Ancestors: Honoring the Past

This set takes a global look at the way ancestors are honored and remembered for their accomplishments and acts of heroism.

Royal Tusk

Artist: Artist Unknown (Benin Kingdom)
Date: c. 1750
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 43 x 71 x 17 1/2 in. (109.2 x 180.3 x 44.5 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 56.33

The ancestral altars of the Oba, or ruler of Benin, feature carved elephant tusks like this one, set into the top of a cast bronze portrait head. Because of its rarity and permanence, ivory is especially suitable for recording royal historical events, and many tusks recount episodes from Benin history or lives of the Obas.This tusk may have come from the altar of an Ezomo, the highest-ranking noble in Benin. The figures with fishtails instead of legs refer to the Oba himself (the Oba traces his descent from Olokun, lord of the sea, and thus controls the realms of both water and land). In the fourth row, on the inside of the curve of the tusk, is an elephant, probably referring to the Iyase n'Ode, a famous military leader who was able to transform himself into an elephant. He almost overthrew two Obas before being defeated by a loyal Ezomo. This episode from Benin folklore helps to secure the powerful role of the present Ezomo, who must act as protector to the royal house.Other images include the leopard, a royal symbol because of its power and intelligence; Adesua, an Ezomo's young daughter, whose actions brought trouble to Benin; members of the Oba's special guard who wear the bronze image of a royal leopard on their belts; and Portuguese soldiers (with long, straight hair and beards), allies of Benin since the fifteenth century. Additional figures represent nobles, attendants, and soldiers of the Oba.

Ancestor Figure

Artist: Artist Unknown (Beembe)
Date: early 20th century
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 7 5/8 x 2 7/8 x 2 1/8 in. (19.37 x 7.3 x 5.4 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 96.6.2

These small carved figures were personal objects of worship. They represent specific ancestors whose identity and rank are indicated by their coiffure, the objects they hold in their hands, and the intricate scarification patterns on their torso.

Vessel

Artist: Artist Unknown (Moche)
Date: c. 100-200
Medium: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects, Ceramic
Size: 7 1/4 x 5 1/8 x 6 1/4 in. (18.42 x 13.02 x 15.88 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 2004.108

This stirrup-spout vessel shows a noble Moche man and woman enjoying a seafood meal. Fish and other seafood was a staple source of nourishment for the Moche, who lived on the coast between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. The couple's status is recognizable through the patterned textiles they wear; a striped tunic for the man and a floral or star-patterned dress for the woman. Both wear traditional fabric headgear. Textiles were a prestigious art form for the Moche and were highly valued, often presented as gifts and sometimes even used in place of money.

Funerary Mask of a Young Woman, Artist Unknown (Egyptian)

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Ancestral Post

Artist: attributed to Agbonbiofe
Date: c. 1910
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 65 1/2 x 8 3/4 x 11 1/2 in. (166.37 x 22.23 x 29.21 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 2004.25

Agbonbiofe was a master carver, and is one of the best known artists of the Ekiti region of Yorubaland, located in Nigeria. Commissioned by the Oba, or ruler of that region, Agbonbiofe created numerous works of art for the palace and court life. By comparing works known to be by Agbonbiofe with this piece, we know that it is likely the work of this important artist. The sculpture signifies the distribution of power in Yoruba society, a common theme embraced by carvers of the Ekiti region. The mounted warrior is an Oba, marked by his conical crown adorned with the faces of former rulers. The authority of the Oba over his people is manifested in this crown. By contrast, the woman's power is less overt. Kneeling, she both supports the Oba and reminds the viewer of her ability to bear children, essential to the continuation of Yoruba society. These figures represent ancestors engaged in a symbolic relationship rather than specific individuals.

Bust of Emperor Hadrian as a Young Man

Artist: Giovanni Battista Caccini
Date: c. 1590
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 24 3/16 x 20 3/8 x 9 in. (61.44 x 51.75 x 22.86 cm) (without base)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 2010.10

With dense, curly hair and a strap-like beard and mustache, this bust is a Renaissance interpretation of a once-popular Roman portrait believed to be of the Emperor Hadrian (r. AD 117-138). A great patron of the arts and in the Renaissance celebrated as one of Rome’s ‘five good emperors,’ Hadrian was also known for his Philhellenism. One such manifestation of his admiration for Greek culture is his beard and mustache, which he wore to fashion himself as a Greek philosopher. The emperor’s example made facial hair chic once again among the Roman elite. Beards remained all the rage for almost a century.

