Textual Analysis Related The Ambiguity of Museum Ancient artifacts and Current Religious Ceremony

The Momentousness of Religious Ceremony and Ancient Artifacts: A Modern Analyzation of The Met Museum’s Mosque Lamp and British Museum’s Ottonian Ivory Relic

Patrick M. Newkirk II

April 13, 2021

Ancient Religious and Traditional artifacts are profound and imperative magnum opuses that exist within almost all worldwide cultures. These allotments have several important meanings however, their most crucial tasks would be their fortunate, or some would argue, unfortunate jobs to hold together many millennia of ritual, esoteric and or ancient belief systems.??As we have discussed in class, many sects of people create artifacts for a myriad of reasons. As we have seen in various Asian cultures, religious and traditional artifacts have served and continue to mitigate in many crucial ways, one being “thinkpeices of worship,” or an object with consequential meaning within its worshippers’ day to day lives. For example, during the Tang dynasty, Emperor Taizong who has been accredited for being one of the sole proprietors in the spreading of Tang Dynasty artifacts, helped to push Tang dynastic tradition and belief systems into much of what is Present Day India. One of the most crucial artifacts from this emperor’s rule is an unnamed Tang Dynasty Buddhist sculpture, which is not only worshipped by hundreds of thousands of Asians today, but has also helped in solidifying and modernizing while stapling in time, ancient dynastic cultural beliefs. In contrast, as we have discussed in class also, many religions are the exact opposite in which they feel that worshipping images or figures (i.e. relics, sculptures, drawings, etc) is almost blasphemous. For instance, many of Christianity’s most prominent figures highlights its ancient artifacts and religious imageries with use of much lesser degrees. In most cases, these remnants are certainly not viewed upon as a substance of worship or even any significant way deserving “higher than God” upholding, but instead to be warranted of much more literal meaning like conformation and symbology of “the word.” An example being one of the more critical books of the Bible, the Book of Exodus, in which there are almost entire chapters that speak of idolatry and how worshipping of images and sculptures are seen as sin in the eyes of God the almighty infamous, “Jealous God.”?These two examples are just a mere conformation of how Religions vary in beliefs of their physical sculptures and artifacts, while also pointing in the direction that these imageries still in fact play a very important role in keeping these religions flowing and worthy of following by their many believers past and present.

The purpose of this paper is to deconstruct and analyze two separate religious artifacts located on current display within two of the most highly acclaimed sanctuaries, or arguably during times such as these, “safe havens,” of history in the world; the British and Met Museums. I will use prominent self-knowledge in conjecture with scholarly based knowledge in order to make clear, plain and intelligible distinctions of these antiquities, their cultural significances, and well-defined contextualized details of their physical makeups and ways in which these two religious artifacts were employed into such prominent roles. The first of the two artifacts, and in my opinion, more warranting of fascination, would be an unnamed mosque lamp which is housed within the British Museum that was created between 1300-1340 during the dynasty of Mamluk. The lamp is made of gilded, enameled glass while being covered in gold and an inscription that reads, “'this was made for the mausoleum al-Salhibiyya al-Taqiyya,’ which may refer to the Coptic zizier Taqi al-Din (d.1316).1?The importance of Mosque lamps can be seen in some of the most well-known religions worldwide which can include: Christianity, and Buddhism. Some of the most prominent religious figures can be seen barring light or carrying something that could bare light onto others, in almost all of their appearances within the religions that they “head.” I would’ve formulated that these mosque lamps were solely about light as a younger historian, maybe about two to three years ago. However, as I have matured within my studies and digressed on greater amounts of symbology, I now know that these lamps hold much more greater meaning than light, and this mosque lamp falls surely nothing short of that as well.?

