Ancient Bronzes Ceramics and Seals (Art Ebook).pdf

Ancient Bronzes Ceramics and Seals
The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection of Ancient Near Eastern, Central Asiatic, and European Art

LA County Museum of Art | Pdf | Eng | 271 p | ISBN 0875871003 | 47.5 MB

Perhaps the most striking feature of the Heeramaneck Collection is the immense geographical range of cultures it encompasses, from Western Europe to the eastern stretches of the Mongolian steppe. No less astonishing is the span in date of manufacture, ranging over five thousand years from the fourth millennium b.c. to the early second millennium a.d. With the exception of the seals and ceramics, the great majority of the objects themselves are made of bronze, either hammered into sheet metal or cast in the cire perdue (lost wax) technique, their surfaces often embellished by the use of a chisel or metal punch. On the whole, the pieces are of remarkably small scale. The compact size of the objects from Iran and Central Asia clearly reflects the dictates imposed by a mobile nomadic or semi-nomadic society whose possessionspersonal ornaments, figurines, weapons, pole tops-had to be portable. The stamp and cylinder seals, too, although largely owned by sedentary townsmen rather than nomads, were made to be worn easily about the neck or to be carried by hand.