Bis Pole

Artist: Artist Unknown (Asmat)
Date: 20th century
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 174 x 12 x 45 in. (442 x 30.5 x 114.3cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 74.79.1

This is a ritual bis pole created to honor a recently deceased, important member of society. The family commissions an artist to carve a pole out of a single piece of wild nutmeg tree, representing clan members who have passed on. Its shape evokes a canoe, the main mode of transportation for the living and the dead, and a vehicle to take the spirit to the next world. The pole is displayed at a great community ceremony and a mock battle is staged around its base to appease any restless spirits. Then it is ritually disposed of, its purpose complete.

"Eons of Exodus" Seder plate

Artist: Harriete Estel Berman
Date: 2008
Medium: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects, Judaica
Size: 4 1/2 x 27 x 16 3/4 in. (11.43 x 68.58 x 42.55 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 2009.36a,b

Constructed from recycled tin cans, this plate for the Passover Seder dinner commemorates Jewish emigration over thousands of years. The narrative begins with the original exodus from Egypt and continues with images of Jews over the centuries in the places they have lived. The final scene depicts African refugees in the twenty-first century fleeing the violence in Darfur. The top of the Seder plate features embossed images of traditional Passover foods, but with the addition of an orange. An orange is out of place on a Seder plate, but has become a symbol of support for including women, gays and lesbians as full-fledged participants in Jewish ritual.

Diego

Artist: Alberto Giacometti
Date: 1962
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 24 1/2 x 10 3/8 x 7 1/2 in. (62.2 x 26.4 x 19 cm) (without base)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 2000.109

A remarkable example of Giacometti's late sculpture, this bronze portrait bust of Diego Giacometti, the artist's younger brother and frequent model, was executed as part of a series completed three years before Alberto's death. Diego, a gifted furniture designer, often assisted in the casting of his brother's work. This bust exhibits an expressive power attributable to the fuller forms and more vigorous modeling of Giacometti's later style. Recognizable details such as facial features and clothing also evidence the greater naturalism of this period. In portrait sculpture, one of Giacometti's primary goals was to transfix the viewer by the sitter's gaze; in this instance, he succeeds with poignancy.

Do Society Mask

Artist: Artist Unknown (Ligbi or Nafana)
Date: early 20th century
Medium: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects, Mask
Size: 14 5/8 x 5 5/8 in. (37.1 x 14.3 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 71.60a,b

Triple-faced masks of this type are extremely rare. This example was made to be used in the Do masquerade. The three faces might relate to a ceremonial ability to see into the past, present and future. The male and female figures at the top probably represent an ancestral couple, but the meaning of the animal head below the chin remains unclear.

Dog

Artist: Artist Unknown (Colima)
Date: 100-300
Medium: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects, Ceramic
Size: 9 1/2 x 6 1/16 x 13 1/16 in. (24.1 x 15.4 x 33.2 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 99.57.3

Colima artists are known for their lively representations of animals, particularly dogs. Mexican hairless breeds such as the Xoloitzcuintle (show-low-eats-queen-tlee) were domesticated and raised as a source of food. They also had supernatural importance and were thought of as guides and companions for humans in the afterlife. Colima burials frequently contained dog effigies, along with other provisions for a comfortable afterlife.

Epitaph Tablet of Prince Cheng Ching (Yuan Mi)

Artist: Artist Unknown (China)
Date: 524
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 39 x 40 x 9 1/4 in. (99.06 x 101.6 x 23.5 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 46.23.2a

This memorial tablet was made for the Chinese General, Prince Cheng Ching, 524 A.D. Thel tablet bears a long inscription including Cheng Ching's biography, the Emperor's eulogy, and the date 524 A.D. The sides are decorated with large dragons.

