AP Art History

Apollo 11 stones, Namibia, c. 25,500- 25,300 BCE

Form: Charcoal, Hand sized, Brown/Grey quartzite, two stones, mobile art

Content: Animal/human (therianthrope), feline in appearance with human legs added later, Shamanism, other paintings and stones were found

Content: Found by WE Wendt in 1969, named after the Apollo 11 mission, the right half was found 3 years later, located in a dry gorge in Namibia, hunter gatherer society

Function: unknown, before human writing, maybe ritual

Great Hall of the Bulls, Lascaux France, 15,000-13,000 BCE

Form: Cave, White Calcite, Non-pourus rock, Charcoal, ochre mixed with liquids for paint

Content: loose lines, carvings, twisted perspective, conour of animals, overlapping forms

Context: 350 similar sites, scarce resources, cold climate, unknown number of people who painted, discovered in 1940 by two kids

Function: maybe ritual, images communicate a story, shamanism, hunting magic maybe, they used animal fats to light the cave

Camelid Sacrum, Tequixquiac Central Mexico, unknown date, maybe 14,000-7,000 BCE

Form: carved bone, sacred bone (near reproductive organs), fossil of a camel or alpaca, 8-10”

Content: Dog faced carved into bone, holes for eyes, nostrils, symmetrical

Context: Discovered by accident in 1870 by an engineer, dont know the date, it was removed from the original site, handmade with a sharp tool, found in modern day mexico city

Function: can’t know

Running horned woman, Tassili n’Ajjer Algeria, 6000-4000 BCE

Form: pigment on rock, caves hollowed out into small shelters

Content: Female running, twisted perspective, silhouette, grain falling from her hands, two horns, body scarification, wearing amulets and garters, people in the background overlap her

Context: found by Lt. Brenans and later studied by Lhote, Tuareg people knew where it was, they even helped the europeans, thought it was inspired by egypt (false), she was special, not something hunter-gatherers would wear

Function: Ritual/ ceremony, place of worship, washing of the rock ruined it

Beaker with ibex motifs, Susa Iran, 4200-3500 BCE

Form: Pottery/ clay, hand built maybe with a slow wheel, hand painted

Content: Mountain Goat, Dogs, Birds, all stylized, geometric elements, bodies wrap around the vessel and go with it

Context: before writing, no record of why they were buried with the dead, these people also built raised mounds with temples

Function: unknown, most likely burial ritual, held decomposed remains sometimes, the animals could be associated with fertility or water

Anthropomorphic Stele, Arabian peninsula, 4,000-3,000 BCE

Form: carved sandstone, a stele is a vertical monument that is inscribed, 3 feet tall

Content: Both sides were carved, closed eyes, flat nose, necklace with two cords with an awl, belt with double bladed dagger, anthropomorphic

Context: one of 3 in the region, neolithic age, caravan trails, hunter gatherers are settling down, pre-islamic arabia had human figures

Function: maybe religious or burial ritual, grave markers, used for dedication or commemoration

Jade cong, Liangzhu China, 3300-2200 BCE

Form: carved Jade, rectangular, hole in the center

Content: faces, some cong were short and some tall, lines and circles

Context: before writing, settling down, modern shanghai, not focused on food so they focused on art, found in graves of wealthy people, they used sand to carve it

Function: power related, connection to the spiritual world, rectangle = earth circle= heavens or sky

Stonehenge, Wiltshire England, 2,500-1,600 BCE

Form: Bluestone, Trilithons, post and lintel construction, each stone is called a megalith, aubrey holes, sarsen stones in the center

Phase 1: 3100 BCE, circular ditch, 56 aubrey holes, bluestones (2-4 tones), quarry was far away

Phase 2: 100-200 years later, wooden posts, roof, some aubrey holes used as graves

Phase 3: 400-500 years later, remaining beams or stone in aubrey holes removed, circle with 20 sarsen stones inside, topped with 30 lintel stones, each stone was 25 tons

Content: 2nd phase turned it into a burial site, concentric circles, lintel sones carved in a curve

Context: built same time Ancient Egypt was, not sure who built it because it was under cities from the bronze, roman, medieval, and modern age

Function: Solar and lunar calendar, lines up at solstices, sophisticated society and organized leadership