The lamp’s striking appearance at first glance would be enough in itself to make the mind of any human being interested in history, or not, cogitate on its origins and or indefinite past. Being that this unnamed lamp is only one of thousands of other mosque lamps that have been discovered, exhibited and now on current display from this particular dynasty, this lamp stands out for one reason: its inscription. However, before we dive into the inscription, one could surely not overlook the breathtaking portraiture that coteries its uppermost largest opening while leaving the sculptures inferior smaller portion to be embezzled in a previously presumed white silica, but currently thought to be form of “enameled glass.” As written on the British Museum webpage, the lamp includes features of, “Glass, colorless with yellow tinge; blown, applied blown foot, enameled and gilded distinct glass.”2?As Historians, we know that Ancient Egyptian and Syrian artifacts are mostly relics that great feats were taken to complete. Therefore, as a result of the usage of gold and a more sophisticated glass and being that the Lamp’s sole creators still isn’t known, following age confirmation, the lamp could almost immediately be placed within one of these two Ancient civilizations. The physicality of the lamp gets even more interesting when the inscriptions are deciphered. Within the webpage dedicated to the lamp, the curator of the British Museum’s published webpage explains that though the inscription is thought to have expressed some sort of religious saying it isn’t solely known what the inscriptions say. The team at the British Museum writes,?

One of the conventions of Mamluk mosque lamp decoration was to execute one inscription band in blue and the other in reserve against a blue ground. On this lamp, the neck and foot repeat the phrase al?'alim ("The Wise"), punctuated by an as yet unassigned emblem, while the body bears a formulaic dedicatory inscription but no name.3

This statement further highlights how these inscriptions could be nothing short of ancient etymology and exclusive decoration, as one would definitely expect from these two civilizations. As we have deconstructed the extrusive features of this one-of-a-kind relic, we can no move forward with its meaning, religious importance and origins in Egypt or Syria which made it employable in past and present religions.

One could only ponder on how something with such vast amounts of questions surrounding its very existence could even have a prominent meaning and or such an importance to religious context all together. However, as we have learned throughout the semester, importance in some religions and ‘ways,’ could come from something as small as a grain of rice or as large as a ship created to save every living creature on the planet. In this case, we have to remember what importance mosque lamps have known to have served within Egyptology and Syrian history. Indeed, we can now recall a moment from earlier within the paper in which we stressed the importance of finding the complex meaning of this mysterious lamp. Now in the closing of this artifact’s dissemination, my job is to tie the importance between its most singular meaning and how these very facts tied it to with the thousands of others of lamps within the religions that they may fall in within.??When you think of lamp, you think of light, fortitude away from darkness or even grounds to explore. As the story in what we’ve seen throughout our sessions, in many cases in religions, mother nature, God(s) or an ultimate force, is always feared in some way (i.e., thunder, lightning, earthquakes and darkness). In this case these could even be origins of the reason why we may have modern day: flashlights, lamps and etc which are not fray from different. These lamps were created in aiding religious believers and important figure with being able to shine light upon darkness and in a sense ushering in hope for humanity over the hundreds of years shy of their first employment into these cultures. A team member from the British Museum writes,?

Darkness allows human fears and sorrows full rein whereas the certainty that the sun will always rise in the morning offers hope. Equating light with life, goodness and/or a deity is a worldwide phenomenon.4

After something is given such an important role within society, it is next to impossible for it not to leak over into its culprit’s belief systems. So, in closing, I believe that it is safe to say that this lamp, as beautiful yet mysterious that it is, is only one of hundreds of thousands of others that represent a beacon of protection from darkness. That fact itself along with the inscription that proves it, helped to religiously employ this lamp into Egyptian or Syrian religions while also the many countless present religions today that use such symbology.?

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????????????In examining the last artifact of the two, titled by the Met Museum, “Christ and the Symbols of the Four Evangelists,” I made two important discoveries that will lay the groundwork for my analyzation of this relic. The first being that ivory was certainly one of the key players in stabilizing Christianity’s relationship with its followers through the employing by obtrusive leaders of these types of relics and sculptures. Lastly that this relic was also one of the literal meanings behind how Christians were groomed and taught to view religious artifacts altogether. This remnant is a piece of religious antiquity that is currently on exhibit within the infamous Met Museum and is made entirely of one of various prehistoric religions and culture’s most quested upon commodities after gold: ivory. Though I stated that the first artifact was more of an interesting quest of the two, this certainly does not discount from the vast meanings, physical features and levels of importance that this thinkpeice holds past and presently in Christianity and abroad. The importance of ivory plaques within Christianity can nearly be dated back to its primary beginnings. However, the critical use of ivory within everyday society can be dated back even further into what could nearly be beginnings of the dawn of man.

