Month: January 2023

“Flayed lord” statue goes on display

Modern(ish)

A Late Postclassic period (1200-1521 A.D.) sculpture unearthed in Mexico City last year has gone on public display for the first time in the Templo Mayor Museum. The statue is 69 cm (27 inches) high, 22.5 cm (8.9 inches) wide and 15.3 cm (6 inches) thick and carved from andesite, a quartz-rich volcanic stone. It depicts an anthropomorphic figure with his right arm bent upwards and hand cupped in launching position. The left arm has a nail embedded in it where a chimalli (shield) would have once been mounted.

Archaeologists believe it is a representation of a deity, perhaps the god of spring and rebirth Xipe Totec, the “Flayed Lord” who wears a suit of flayed skin from sacrifice victims. Coincidentally (or is it?), the sculpture was discovered on March 3rd, during the period of the annual Tlacaxipehualiztli festival that celebrated the regeneration of spring with the sacrifice of numerous war prisoners.

The statue was found in the Moyotlan quadrant of the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan. Built on the shallow, brackish Lake Texcoco, Tenochtitlan was connected to the mainland by bridges and four causeways which divided the city into four zones. Moyotlan was the southwest quadrant of the city and is believed to have been the largest of the four. These zones were all distinct political entities with separate legal administrations, dynastic rulers and cultural identities. Xipe Totec was the patron deity of Moyotlan’s Yopico neighborhood.

It was discovered last year during an excavation on Las Delicias Street in the historic center of Mexico City. Extremities of the statue were broken but present, giving restorers the opportunity to put him back on his feet and rebuild his launching arm. He was saved from a far worse fate by being buried under three layers of adobe fill. It may have been deliberately hidden there by indigenous people after the Spanish invasion.

During the presentation of the sculpture, the director of the Museo del Templo Mayor, Patricia Ledesma Bouchan, emphasized: “We want to underline how powerful the sculptures were for the Mexicas: the process that followed their elaboration and the sacredness that covered them, since they were not they were just figures but representations of the gods. Reasons enough for many indigenous people to risk their lives to save these pieces, which are now a source for learning about our past and admiring pre-Hispanic artistic talent.”

The restored sculpture is now on display in the lobby of the museum where it will remain until April 2nd.

Red ink added to Armada maps in 19th c.

Museums, Renaissance

Conservators have discovered that the red ink on the set of 16th century hand-drawn maps of the Spanish Armada’s failed invasion of England is of far more recent extraction. They look integral and original, but all of the red accents — ships on fire, city markers, compass points — were added in the late 19th century to enhance the maps’ salability.

The 10 maps in the set are the only surviving contemporary drawings depicting the progression of naval battles that led to the scrappy English fleet’s surprise defeat of the much larger and more powerful Spanish Armada in 1588. They were drawn by an unknown Flemish artist in 1589.

They were sold by the Astor family to a private US collector in 2020, but the Ministry of Culture barred their export because of their unique historic importance. The National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) was able to raise the funds to acquire them and keep them in Britain. The museum sent the set to the National Archives in London for study and conservation.

Initial examination found that the maps were in good condition, with only a few areas of mold repair and water damage from a flood at Hever Castle, in the 1960s.

Non-invasive tests including x-ray fluorescence spectroscropy revealed Flemish watermarks, which, with some marginal notes, suggests a craftsman probably working in London at a time when the Flemish were recognised as the best cartographers in Europe. The iron gall ink was 16th century and in good condition despite slight fading and paper corrosion—but the surprise was the reds, only available from the late 19th century. “The only possible conclusion was that the original maps were not coloured,” says Natalie Brown, the senior conservation manager at the National Archives. The work has implications for hundreds of antique maps in their own collections.

At the museum, curator Annabelle Cameron says that, while 300 years of their history remains unrecorded, by the early 19th century the maps were owned by Roger Wilbraham, the collector and MP—and may always have been in his family—and were seen by the British Library in 1828. They were sold by Sotheby’s in 1899 to the bookseller J. Pearson and Co, who sold them in turn to William Waldorf Astor in 1903. Either could have added the coloured ink to make them more attractive, which Brown said was common practice at the time. It certainly helped bump up their price: Pearson paid £30 for the maps and sold them for £90.

The maps are still undergoing conservation, but conservators have deemed them stable enough to go on public display. Only two have been exhibited since the purchase, and those were in Liverpool. The National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth plans to exhibit all ten of them together in the near future.

Jewish valuables cached after Nazi invasion found in Lodz

Modern(ish)

A collection of more than 400 pieces of Judaica and other prized possessions of Jewish families at the dawn of World War II have been discovered in Lodz, Poland. The treasure includes hanukkiahs, menorahs, sacred vessels and fragments of the Talmud, as well as household objects like silver-plate tableware, clothing and glass perfume bottles. They were wrapped in Polish, Yiddish and German newspapers that date to October of 1939.