The Ambum stone,Papua New Guinea, c. 1500 BCE

Form: Carved with stone tools, Greywacke stone (slightly shiny), 8” tall

Content: smoothed curved neck, mortar and pestle?, detailed, long nose, could be an echidna or bird

Context: religious use, when first known as the ambum stone it was used by Enga people, they believed in a “big man” system, stone was held to gain power, after those people were converted to christianity the meaning changed, it broke on display in France in 2000

Function: mortar and pestle, burial object

Tlatilco female figurine,Central Mexico, 1200-900 BCE

Form:small ceramic figure, hand molded and carved, 4” tall

Content: female with 2 connected heads, large hips, spherical upper thighs, small waist, no hands or feet, stylized hair

Context: 2000-3000 years before the aztecs, two heads=duality, making of these passed down through family maybe, rarley showed males, graves found by these markers

Function: burial practices, maybe made by full-time artists

Terra Cotta fragment, Solomon islands, 1000 BCE

Form: terracotta, lime wash from coral, carved with small dentate, pot shards, hand built using paddle and anvil, fired in oped pits, sand added to help with cracking

Content: stamped and incised motifs that have a pattern, followed rules of a design system

Context: Taiwanese people canoed to Bismarck Archipelago and are the Lapita people, Lapita people were sophisticated sea fering, clay was from other places, as people moved through the pacific the designs got less elaborated

Function: not for cooking, used to serve food or storage if they were large enough

White Temple and it’s ziggurat, Uruk Iraq c. 3500-3000 BCE

Form: Temple was 40ft tall, built on a ziggurat (raised platform), made of mud bricks,built by a lot of people (slaves), white-washed inside and out

Content: white temple: high temple with a tripartite plan, rectangle, oriented on the cardinal points, 19 tablets found inside, bones of a leopard and lion, huge pits for fire

Ziggurat: raised platform with 4 sloping sides, pattern around the base, steep stairway to a ramp

Context: 1st writing emerged here, temple was dedicated to the sky god, focal point of city, place of political system (theocracy), believed that the gods came from the mountains, believed ziggurats were to imitate the mountains for the gods

Function: religious and government building, bridge between earth and the heavens, only for priests or high officials, worship

Palette of King Narmer, Predynastic Egypt 3000-2920 BCE

Form:2 feet tall, carved stone in low relief, greyish green siltstone

Content: shows King Narmer in a series of scenes, Iconographic characters, figures represent the canon, registers, hierarchical scale, serpopards (weird looking leopards), many figures that all represent someone and tell a story, wearing upper and lower Egypt crowns

Context: Egypt 3000-2920 BCE, it has never left egypt, discovered by Quibell and Green in 1898, ritually buried objects were donated to the temple, they buried some when there was no room, maybe means unification of upper and lower egypt, maybe to balance order and chaos, maybe purely ceremonial

Function: used for grinding and mixing minerals for cosmetics, ritual object dedicated to the gods

Statues of votive figures, Sumerian c.2700 BCE

Form: alabaster body, shells for eyes, black limestone for pupils, carved, 1-3 ft tall

Content: figures are not realistic, sculpture of elite sumerian, cylindrical base, flattened torso, hands clasped in prayer, wide eyes, more geometric

Context: found with other figures, buried near mesopotamia, great expansion of early sumerian art, deities literally inhabited their cult statues, in the temple of Abu, some were holding cups, some inscribed

Function: To be a stand in for worship, to embody a God

Seated Scribe, Egypt c. 2620-2500 BCE, Old Kingdom

Form: carved and painted limestone, nipples are wooden dowels, eyes are crystals

Content: realistic man, unique that he is seated (why hes a scribe), unique in its features, not idealized, would be holding a reed pen

Context: amount of pigment that remains if odd, found in necropolis, uncertain of its exact spot, funerary sculpture, would have a stone with persons name, could be a portrait, scribes were highly regarded

Function: tomb sculpture, commemorate, help scribe ascend to the afterlife

Standard of Ur, Ur c. 2600-2400 BCE

Form: Mosaic tiles from shells (persia), red limestone (india), blue lapis ( afganistan), small, could be carried, found broken

Content: two sides (war and peace), story telling over time, War: sumarian army, chariots, people being trampled, horses in slow progression, ready for battle, king’s head breaks border, prisoners naked

