Windows on the Worldextras

Templo Mayor; Height: 60m/197ftThe gods: Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc; Completed: 1497Materials: Built of stone and covered with stucco and polychrome paint

Chacmool (also spelled chac-mool) is the term used to refer to a particular form of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican sculpture depicting a reclining figure with its head facing 90 degrees from the front, supporting itself on its elbows and supporting a bowl or a disk upon its stomach.

Offerings at the Templo MayorOver a hundred ritual caches or deposits containing thousands of objects have been found associated with the Templo Mayor. Some offerings contained items related to water, like coral, shells, crocodile skeletons, and vessels depicting Tlaloc. Other deposits related to warfare and sacrifice, containing items like human skull masks with obsidian blade tongues and noses and sacrificial knives. Many of these offerings contain objects from faraway places—likely places from which the Mexica collected tribute. Some offerings demonstrate the Mexica’s awareness of the historical and cultural traditions in Mesoamerica. For instance, they buried an Olmec mask made of jadeite, as well as others from Teotihuacan (a city northeast of modern-day Mexico City known for its huge monuments and dating roughly from the 1st century until the 7th century C.E.). The Olmec mask was made over a thousand years prior to the Mexica, and its burial in Templo Mayor suggests that the Mexica found it precious and perhaps historically significant.

Aztec Calendar Stone, 1479

estern Han painting on silk was found draped over the coffin in the grave of Lady Dai (c. 168 BC) at Mawangdui near Changsha in Hunan province.

Western Han painting on silk was found draped over the coffin in the grave of Lady Dai (c. 168 BC) at Mawangdui near Changsha in Hunan province.

Longmen Caves together with Mogao Caves near Dunhuang and Yungang Caves near Datong, are the three great ancient rock sculpture sites in China.

There are 2300 caves and niches, more than 2800 pieces of inscriptions, about 80 Buddhist pagodas and 110,000 Buddhist statues, most on the west side. About 60% of all construction dates from the Tang dynasty.

Gold and Jade Crown, Three Kingdoms Period, Silla Kingodm, Korea, 5th -6th C, metal work

The David Vases, Yuan Dynasty, 1351 CE China, white porcelain and cobalt-blue underglaze

Portrait of Sin Sukju (1417-1475)Second half of 15th centuryHanging scroll; ink and color on silk; 65 3/4 x 43 1/8 in.The primary function of portraits of meritorious subjects was to celebrate the contributions to the state that they had made and to enhance the Confucian value of loyalty to the king.

Even Disney animators know their art history……

Name that movie.clip

Artist / Origin Chinese School Region: East Asia

Date 1969 CE

MaterialColor lithograph Medium: Prints, Drawings, and Photography

DimensionsH: 29 ½ in. (75 cm.), W: 21 3/5 in. (55 cm.)

Location Private Collection

Credit© The Chambers Gallery, London/Bridgeman Art Library

Chairman Mao en Route to Anyuan – based on a painting by Liu Chunhua

Memory Board (Lukasa), 19th–20th century

Democratic Republic of Congo; Luba

Wood; L. 21 9/16 in. (54.77 cm)

Gift of the Britt Family Collection, 1977 (1977.467.3)