?For instance, as we have discussed in class, there are many different items of use that ancient people and or religious believers used in order to artistically express themselves. Ivory has been found to have not only been used in some previously thought of as ‘sophisticated religions and civilizations’ but placed upon by their culprits to have important usages as well. I digress that in my opinion, I thought that advanced would mean something such as an elephant tusk, which ivory is made from in most cases, compared to something like gold or silver would certainly be thought upon as meniscal in these civilizations but in fact that was far from the case. Many ancient civilizations such as: Egypt, Ancient Greece, Rome, Russia, Japan, China, and India, all used ivory for several different reasons. Some of these reasons included religion and day to day life while others included a more combative nature such as hunting tools and army and combat gear. I’ve found that what strikes me about ivory is that it wasn’t until recently banned from being cultivated. Though this may be a lack of decent thing to say, maybe it shows the ties of how important this figment of nature has been with we human beings for millennia.?

Upon first viewing of the ivory plaque that houses Jesus and the four evangelists, there isn’t much to the attested relic that makes it eye catching except for its cream color and shiny tegument. Nonetheless, upon further viewing of this object of virtu, there begins to become a sense of awe-inspiring phenome that solely stims from the engravements in themselves. It seems to be in a sense chaotic but calming because of the centering of the emolument being completely based upon, Jesus, God or the Holy Spirit, which ever may be chosen. The team at the Met Museum better describes the relic as housing,

??Seven cloud-like forms on the periphery of the central medallion may refer to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. The style and composition of the subject suggest a close link to manuscript illuminations produced in the scriptorium of the Benedictine monastery at Fulda, a leading center of learning during the Ottonian period.5

This handiwork, like many other Ottonian pieces, arguably grew its notoriety not due to its physical companionship, but as a I described earlier within the paper, arguably the various symbology behind the artistic or religious expression that is trying to be achieved. This relic which was created during the Ottonian Era isn’t extraordinary from the others just as much as the Mamluk Mosque lamp, however it is because of the relic’s story that it connected such greatly with early Christian’s views on themselves, God and the future for their families.?

????????????As we begin to close, we now understand the physical makeup of the relic and also historical ancient traditions behind what employed the usage of ivory and plaques all together, now my job is to the tie these meanings together to form the bigger picture. Ancient religious people who were not privy to paper and pencils had to literally find whichever way they could to inscribe their arts, crafts and creations of religious figures, religious stories etc. Some of the earliest drawings which I learned from a previous history class here at Kennesaw State, as I did much of the material of the essay, have been found to have been drew upon caves in mountains. In no way am I trying to tie this fact to the reasoning behind why Ivory was used and the story of this relic but instead to place emphasis on man being artistic for hundreds of thousands of years and the extents that we have went in order to achieve these creations. This relic was almost entirely used as a way to show the importance of Jesus Christ and what he went through on his journey while but also the company that he kept who experienced the torment and crucifixion as well. His arms are spread, and his wounds are showing which also factor in that the people who were under him could not do anything to help him but instead preached his word in his death. In my opinion this fact alone is what helped to employ this plaque because people of Christianity then and now can agree to the fact that they feel hopeless in certain situations with friends and family even when they are present, however, there is always light that can usher in hope and new beginnings. Even in death and legacy, this same light can be taught to other by people in your honor if you were a selfless and human being. In summary both of these ancient religious artifacts have vast meanings and are simply too different to compare, in which we weren’t supposed to, but they highlight the greatness that is religion and tradition while also making me as the researcher wonder, what will be an ancient religious artifact that is taken from my generation and remembered upon many millennia from now and digressed by historians of those times.

Works Cited?

British Museum. 2021.?Mosque-lamp?[online] Available at:?https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1875-0717-1. (Accessed on April 14, 2021).

Cook, J.?Living with gods: highlight objects.?The British Museum Blog?https://blog.britishmuseum.org/living-with-gods-highlight-objects/?(Accessed on April 14, 2021).

Met Museum. 2021.?Plaque with Christ and the Symbols of the Four Evangelists?[online] Availabe at: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464476 . ( Accessed on April 14,?2021).?