Peace: most important figures at the top, twisted perspective, animals being taken for sacrifice, some celebration

Context: Ur (capital of an empire), found in one of the largest graves in a royal cemetery by Wooley, allows us to see the aspects of their life, elaborate ceremonies, TRADE

Function: standard carried on a pole, war ensign, military flag, not certain of the use, could have been a sound box

Great Pyramids, Egypt c. 2550-2490 BCE, Old Kingdom

Form: carved and quarried stone, inner corestone (what we see), outer casting blocks, gypsum plaster bright white, aligned to cardinal points, Pyramid (capstone gilt), Sphinx (bedrock from giza), large construction, paths lubricated with silt to carry

Content: 3 primary pyramids over 3 generations, each with royal mortuary complex, smaller pyramids for queens, mastabas smaller tombs for members of courts, smaller passageways that lead to King’s cambers

Context: egyptians buried dead on the west side of the nile, believed in an afterlife where the soul went to live again, mummified bodies in tombs, vital organs in jars, first made the mastabas then smaller pyramids then great ones, kings=sons of ra, stepping stone into afterlife

Khufu: great pyramid, 481 feet tall 750 ft wide, red granite in the kings camber, 7 large boat pits

Khafre: bulit by khufus son, slightly smaller, funerary temple

Sphinx: lion with head of king, guard

Menkaure: smallest, well preserved objects in tomb, granite sarcophagus lost at sea

Function: burial site for kings, royal mortuary complex, social structure, reflects solar cycle, most tombs were raided

King Menkaura and queen, Egypt 2490-2472 BCE, Old Kingdom

Form: carved greywacke, nearly life sized, never finished, would have been brightly painted, covered with precious metals, technically a relief sculpture

Content: two figures side by side, pleaded kilt on the king, nemes headdress, royal beard,clenched fists, no sign of age, female counter part, both have left foot forward (unusual for woman)

Context: found and excavated by Reisner in 1970, located in the mostly untouched Valley Temple, royal female: equal in hight, maybe queen or mother, no word for queen

Function: ensure rebirth in the afterlife, divine importance of the ruler

The Code of Hammurabi, Babylon c. 1792-1750 BCE

Form: basalt stone, stele, relief sculpture, cuneiform, 7.4 ft tall

Content: two figures at top, one standing one sitting, twisted perspective, scepter and ring signs of power, cuneiform at the bottom (300 laws and an epilogue)

Context: Hammurabi of babylon, most far reaching leader, shamash, sun god at the top, shows hammurabi receiving laws from shamash, language is Akkadian, first laws, legal precedents, “eye for an eye” shows the advanced society

Function: shows laws and punishments that will be enforced, tells us about Babylonian culture and what important to them

Temple of Amun-Re and Hypostyle Hall, Egypt c. 1550 BCE and 1250 BCE, New Kingdom

Form: large temple complex built over time, sandstone and mud brick, Hypostyle Hall had a roof with columns, brightly painted, decorated and painted to represent mound creation

Content: temple compound with 20 temples and churches, twas the estate to the priests, contained the tallest obelisk in Egypt, the obelisk was commissioned by Hatshepsut and was one piece, temple had pylons, roof, and columns

Context: 1st built in middle kingdom, “most select of places”, precinct of the gods Amun-Re (amun and re), Mut(goddess of motherhood and earth), and Montu (war, head of falcon or bull), temples in egypt connected to the creation of the world, hypostyle hall: not many people had access, more restrictions the further you went, clerestory lighting

Function: place of worship to the Gods, viewed as a place for Amun to dwell on earth

Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, Luxor Egypt c. 1473-1458, New Kingdom

Form: temple cut from cliffside with three terraces, kneeling statue, carved granite 8.6 ft tall

Content: Statue: kneeling, holding 2 jars, dressed like a king, made for a temple, 6-10 total, Temple: partially carved from cliffside, colonnaded terrace, long ramp, aligned with winter solstice, contains statues including sphinx, reliefs, and paintings

Context: Hatshepsut: female pharaoh, created mythology about her kingship, daughter of thutmose I, co-pharoh to Thutmose III, believed art could convey royal authority, cliffside built gives sense of permanence, hieroglyphics as female but looks male, two jars offerings to gods, kneeling makes her human but eternal, Thutmose III later usurped her and destroyed structures and such of her, buried in the Valley of the Kings

