Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Significant Expressions

Anonymous Siamese Makers
Miniature Temple
ca. 1850-1900
painted, lacquered and gilded wood
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Anonymous American Makers
Phoenix
ca. 1800-1825
carved and gilded pine
Newport Mansions Preservation Society, Rhode Island

Anonymous Indian Makers
Jewish Wedding Crown
ca. 1850-1925
silver-gilt and glass
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Anonymous Tibetan Makers
Amulet Holder
ca. 1930-40
gold, silver, turquoise
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Anonymous American Makers
Buttons
18th century
pewter
Newport Historical Society, Rhode Island

Anonymous French Makers
Miniature Baskets of Flowers
18th century
giltwood
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Anonymous Mexican Makers
St Michael Archangel
ca. 1700
painted alabaster
Denver Art Museum

Anonymous Japanese Makers
Aspara
(Buddhist celestial being)
17th or 18th century
painted wood
San Diego Museum of Art

Anonymous French Makers
Romanesque Capital with Acanthus Ornamentation
ca. 1125-50
limestone
Saint Louis Art Museum

Anonymous French Makers
Garden Urns with Satyr Masks
19th century
marble
Newport Mansions Preservation Society, Rhode Island

Anonymous French Makers
Garden Vase with Lid
19th century
limestone
Newport Mansions Preservation Society, Rhode Island

Anonymous Spanish or Portuguese Makers
Ring
ca. 1770-1800
gold ring, with chrysoberyls set in silver
(formerly owned by Alice B. Toklas)
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Anonymous Swiss Makers
Hebe and Jupiter
ca. 1825
shell cameo in gold mount
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Anonymous French Makers
Dormition and Coronation of the Virgin
ca. 1525-50
marble relief
Denver Art Museum

Anonymous Spanish Makers
Baptism of Christ
ca. 1550
marble relief
(imitation of Donatello)
Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia

Chiriqui Culture (Costa Rica)
Sphere
AD 800-1500
volcanic stone
Denver Art Museum

Telemachus' Confession

They
were not better off
when he left; ultimately
I was better off. This
amazed me, not because I was convinced
I needed them both but because
long into adulthood I retained
something of the child's
hunger for ritual. How else address
that sense of being
insufficiently loved? Possibly
all children are
insufficiently loved; I
wouldn't know. But all along
they each wanted something
different from me: having
to fabricate the being
each required in any
given moment was
less draining than
having to be
two people. And after awhile
I realized I was
actually a person; I had
my own voice, my own perceptions, though
I came to them late. I no longer regret
the terrible moment in the fields,
the ploy that took
my father away. My mother
grieves enough for us all.

– Louise Glück (1996)