A Day at the British Museum - May 15,2013
Mid-May I started this xEurasia Odyssey that will last until just before Christmas. As the British Museum has the entire world within its collection, it was an appropriate place to start. As I only had one day at the museum, I had to concentrate just on the two special exhibits, the Neolithic Collection and one on Pompeii, and the Asian collection.
The Neolithic Collection was fascinating as it had a number of artifacts from the Czech Republic, Romania and Russia that I hadn’t seen before, including an incredible 20,000 yr. old ca. 10” high carved man whose head was attached to his body on a peg so that it could turn. It is amazing to think that our early ancestors were able to portray movement in such a manner. Some of the other highlights of this exhibit include: the “Lion Man” a ca. 40,000 yr. old lion-headed bipedal figure carved from a mammoth tusk found in the Stadel Cave near Bad Württemberg am Hohlenstein; a 23.000 yr. old carving of woman with waves of bubble-like attributes that was used by Picasso as a model for some of his work; the oldest known ceramic female goddess, ca. 31,000- 27,000 yrs old with hanging breasts, wide hips, not arms, U-shaped legs, 2 slits /\ on the face- but otherwise faceless; narrow flat female figures from Mal’ta Siberia that are in direct contrast to the larger women from the southern regions, as well as human figures that show movement, not just via the peg for turning the man’s head as mentioned above, but also in the position of the legs. When we think how the Egyptians didn’t portray this kind of movement until very late in their artistic development and how early it was done in these Neolithic finds, one can clearly see that art and culture have nothing to do with linear developments. This is made even more evident by the continuation we can see in artworks that use animal motifs, such as the Neolithic lions, bison, horses, reindeer, bears and diving birds that bridge the three worlds: the underworld, the earth, and the heavens.
The Pompeii exhibit was even better, from my perspective, than the Neolithic. Many of the pieces that I was planning on seeing in Pompeii and at the Archeological Museum in Naples were in the exhibit, including many from the “secret chamber,” i.e., the more explicit frescoes and sculptures for which the Romans were famous. I’ll write more on Pompeii when I write about the actual site in a subsequent blog.
The highlight of Asian Collection was a special exhibit on the history of Jade in China. As Jade is considered a sacred stone in China, as well as in Meso-America, it was fascinating to see how the congs (square cylinders with circles; they are often engraved with monster faces) were used in rituals and Bi Discs ( circles with holes in the center) were used to cover the bodies of the dead in the Late and Western Zhou periods (850-475 BCE). They also had a Neolithic ring with a flying pig-dragon etched into the jade, which I find a fascinating combination of mythical creatures. It seems that animals carved from Jade are some of the earliest Neolithic finds in China, and that even in the Han period (206 BCE- 220 CE) the animals were still considered as a means of contacting the spirit world. Jade was also the material used to create the armor suits for burying deceased warriors during the Han period. As it was an expensive material, after the Han it was used primarily for belt buckles and ornaments.
I wasn’t allowed to take pictures in any of these exhibits, but have included some from the general collection in the Asian rooms to give you a sense of the vastness and breadth of the pieces on display. The ceramic Kuan Yins are exquisite.