Function: mortuary shrine, shows piety and power

Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and three daughters, Egypt c. 1353-1335 BCE, New Kingdom

Form: small limestone plaque, carved sunken relief, 13" by 15"

Content: Akhenaten, wife Nefertiti, 3 weird looking daughters, representation of Aten in center, seated on thrones, sun rays, Ankhs (symbol for life), something is physically wrong, softer lines

Context: Akhenaten changes egypts religion otherwise was unchanged for 3000 years, from Amun to Aten, he changes him name, moves the capital, after he dies the religion goes back, they are informal in appearance, love and domesticity, represents their relationship to god, Akhenaten was a monotheist, both ruled upper and lower egypt

Function: would have been on someone home alter, a way to encourage new religion

Tutankhamun’s tomb, Egypt c. 1323 BCE, New Kingdom

Form: 3 total coffins and an outer sarcophagus, 2 coffins made of wood and covered in gold, stones, and gems, innermost coffin solid gold, when it was discovered it had black oil on it, death mask in innermost coffin (2 sheets of gold)

Content: Image of pharaoh as god like, crook and flail = kings right to rule, vulture and cobra protect, beard=god, death mask, includes an inscription from the book of the dead that tells of a road map to the afterlife and has spells to protect

Context: found in the valley of the kings, found in 1922 by carter nearly intact, son of Akhenaten, King Tut ruled at 9 and died at 18, changed religon back, no heir, site was excavated for years, carter spent a decade recording findings

Function: Funerary, protection, ensure transition to afterlife

Last judgment of Hunefer, Egypt c. 1275 BCE, New Kingdom

Form: papyrus scroll, part of the scribes book of the dead, painted, 35" x 16"

Content: Hierarchical scale, composite view, continuous narrative, sylizations, upper left Hunefer is saying how good he is, Hunefer wears a white robe, lead by Anubis, Thoth says that Hunifer lead a good life, Horus leads him to Osiris, white platform (salt)

Context: papyrus was the most important surface in middle ages, Hunefer was a royal scribe, maybe buried at Memphis, created for prominent people, he passes the test, “opening of the mouth” so he could eat, breath, etc

Function: to prove Hunefer lived a good life, deserved the afterlife, help lead the Ka into afterlife

Lamassu from the citadel of Sargon II, Iraq c. 720-705 BCE

Form: carved stone, alabaster, high relief, one piece of stone, 13.9 feet tall

Content: Lamassu (guardian figure), winged bulls with man head, some were a part of structural support, crown, decorated with rosettes, horn, ring of feathers, curly hair, elaborate earrings, wings highly decorated, inscriptions to say how good the king was and curse people who threaten the king

Context: placed at gates, hight of assyria civ., from palace of Sargon II, protected the gates, small in comparison to the architecture, shows movement, Lamassu important to marking territory, more than 100 Lamassu, hybrid monsters, head of mane, crown of god, body of lion, would’ve had color

Function: spirited guardian, symbol of kings power, protected the gates of the citadel

Athenian agora, Archaic through Hellenistic Greek, c.600 BCE- 150 CE

Form: marble structures

Content: started as a market place (agora) then turned into a place of government, Temple to Hephaestus, Stoa- covered walkway

Context: once a year a great processional occured(agora to parthenon), heart of Athenian experiments in democracy, the agora provided the richest source for understanding ancient Greece, there was a library and concert hall, small shrines and temples received regular worship

Function: location of most important buildings in Athens, economic center, democratic center, meeting place

Anavysos Kouros, Archaic Greek, c. 530 BCE

Form: life size, 6ft 4in, carved marble, sculpture, painted

Content: young male, traces of paint, more natural compared to first Kouros, archaic smile, represents the ideal form, rigid, braided hair, one food forward

Context: not a portrait, Archaic Period- artistic development in Greece in 650-480 BCE, Kouros= youth, inspired by ancient Egypt, Kroisos (name of man) died in battle, found in 1936 in Anavysos cemetery, thousands produced, Persian Wars during this time, elaborate hairstyle shows wealth, found by robbers who then cut it into pieces to smuggle

