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Want to learn more about the world of Marco Polo? Try these activities and reading suggestions. Use the online Image Explorer to review the works of art you've seen on this journey through art from Venice to China. More journeys, through lands of the ancient past to our own modern world, await you in the galleries of the Metropolitan Museum.
Marco Polo visited a great many different lands and cultures, most of which with customs, religions, and foods very different from his own. To illustrate the diversity of the countries he visited, find` how many different written languages appear on the works of art illustrated in this journey. Open the Image Explorer. On the other hand, Marco Polo traveled through the Mongol Empire during most of his time abroad. This was a rare time in history when a huge section of the world was controlled by a single group of people. The Mongols’ favorable policies that supported trade and the production of handicrafts, as well as their practice of moving groups of artisans to new locales, resulted in a unique period of active exchange of artistic styles and production methods. As an illustration of this, choose a decorative motif such as the Chinese cloud scroll pattern (visible as clouds in the upper right side of the Chinese Seven-Lobed Platter and surrounding the phoenix on the Ilkhanate Glazed Tile). Strings of pearl-like circles, lotus blossoms, and scrolling vines are other patterns that spread widely. Trace the distribution of these motifs and notice how they were changed by different artistic traditions and use within varying media. Open the Image Explorer. Although he is amongst the best known, Marco Polo is not the only famous world traveler who made a remarkable journey at this time. Ibn
Battuta: The
Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveller of the 14th Century,
Ross E. Dunn (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1990). William
of Rubruck Zhangjun We invite you to discover the route followed by one of these intrepid travelers, trace his journey as reflected in the Metropolitan’s collection, and send it to us. If you can’t visit the Museum, use the Museum’s Timeline of Art History.
Did
Marco Polo really see a unicorn? In the Middle Ages, most Europeans believed
in the existence of such creatures. Read the following descriptions from
Marco's Travels and try sketching the animals just as described. Find out what Marco really saw.
The way in which artists depict the physical body of religious figures is influenced by religious beliefs, as well as contemporary and local artistic styles. Compare the Standing Buddha from Southeast Asia and the Standing Buddha from South Asia and think about how they are similar and how they differ. Open the Image Explorer. Choose an important religious figure, such as Jesus, Shakyamuni, Laozi, or Moses. Search books, the Web, or the Timeline of Art History for representations of that person made at different times, in varying places, for different circumstances, and of various materials.
The status of female spiritual figures in the Judeo-Christian-Muslim traditions is a subject of much debate. Hinduism, which recognizes that nothing exists without its complimentary opposite—destruction/creation, good/bad, male/female, ugliness/beauty—not only has a number of important female deities as part of its pantheon but some of them are represented with horrific appearance (Kali is the most notable example.) Consider how the way in which women are shown in religious works of art reflects that belief system’s attitudes toward the feminine in general and women in particular. Open the Image Explorer and look at the South Asian Shaiva Saint and other female religious figures. |
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Globalization, which as we have seen is an ancient phenomenon, has led in our time to an extraordinary spread of goods, ideas, and visual images, many of which eventually blend together with those from other cultures. Walk around your home and find items from other countries (chopsticks and espresso machine in the kitchen, for example). Look at some of these things carefully and see if any of them combine traits from more than one culture. Scan the works of art featured in this journey and try to identify some images, decorative styles, or production techniques that look similar and suggest that the artist might have been influenced by a foreign tradition. For instance, look for similar animal motifs (Ilkhanid Glazed Tile, Mamluk Bottle, Chaghadai Embroidered Square), backgrounds covered with flowers and vines (Mamluk Bottle, Chinese Belt Slide, Byzantine Panel with a Griffin, and others) or ceramics decorated with blue pigments (Mamluk Jar, Chinese Plate, and others). Open the Image Explorer.
Although for very different reasons, only in the Islamic World and East Asia is calligraphy so highly regarded as a preeminent art form. Nearly all the works of art featured in this journey include writing in some form. See how many you can identify and think about how the writing is used in the work of art. Open the Image Explorer.
Relief images are raised above their background but are not fully separated from it. An example is the Chinese Lacquer Platter (open the Image Explorer). Extraordinary patience and precision were used to produce this platter, for while the figures and architectural and garden details stand out in higher relief, the background is formed of a variety of intricate patterns. The tiles of the garden floor are made of an interlocking design, the ducks and lotus plants are surrounded by wave like patterns, and the sky consists of scrolling lines that suggest clouds. Find a picture of a landscape and lightly fill in the background areas with suitable and decorative geometric design patterns.
Tilework, such as the Ilkhanid Glazed Tile, has been widely used to adorn the surfaces of Persian architecture since ancient times (open the Image Explorer). In the Islamic period, sumptuously ornamented tiles decorated the interior and exterior walls of religious buildings, imperial palaces, and residences of dignitaries. Choose a colorful and richly patterned textile. Imagine this pattern, and similar ones, covering the outer walls of the White House, the Capitol, and the Washington Monument. Consider why a culture might prefer simple versus complex ornamentation schemes for its most significant structures.
Images such as the Shaiva Saint (open the Image Explorer) from South Asia were among the most venerated objects in Jain religious practice, Marco Polo, a Christian and foreigner, would undoubtedly never have actually seen a statue like this. Before the establishment of museums in modern times, access to works of art was highly restricted to powerful and wealthy individuals and/or members of certain religious groups. When you visit the Museum, see if you can find any works of art that you would have been entitled to view in the time and place the objects were made and used. Try the same exercise using the works of art in this online journe. Open the Image Explorer.
Carboni, Stefano, and David Whitehouse. Glass of the Sultans.
New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001. |
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