On Saturday May 29, 2011, I visited the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, UK with my friend. There we saw and observed many of the museum collections. There are some collections in the museum that drew me to explain in this blog. There are Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Arabic Caligraphy, The Japanese Tea Ceremony, English Guitars, and Georgian Dessert Table.
Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerussalem
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also called the Church of the Resurrection by Eastern Christians, is a church within the walled Old City of Jerusalem. It is a few steps away from the Muristan.The site is venerated as Golgotha (the Hill of Calvary), where Jesus was crucified, and is said also to contain the place where Jesus was buried (the sepulchre). The church has been an important Christian pilgrimage destination since at least the 4th century, as the purported site of the resurrection of Jesus. Today it also serves as the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, while control of the building is shared between several Christian churches and secular entities in complicated arrangements essentially unchanged for centuries. Today, the church is home to Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. Anglican and Protestant Christians have no permanent presence in the church.[3]
The latest trend among visitors of the spot (standing outside the Church) is to applaud loudly during bells' ringing. This is to recognize the unique beauty of the Church and its unique history. The origin of this practice is in dispute; one source describes a similar act in the Peter Greenaway movie The Belly of an Architect.
“A man may plaster his house, but he should leave a small area unfinished in remembrance of Jerusalem…”
۞ Sotah, chapter 15, paragraph 12. From the Tosefta, legal rabbinic teachings edited in AD 200-300. The quote refers to the sack of Jerusalem by Rome in AD 70.
The site of the Jewish Temple on Mount, built by Solomon, was leveled by the Roman emperor Hadrian in AD 134, after which Jews were exiled from their city.The emperor Constantine’s mother Helena was said to have discovered at Golgotha in AD 325-327 the cross on which Christ was crucified. Constantine built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to mark the site and that of Christ’s nearby tomb. The ‘New Jerusalem’ became a major destination for Christian pilgrims.
The Mount (in Arabic Haram al-Sharif) became sacred to Muslims when in AD 691 the Ummayad ruler Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock, the earliest monument of Islam. The Rock was later identified as the site of Muhammad’s ascension to heaven. It was also sacred to Jews as the site where God called upon Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.
The History of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem Model in the Ashmolean museum
These models of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem were probably made in Bethlehem in 1600-1700, using olive wood, ivory, and mother of pearl. The large model comes apart in lettered sections for easy transport and reassembly, and to give the option of revealing the Shrine of the Tomb. Pilgrims to the Holy Land probably brought the models from Jerusalem to Europe. These models of the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem were given to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, in 1841 by the Reverend Dr Robert Mason, a major benefactor of the library. The small model was transferred to the Ashmolean Museum in 1887, and the large in 2008. The large model represents the church and shrines built on the presumed sites of Christ’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, after renovation by Christian Crusaders. The small model represents the shrine (edicule) built over the tomb within the church. The church was destroyed by fire in 1808, and then was rebuilt.
Arabic Caligraphy
Arabic holds a particular importance for Muslims for whom it is the language of God as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, and expressed in writing in the Qur’an. The standardization of its script occurred over time, and its alphabet was adopted to write other languages of the Islamic world, like Persian, Ottoman Turkish, and Urdu.
The Arabic script soon became the most distinctive feature of Islamic art. Calligraphy (beautiful writing) has a prominent place in all arts. Verses from the Qur’an or lines of poetry were frequently inscribed on buildings and objects. Calligraphy was also used to name the patron of a work, explain its function, or describe the society in which it was created.
Below is one of the collection of the Calligrapgy that I found in the Ashmolean Museum:
1. Square tile with holy names. Iran, 1400-1500. Fritware, with decoration in coloured glazes (cuerda seca). It is inscribed with the names of Allah, the Prophet Muhammad, and his son-in-law and successor Ali in square kufic script. Gift of J.P.D. Dunbabin, EA2003.57
2. Calligraphic panel, possibly from a cenotaph. Iran, 1400-1500. Wood, with carved decoration. Gift of Axia Ltd, EA1991.74
3. Page from a manuscript of the Qur’an in maghribi script. North Africa or Spain, 1100-1300. Inks and gold on parchment. EA1993.395
4. End of a calligraphic tile panel written in naskh script. Turkey, about 1575. Fritware, with polychrome underglaze painting. Reitlinger gift, EA1978.1517
The Japanese Tea Ceremony
‘The tea ceremony requires years of training and practice. Yet the whole of this art, as to its detail, signifies no more than the making and serving of a cup of tea. The supremely important manner is that the ac be performed in the most perfect, most polite, most graceful, most charming manner possible.’
۞ Lafcadio Hearn, Japan: An Attempt at interpretation (1905)
The preparation and drinking of tea in a formal ceremony has been practiced in Japan since the 1400s. this is called chanoyu (‘hot water for tea’). In Japanese tea ceremony participants withdraw from the stresses of daily life to the peaceful setting of a special tea room made of simple natural materials.
The tas master prepares and serves the tea using set movements: scooping powdered green tea into a tea bowl, lading over hot water, mixing the tea with a bamboo whisk and then serving tea to each guest in turn. Conversation is kept to a minimum troughout. After drinking, guests admire the tea utensils carefully selected by the tea master. Even the guests need to use set gestures and phrases.
Ningendo, a Japanese Tea House
The Ashmolean ta house was designed for this space by the Japanese architect Isai Komoda. The tea house was built near Tokyo by the company Amakasu Komuten, which specializes in traditional Japanese architecture. A team of skilled Japanese craftsmen constructed the tea house in Japan, then took it apart, shipped it to England and rebuilt it inside the gallery.
The tea house was named Ningendo by the gallery sponsor, Mr Hiroaki Shikanai. The phrase ‘Ningen’ refers to the qualities of virtue and benevolence, and is associated with the 9th century Buddhist pries Kukai. The name, which is read from right to left, is written in ancient Chinese-style seal script.
English guitars
The English guitar, as it is known is not a guitar at all but a wire strung instrument rather like the cittern. It was very popular in England from about 1750, competing in fashionable society with the harpsichord as an instrument for amateurs. There were several makers specializing in making these instruments at this time.
By the early 1800s, the fashion for the English guitar had ended following the arrival of the Spanish guitar from the continent. The Spanish guitar is still the preferred instrument for many amateur musicians.
Below is one of the English guitar model:
1. English guitar, by John N. Preston (working 1734-1770) stamped on the peg box: PRESTON MAKER/LONDON. John Preston was one of the leading makers of English guitars in London in the mid-1700’s. this is a typical example of his work. It has six courses of strings (four double) and a device called a capotasto, a bar which is tightened by a nut against the neck for stopping the strings in four positions. This can be used to raise or lower the pitch by a semi-tone. Presented by A. Phillips Hill in accordance with the wishes of Arthur and Alfred Hill. 1948, WA1948.129
Georgian dessert table
This room setting shows a table set for dessert in a prosperous middle class household in England about 1760-1770. It is laid with Worchester dessert plates and dishes of that date, wine and syllabub glasses, and silver from the 1730s. the portrait by Gainsborough dates from about 1750.
Dessert was the final course of dinner. A well-to-do household would use a different porcelain service from that used for the main courses. The table was cleared of salts and pepper pots and other items used for savoury food. The servants would bring in an array of new dishes, which would include fresh, stewed and preserved fruit, sweetmeats, fondants, nuts, biscuits, jellies, and syllabubs in glasses. Syllabub is a mixture of wine, whipped cream and orange or lemon juice. Sweet wine would be served.
References:
۞ Wikipedia.
۞ Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England.