Malagan Pole (eikwar si mi walik)

Artist: Artist Unknown (Papua New Guinea)
Date: c. 1910
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 101 x 10 x 6 1/4 in. (256.54 x 25.4 x 15.88 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 68.9.3

In New Ireland, elaborate ceremonies called malagan commemorate the death of important members of society. Music, dance, the exchange of gifts, and the display of specially commissioned sculptures honor the deceased and enhance the prestige of surviving relatives. The sculpted images usually incorporate animals that are the clan symbols of the deceased.The female figure on this pole stands on a pig's head, an animal that plays a prominent role in ceremonial offerings. The circular design in the center, know as mataling, or "eye of fire," refers to the sun. It is flanked by two frigate birds, symbols of strength and important totemic animals in New Ireland culture.

Joined Figures

Artist: Artist Unknown (Jalisco)
Date: 200 B.C.-400 A.D.
Medium: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects, Ceramic
Size: 11 x 9 in. (27.9 x 22.9 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 66.42

The Jalisco had a tradition of sculpting male-female pairs. The exact nature of this couple's animated interaction is not certain but has been interpreted variously as singing, talking, or embracing. Their headdresses, earrings, nose ornaments, armbands, and the scarification on their cheeks are likely indicators of their elevated status in Jalisco society.

Joe Louis

Artist: James VanDerZee
Date: 20th century
Medium: Photographs, Photograph
Size: 9 1/4 x 7 1/16 in. (23.5 x 17.94 cm) (image)10 1/8 x 7 15/16 in. (25.72 x 20.16 cm) (sheet)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 91.164.7

Hand Drum (kundu)

Artist: Artist Unknown (Iatmul)
Date: 20th century
Medium: Musical Instruments, Musical Instrument
Size: 8 1/2 x 26 3/4 x 6 1/2 in. (21.59 x 67.95 x 16.51 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 98.37.3

Hand drums accompany clan songs performed at important community events. The drum sound represents spirit and ancestor voices. The Iatmul believe they are descended from a giant crocodile; this important animal appears many times on this instrument. The open-ended design carved around both halves of the drum represents the gaping jaws of two crocodiles, symbolic of sky and earth. These opposing realms are linked by the drum's handle, another crocodile.

Benin Head: Teaching the Arts, Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Money Tree

Artist: Artist Unknown (China)
Date: 1st-2nd century
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 58 x 24-1/2 x 24-1/2 in. (147.3 x 62.2 x 62.2 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 2002.47a-rrr

Among the most intriguing objects recently discovered in the Eastern Han (25-220) tombs of Szechuan province are so-called "money trees." Typically made of a bronze trunk and branches set into a ceramic base, they are called "money trees" because the lower part of the lattice-like branches are decorated with coin-shaped designs that imitate actual coins of the Han period. The coinage represents the wealth and abundance necessary to nourish the spirit in the afterlife, and the tree symbolized renewable, on-going monetary sustenance and unending prosperity.

The top of the tree is surmounted by an elegant phoenix (feng huang) or bird of good omen, but perhaps the most interesting aspects are the tops of the branches, which are cast with lively scenes of ancient ritual. In the top center of the branches is Hsi Wang-mu, Queen Mother of the West, seated in a sort of canopied shrine and being entertained by various performers, flying horses, and other mythological animals. Hsi Wang-mu emerged during Han (206 b.c.- a.d 220) as an important deity of rulership and self-cultivation. She was eventually incorporated into the Taoist pantheon and became a popular subject for sculpture, mirrors, and decorated textiles.

Pair of Figures from a Shrine Group

Artist: Kwaku Benpoh
Date: First half 20th century
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 15 1/8 x 7 x 3 in. (38.4 x 17.8 x 7.6 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 99.166.1

This couple are part of a set of objects that honored an Asante king. The figures represent some of the King's relatives The pair of figures standing with their arms holding each other depict a couple of the royal lineage, indicated by the round metal disk hung around the woman's neck. This represents a special type of gold ornament worn by members of the royal family on important occasions.

Portrait of Paris von Gütersloh (1887-1973)

Artist: Egon Schiele
Date: 1918
Medium: Paintings, Painting
Size: 55 1/8 x 43 7/16 in. (140.02 x 110.33 cm) (canvas)64 x 52 x 2 3/16 in. (162.56 x 132.08 x 5.56 cm) (outer frame)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 54.30

Due to Schiele's death from an influenza epidemic in 1918, he never completed this painting of his friend Paris von Gütersloh. Nonetheless, it remains a masterpiece of Austrian Expressionist portraiture. Gütersloh was a painter, writer, actor, producer, and stage designer, who wrote the first study of Schiele's art in 1911. Schiele admired his friend's extraordinary intellectual and artistic talents and sought to portray him as a creative genius. With his hands elevated in a gesture of both attraction and repulsion, Gütersloh is shown with his eyes transfixed and body tense at the moment of artistic inspiration.

