Medallion with Christ from an Icon Frame, Byzantine, 1100, gallery 303
At the Met, lingering in the darkened galleries of the Dark Ages, Middle Ages, I select a few favorites:
Eikonomachía – literally, "image struggle" or "war on icons" – is a controversy over the proper use of religious images, and it results in the destruction of icons in all media.
Iconoclasts – "breaker of icons" – is the deliberate destruction within a culture of its own symbols . . . for religious or political motives.
Iconolater, Iconodules, and Iconophiles are derisive terms for those who revere or venerate religious images.
Electric Chair, 1971, Andy Warhol [Met, not on view]. Gold necklace with Cross, Byzantium, 6th century, gallery 301.
“If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses.” – Lenny Bruce
“Guillotine of History”
Head of Christ, Netherlands, 1480-1520, gallery 306; Head of a Cleric from a Tomb Effigy, France, 1450-60, [not on view]; Head of Emperor Constans, Byzantine, ca. 337–40, gallery 301.
Throughout the image wars, the destruction of the head, face (and nose) was rampant, because the head was the most potent symbol of the body.
“During the High Middle Ages, portraiture did not rely on likeness . . . thus individual selfhood was subsumed in broader forms of corporate identities.” – The Face in Medieval Sculpture – Met Heilbrun Timeline of History.
In my twenty years of business air travel, I would study Tiepolo or Raphael and draw heads – of no one in particular – a flight attendant, a sleeping passenger, the occasional celebrity . . . by abstract construction or memory. Apparently my “corporate identities” philosophy is in accord with the Medieval masters. Nice to know.
Montaigne concludes Of Physiognomy with a pair of anecdotes in which his life was threatened, but his kindly demeanor and honest words saved him. “If my face did not answer for me, if people did not read in my eyes and my voice the innocence of my intentions, I would not have lasted so long without quarrel and without harm.” But he also writes, “The face is a weak guarantee.”
Bread Branding
A ceramic Bread Stamp, Byzantine, 500-900, gallery 300. Inscribed in Greek in reverse,“IC, XC, NIKA”: Jesus Christ Victorious. Used for The Eucharist breads. Interesting the “victory” (NIKA) stems from Nike in the Greek.
The Uzbek still carries the tradition of bread stamps: now decorative and secular, the stamps appear all over Etsy for “lively flatbreads” (advertisement below).
– We guarantee you'll love our bread stamp(s) or your money back
– Makes an ideal Central Asia-theme gift
– Added durability (made from walnut tree)
– Safer from injury (blunted pins)
– No chemical or artificial substances used
– Comes with a short maintenance guide
– As a bonus, you get Uzbek bread recipes in pdf format
– By buying this product, you contribute to a better quality of life for rural Uzbek craftspeople
Nike, the personification of victory, late 5th century B.C., gallery 156
Your Skull Here
Abbey Head-Shaped Coffin, France, gallery 306
This carved wooden coffin was for an important skull. And in the next display case, a “valuables” coffin. Important to preserve both. But not together. I note how different the terms “coffin” and “sarcophagus” feel.
Valuables Coffin, France, gallery 306
Paul Klee Anyone?
Footed Cup with Falconer, Byzantine, 15th century, gallery 300. Angelus Novus, Paul Klee, 1921, Israel Museum.
Walter Benjamin bought Paul Klee’s Angelus Novus, an oil transfer drawing with watercolor, for 1,000 marks in Munich. Benjamin passed it to Theodor Adorno, and Adorno to Gershom Scholem.
Benjamin’s friend Charlotte Wolf then recalled how this “gauche and inhibited man” had “behaved as if something marvelous had been given to him." By simply looking at the drawing.
This is the first time I have seen the word “humor” in the MetTexts. The cup has a “sense of humor”, according to the museum documenters. But to Benjamin, “This is how one pictures the angel of history.”