I find that if you visualise anyone on throne as actually being on a commode it kinda brings them down to earth. That's Jahweh on his field battle potty.
Think Assyrian cornrows. You could afford the time to have it done and some servant to do it. It was the flash suit or heavy gold watch of the day.
I don't know, I wasn't there. I may be old, but at this moment not that old! Like af, when I see these types of beards depicted, I also think of Assyrians, Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar (sp?), the Mesopotamia corner of the world dudes. --- Susan
Thank you! Those figures (Dionysos, Satyr and a couple others) are carved into a bronze vessel in almost this same exact form:
that sounds interesting, do you have a picture of the whole item? Dionysos is shown rarely on a winged chariot, but there exist images with this iconography. The vessel you show is called lebes gamikos and played o role in ancient Greek weddings. However I never saw one in bronze... Mat
Thank you. The images below aren't of the best quality, but you can pretty much get an idea of what's there. The figures and floral designs are hand-rendered in high & low relief, you can see the tool marks and cross hatching in the second image (reminds me a bit of the fine Japanese metalwork of the 19th C. and earlier). The condition isn't the best (couple pieces missing, base busted and drilled, probably once used as a lighting source), but overall it's in pretty good shape for its age (probably 19th C.?). Probably made after a bookplate image or piece held in some museum collection.
Oh! And welcome to the board. I see you have some interest in Asian ceramics? Your thoughts on this café-au-lait glazed piece with sepia decorated landscape interior?
Hmm, I do not really know what to think about that. And also I am far from calling myself an expert! However, considering the shape this could be a censer? Is the sepia landsape done under the glaze (on the photos it looks like that)? I am not sure if this is café-au-lait, which is usually a lighter brown.
The same here (no expert). I too was thinking large porcelain censer or brush washer. The sepia and greyish-green celadon wash are underglazed within the interior. A café-au-lait glaze can be light, medium or dark brown as seen in this example here: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/...lait-glazed-bowl-guangxu-5389497-details.aspx