Portrait Sculpture of Priest Gyoki

Artist: Artist Unknown (Japan)
Date: early 17th century
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 36 1/2 x 41 x 31 1/4 in. (92.71 x 104.14 x 79.38 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 95.85a-c

Gyoki was one of the most celebrated Buddhist priests of Japan's Nara period (645-794), revered as much for his spirituality as for his social and civic accomplishments. His most monumental undertaking was the casting of the colossal bronze Buddha of Todaiji temple during the mid-8th century.

This statue of Gyoki was created during the 17th century when interest in the life of the priest was rekindled during the renovation of Todaiji and the bronze Buddha. Based on a 13th century portrait-sculpture now in the collection of Toshodaiji temple in Nara, this work suggests the priest's stern personality and fierce determination. Accomplished priests were believed to be living bodhisattvas. After such a priest died, portrait statues were created and placed in special worship halls where monks made ritual offerings and performed daily religious devotions.

Red-Figure Hydria

Artist: Attributed to the White Sakkos Painter
Date: c. 320 B.C.
Medium: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects, Ceramic
Size: 25 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 13 3/8 in. (64.77 x 44.45 x 33.97 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 2000.71

Apulia, a prosperous Greek colony on the Adriatic coast of Italy, was a major center of terracotta vase production. Apulian vases are distinctive for their large size; some are over a meter tall. Such large vases may have been created for inclusion in the spacious tombs that came into vogue among wealthy families in the 4th century b.c. The size of these vases allowed painters to indulge in complex figural compositions that appear to float on black backgrounds, which are divided into registers by bands of intricate floral patterns.

The scenes portrayed on this vase are common in works by the White Sakkos Painter. In the upper register, a woman is groomed by female attendants. Below, two women flank a stele, or grave monument. On the front center shoulder is a face of a woman wearing a white sakkos (bonnet), a signature feature found almost exclusively on vases by this painter.

Six Tuscan Poets

Artist: Giorgio Vasari
Date: 1544
Medium: Paintings, Painting
Size: 52 x 51 5/8 in. (132.08 x 131.13 cm) (canvas)62 1/8 x 61 5/8 x 4 3/4 in. (157.8 x 156.53 x 12.07 cm) (outer frame)180 lb. (81.6 kg)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 71.24

In this group portrait, six distinguished poets and philosophers of the 13th and 14th centuries are shown as if engaged in a literary conversation. Each was revered for his role in the development of lyric poetry, which helped establish the Tuscan dialect as the standard language in Italy.The seated figure is Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), author of the Divine Comedy. Facing him is Guido Cavalcanti (about 1255-1300), acclaimed for his love sonnets. The standing figure in clerical garb is the humanist and classical scholar Francesco Petrarch (1304-74); to his right is Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-75), author of the Decameron. The figures at the far left are two authoritative commentators on their works, the humanist and man of letters Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) and the platonic philosopher Cristoforo Landino (1424-1498/1504). All four wear laurel wreaths, symbolic of literary achievement. The objects on the table represent various scholarly disciplines. The solar quadrant and celestial globe denote astronomy and astrology; the compass and terrestrial globe, geometry and geography; the books, grammar and rhetoric.

1913 Spring/Summer 1913-Giving Away His Suit

Artist: Arthur Amiotte
Date: 1990
Medium: Paintings, Painting
Size: 25 1/4 x 29 1/8 in. (64.1 x 74.0 cm) [framed]19 1/2 x 23 1/2 in. (49.5 x 59.7 cm) [image]
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 91.97

Striding male figure

Artist: Artist Unknown (Egyptian)
Date: 300-30 B.C.
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 57 x 18 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (144.8 x 47.0 x 44.5 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 58.14

Even after Egypt came under foreign rule, Egyptian art changed very little stylistically, keeping to standard forms and poses. This statue, carved during the era of Greek control, still conforms to the artistic convention for the idealized depiction of the human figure devised 2000 years earlier. It was meant to be seen from a frontal view-point. Its inflexible standing pose, with left leg slightly advanced and the arms held rigidly at the sides, follows a strictly observed canon of proportions. Yet the softened musculature and curving contours reflect the influence of naturalistic Greek sculpture.

