All Essays
Arms and Armor
Talhoffer specialized in a specific type of combat, and his work involves the whole process of battle, from the entry of the contestants into the field of combat, to the death of one of the participants.
Daniel Jaquet
August 1, 2018
Dean’s pioneering efforts helped pave the way for this life-saving change in attitudes toward the use of modern body armor.
Donald J. La Rocca
March 1, 2017
Often inscribed with the rulers’ names, as well as with dates and sites of production, these textiles provide a window into the political and religious life of early Islam.
Julia Cohen and Maryam Ekhtiar
July 1, 2015
Talismans that contain inscriptions with the names of prophets and religious heroes have the power to protect an individual from hardship and danger by acting as a conduit between the two.
Yasmine Al-Saleh
November 1, 2010
Daniel Chester French attained prominence as the leading American monumental sculptor of the early twentieth century.
Thayer Tolles
June 1, 2010
Mankind has used animals such as onagers (wild donkeys), horses, camels, elephants, and dogs in conflicts for thousands of years, but no other animal has been employed so widely and continuously and was at times so comprehensively protected as the horse.
Dirk H. Breiding
March 1, 2010
In the still small but gay and colorful pavilion devised by Le Vau, now his favorite architect, the young sovereign surrounded himself with sensuous Italian or Flemish cabinets.
Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
August 1, 2009
Unlike books of hours, which were intended for individual devotion and usually small enough to be held in the hand, choir books were created for shared, communal worship and consequently necessitated a larger format.
Alison Manges Nogueira and Barbara Drake Boehm
March 1, 2009
Responsive to the cutting of fine detail, it enables carvers to achieve great artistic and emotional expressiveness in a highly compressed format.
Johanna Hecht
October 1, 2008
The degree of ornamentation and the range of symbols found on Tibetan arms and armor can vary considerably, but generally the same decorative motifs found on other Tibetan objects and works of art, such as furniture, ritual implements, sculpture, and paintings, are seen on arms and armor.
Donald J. La Rocca
August 1, 2007