’s beauty. Their high, oval foreheads indicate the practice of cranial shaping of newborns. The rings of fat around the necks signify prosperity and fertility.1 The figures are female, reflecting the Akua myth and Akan matrilineal culture.2

The figures are flat to enable women to carry them on their backs like infants. Women who commission akua ba figures offer them symbolic food and honor them at the family altar. If women conceive, they offer the akua ba figure to a nearby shrine to honor the spirits who aided them, or give them to a family member also trying to have a baby.3

Since the early 20th century, the form of akua ba has changed as they became increasingly prized on the tourist market. Artists began to make more naturalistic figures, carving distinct legs where they would previously have included only pedestals. As tourist souvenirs, akua ba are divorced from their original context. Many Westerners have come to see them as generalized symbols of Africa rather than the spiritually powerful and emotionally charged objects they are.4 Some 21st century Akan women continue to use akua ba as fertility aids, but the practice is slowly disappearing.5

This collection includes examples of akua ba from Fante and Asante makers. They date from the 19th and 20th centuries.

 
CITATIONS 



1 “Female Fertility Figurine (akuaba).” The Met, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/312279. Accessed 18 March 2022. 

2 Klemm, Peri. “Akua’ba Female Figure (Akan peoples).” Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-africa/west-africa/ghana/a/akuaba-female-figure-akan-peoples. Accessed 18 March 2022. 

3 “Female Figure (akua’ba).” The Cleveland Museum of Art, www.clevelandart.org/art/1975.158. Accessed 18 March 2022. 

4 Klemm. 

5 Kushiator, G., Rahman, A., and Ofori, D.H. “The Influence of Western Culture on Traditional Art Forms and Cultural Practices: ‘Akuaba’ Doll Among Akan Women in Africa.” Adrri Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, vol. 17 no. 6, July 2020, https://journals.adrri.org/index.php/adrrijass/article/download/543/518. Accessed 20 April 2022.

Akua ba Fertility Dolls from Akan Ghana 

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