This statue was originally made for an Egyptian priest or high official. Like most Egyptian sculpture, it probably had the funerary function of providing the deceased’s ka (immortal spirit) an alternative place to reside should his mummy be destroyed. However, it was later appropriated by the Roman emperor Commodius (reigned 180-192 A.D.) who added the inscription at the base of the pillar in hieroglyphics, citing his own name.

Usurping the statues of earlier dignitaries was a common Roman practice. The power and grandeur achieved by Egyptian art within the strict limits of its ancient formulas so impressed the Romans that several emperors sought to enhance their own prestige by having their names inscribed on ancient monuments.

The Death Song of Lone Wolf

Artist: Charles M. Russell
Date: 1901
Medium: Paintings, Painting
Size: 23 1/2 x 36 1/2 in. (59.69 x 92.71 cm) (sight)32 x 43 7/8 x 2 1/4 in. (81.28 x 111.44 x 5.72 cm) (outer frame)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 85.107

Charles M. Russell was born in St. Louis, Missouri and shortly after his sixteenth birthday, he left for the Judith Basin of Montana to pursue his lifelong dream of being a cowboy. Russell worked as a cowboy and wrangler for eleven years, during which time he actively documented his experiences through sketches, paintings, and modelled figures. Russell is known for having a great respect for the American Indians and especially the Plains peoples. Death Song of Lone Wolf portrays inter-tribal conflict, an unusual topic for Russell to portray, as he most often painted buffalo hunts or scenes of everyday life. The man at the left of the painting, running alongside a horse, is likely of the Crow or Assiniboine tribes. The shield in the forefront with a thunderbird above a four-pointed form has been identified and belonged to a man called Swift Dog (1834-1925).

The Singer Su Hsiao-hsiao

Artist: K'ang T'ao
Date: 1746
Medium: Paintings, Painting-Hanging Scroll
Size: 65 1/4 x 29 15/16 in. (165.74 x 76.04 cm) (image)101 3/16 x 39 in. (257.02 x 99.06 cm) (overall, without roller)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 2006.44.3

The 18th century Yang-chou artist, K'ang T'ao, is best known for his rather generic paintings of "immortals" and beautiful women. In this case, however, he rose above the norm and produced a beautiful, technically refined, sympathetic depiction of Su Hsiao-hsiao, a famous 5th century singing girl. She is shown sitting pensively on a large rock in a garden amid low clusters of frozen bamboo. The painting bears a 1746 poem by the painter, a colophon by the Hangchou poet-painter, Ch'ien Tu (1763-1844), dated 1813 and two colophons written by the great literatus, Juan Yuan (1764-1849) on consecutive days in 1843. All four poetic colophons carry literary allusions and draw from ancient poetry. Kang's short poem reads:

She is not grieving for autumn now, nor moved by spring.

The silken fan back in its box, a new one's in his hand.

As fragrant breezes bring contentment, the "metal wind" now fades.

In this world, can anyone plumb the truth of her heart?

The aging beauty, Hsiao-hsiao, is not saddened by seasonal change or frozen bamboo, but rather because, like a fan put back in its box when no longer needed, she has been put aside by her lover for a new woman. But seated here, the pleasant spring breezes begin to replace the chilling winds of the season of metal (autumn), as her pure heart begins to heal.

Tondo: Portrait of a Young Noblewoman

Artist: Artist Unknown (Roman)
Date: 2nd century
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 32 in. (81.28 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 68.9.4

The half-figure relief was a common form used for Roman funerary sculpture. Here the deceased is depicted with a veil over her head signifying piety. Holes drilled in her ear lobes show that this figure once wore earrings which, together with the large size of the relief, indicate that the deceased came from a wealthy family.

During the century following the reign of the emperor Augustus (27 B.C.-14 A.D.) the depiction of a maternal figure was also a moral statement, reflecting his program aimed at restoring ancient Roman virtues. A series of laws were passed to promote good moral behavior and to encourage marriage, curb adultery and divorce, and increase the birth rate.