Boa Island | The more famous of the statues (marked Carved Stones on the map) in Caldragh graveyard, is a double-sided figure of two beings in typical ‘Celtic’ squatting mode, carved back-to-back, the E side being male with a pointed penis beneath the stylised crossed arms (all carved in high relief), and the W side being female, with a protruding tongue. There is incised zig-zag decoration between the two heads, which may represent hair, and both figures have a band or belt at the base of the torsos. (via Boa Island)
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Known as the “Five-Part Diptych” because each panel is divided into five plates, this beautifully carved Gospel book cover dates from the late 5th or early 6th century and was probably made in Ravenna. There are notable similarities in the iconography with 5th-century sarcophagi and early 6th-century mosaics of Christ in Sant’Apollinare Nuovo. It may have been a gift from the Byzantine emperor. By the 12th century it was no longer used as a book cover, but in the Vespers liturgy of Easter processions. After 1400 it was used as part of a “Pax,” a metal plate with a handle presented during the kiss of peace ritual.
An incantation bowl or demon trap from Nippur depicting an owl headed demon- possibly Lilith.
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Inuit carved figures (20th century):
- Top: Caribou; antler (Canada, Nunavut, Pelly Bay; 1954)
- Second row: Seagull with fish, Inuki; ivory (Canada, Baffin Island, Nunavut; ca. 1951)
- Third row left: Seal; ivory (United States, Alaska; 20th century)
- Third row right: Seal; Walrus ivory (Canada, Baffin Island, Nunavut; 18th-19th century)
- Fourth row: Seal; Caribou antler and ink (Canada, Baffin Island, Nunavut; ca. 1952)
- Fifth row left: Walrus, Annawakalook; ivory and ink (Canada, Baffin Island, Nunavut; ca. 1950)
- Fifth row right: Wolf; antler (Canada, Nunavut, Pelly Bay; 1954)
- Bottom: Bear, Marion Wenaka; ivory (United States, Alaska; 20th century)
See also:
- Auger, E.E. 2004. The Way of Inuit Art: Aesthetics and History in and Beyond the Arctic. MacFardland Press.
- Crandall, R.C. 1999. Inuit Art: A History. MacFarland Press.
- Graburn, N.H.H. 1987. “Inuit Art and the Expression of Eskimo Identity,” American Review of Canadian Studies 17(1).
- Graburn, N.H.H. 2004. “Authentic Inuit Art Creation and Exclusion in the Canadian North,” Journal of Material Culture 9(2):141-159.
- Graburn, N. 2004. “Inuksuk: Icon of the Inuit of Nunavut,” Art et Représentation 28(1):69-82.
- Philips, R.B and Steiner, C.B.1999. Unpacking Culture - Art and Commodity in colonial and Postcolonial Worlds. University of California Press.
- Pupchek, L.S. 2001. “True North: Inuit Art and the Canadian Imagination,” American Review of Canadian Studies 31(1-2):191-208.
- Ray, D.J. 1996. A Legacy of Arctic Art. University of Washington Press.
(Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City).
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