Function: Grave marker, some represented gods, offerings in sanctuaries, symbolize nobility and strength

Peplos Kore from the Acropolis, Archaic Greek, c. 530 BCE

Form: carved marble, painted, the pigment was mixed with wax

Content: mislabeled, Kore- young woman, thought to be wearing a peplos, one arm was lost, maybe held a bow and arrow, maybe had a crown w/ metal rays, lots of paint, sense of movement, Archaic smile

Context: would have been in a temple, named for wearing a peplos (is not), multiple interpretations, still has some visible paint, dress has animals (real and mythical) like a lion, goat, and sphinx, Artemis had a small sanctuary on the hill (its probably her)

Function: offering to goddess, honor and depict goddess

Sarcophagus of the Spouses, Etruscan, c.520 BCE

Form: Terra cotta, fired in multiple sections, painted originally, 3.7ft x 6.2ft

Content: male and female figures, stylized, elements of Greek and Etruscan art (angular joints, extended fingers and toes, pointed female shoes, abstract hair, elongated proportions), sarcophagus, female would have held a small object maybe a pomegranate, pictured in a way they would be at a banquet, on a kline (dining couch)

Content: found in the 19th century in modern day cerveteri Italy, others were found like it, inspired by social life of Etruscans and funerary rituals, used to reflect the perpetual liveliness in the afterlife, woman had more privileged status in Etruscan society, made with terra cotta because they did not have known access to marble

Function: funerary statue, would have held cremated remains, memorialized the deceased

Audience Hall of Daris and Xerxes, Persepolis Iran c. 520-465 BCE

Form: limestone, 72 columns (each 24 meters tall, highly detailed), Hypostyle- held up by columns, sculptural programs, low relief

Content: mainly made up of columns, two sets of relief sculptures depicting processional (an actual ceremony, 23 nations depicted), Column capitals depict: blls, eagles, and lions (symbols of royalty or authority)

Context: visual microcosm of Achaemenid empire (persian empire ruled by estimated 44% of the human population of Earth by the 5th century), Persepolis- main city center means “city of Persians”, marked special by Darius the Great he started building, Xerxes and Artaxerxes continued the building process, sacked by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE, excavated by German archaeologists between 1931 and 1939, made into a world heritage site in 1979

Function: show power and dominion, sacred connection to Mithra and Persian New Years Festival, Important administrative and economic center, may have influenced Athenian sculptors (specifically the relief sculptures, friezes on parthenon)

Temple of Minerva and sculpture of Apollo, Veii Italy, c.510-500 BCE

Form: Terra cotta, Tufa- volcanic porous rock, was for the foundation and is the only thing that remains, doric like columns, wood and mud brick, front porch, back portion is a triple cella, high podium

Content: temple made of materials that did not last, columns in front with 3 rooms in the back, sculptures inside along with masks and other decorations, Apollo of Veii- originally on ridgeline of roof, scene from greek mythology, animated smile, highly stylized

Context: Would not have created temple early on (worship in nature), created for Minerva, three rooms in the back for Minerva, Trinia, and Uni, counterpart to apollo is hercules in his third labor, terra cotta sculptures would have had the sky as backdrop, built through an additive process, very difficult to do with terracotta (made by Vulca), they tell us the story of the etruscans, vitruvius wrote about them and now archeologists can recreate them

Function: dedicated to divine triad, shelter for the gods, narrative roof sculptures

Tomb of the Triclinium, Tarquinia Italy, Etruscan, 480-470 BCE

Form: chambers in subterranean rock, in Monterozzi necropolis(cemetery)in Tarquinia Italy, Fresco paintings (painted while the plaster was still wet, adheres to the wall), couches

Content: originally three couches (triclinium) for last meals, many paintings on the walls that show funerary rituals, dancing, musicians, robes worn, the ceiling is checkered which represents fabric from the festival tents

Context: Funerary contexts tell us the most about a society/culture, did not bury their dead inside the city limits, Iron age culture, other goods and offerings were found, discovered in 1830, skin shown differently (men darker, women lighter)

Function: reinforce the status of person during games/festivals, send the deceased into the afterlife

Niobides Krater, Greece, c.460-450 BCE

Form: terracotta, thrown vessel, red figure paintings, slip painted black, 21in tall, 22in diam

Content: Vessel