The treasure was discovered during renovation work on a hundred-year-old building at 23 Polnoczna Street. Nazi forces occupied Lodz in September of 1939, within a week of their invasion of Poland. They established a ghetto in northeastern Lodz in early February 1940. More than 150,000 Lodz Jews — the second largest Jewish population in Poland after Warsaw — were forced to move into an area of just 1.5 square miles. Polnoczna Street formed its southernmost boundary.

The cache was found last month inside a damaged wooden chest buried in the foundations of the building. An initial examination counted approximately 280 objects in the chest. When government archaeologists explored the find site after construction was suspended, they found the rest of the treasure.

The timing of the discovery dovetailed with the Festival of Lights. The Jewish community of Lodz, which has offices on the same block of Polnoczna Street, celebrated the rediscovery of the treasure as part of its Hanukkah celebration, lighting two of the hanukkiahs on December 22nd.

“The discovery is remarkable, especially the quantity. These are extremely valuable, historic items that testify to the history of the inhabitants of this building,” said Agnieszka Kowalewska-Wójcik, director of the Board of Municipal Investments in Łódź, according to Polish media.  She said the artifacts are being transferred to the city’s archaeological museum, adding, “I hope a special, generally accessible exhibition will be prepared.” […]

“For us archaeologists, such unusual finds are a challenge, but also a great joy. I don’t remember the last time such treasures were unearthed in Łódź.”  said Bartłomiej Gwóźdź, a local archaeologist. “At the moment, each item is carefully cleaned so that nothing is damaged, broken or destroyed.”

Rijksmuseum acquires unique 17th c. display cabinet

Modern(ish), Museums

The Rijksmuseum has acquired a unique display cabinet made in 1632 by Dutch furniture master Herman Doomer. Inlaid with ebony and mother-of-pearl, the cabinet is a masterpiece of Baroque innovation, and the only cabinet by Doomer than can be precisely dated.

It is a cabinet of curiosities, meant to showcase the owner’s most prized possessions and collectibles, and Doomer had all the motivation in the world to create a masterpiece because the collection it housed was his own. Herman Doomer (ca. 1595-1650) was the premier cabinet-maker of the period and made a very good living for himself. He made so many frames for Rembrandt that they became close friends (and mutual clients; Rembrandt painted a portrait of Doomer and his wife Baertje in 1640). He owned several homes and was an avid collector, using the elaborate curiosity cabinets he had made to house his treasures.

Doomer was born in Germany and moved to Amsterdam in 1613 where he built a successful furniture-making business. He specialized in working with ebony, a rare, expensive and dense hard wood that was very much in demand in Europe as an ornamental wood for furnishings and decorative arts. The prized wood had become easier to buy in Amsterdam when the Dutch East India Company took possession of Mauritius in 1621, a then-uninhabited island in the Indian Ocean, and carved itself out an extremely lucrative monopoly exploiting the island’s enormous ebony forests. Mauritius ebony was the darkest, hardest and most compact ebony to be had, qualities that made it particularly spectacular for intricate carving and low reliefs. Doomer took full advantage of these properties, creating furniture rich with architectural motifs, dynamic movement, precision, depth and high polish.

The newly acquired cabinet shows how Doomer was looking for a new style. The lower part is still quite traditional, but in the upper part the furniture maker introduces movement and baroque innovation, such as fan shapes and twisted columns. The case is inlaid in precious ebony and radiant mother-of-pearl. That was also completely new in Amsterdam. The other cupboard in the Rijksmuseum was made a few years later: the baroque has fully penetrated there and Doomer introduces lobe elements.

The inside of the cabinet from 1632 is richly decorated. Five mother-of-pearl plaques are inlaid here. These are signed by another well-known Amsterdam artist: the mother-of-pearl worker Jean Bellequin.

The cabinet was in need of extensive treatment by Rijksmuseum conservators when it arrived. Furniture restorers had to reconstruct some of the mother-of-pearl inlay that had been lost over the centuries, and areas of detached ebony veneer had to be re-glued.

The monumental cabinet is being exhibited alongside a later display cabinet by Doomer which has been at the Rijksmuseum nearly 50 years. The exhibition runs through March 14th. Because the newly-acquired cabinet is fragile, it is only being opened for visitors to see the glorious interior two more times: February 2nd and March 2nd at 4PM.

US National Archives’ Virtual Genealogy Fair

Modern(ish), Multimedia

In September of 2013, the US National Archives hosted a two-day Virtual Genealogy Fair featuring lectures from genealogy researchers on how to use the records of the Federal government to investigate family history. There is an incredible wealth of information made available to the public in these archives, and the lecturers focus on different areas of particular interest to genealogists including military personnel records, pension files, immigration documents and much more.

The National Archives’ YouTube channel posted most of the sessions from the first day of the Fair five years ago. Now the second day has gone online, 10 years after the event. They’re all worth viewing for anyone who is interested in doing their own genealogical research (you never know where you’re going to find key information) using resources available online.

Day 1:

Introduction to Military Records at the National Archives by John Deeben (presentation slides (pdf))

Introduction to Genealogy: Civilian by Rebecca K. Sharp (slides)

Alien Files (A-Files) by Elizabeth Burnes (slides)

Native American Records by Michael Wright (slides)

National Archives Online Resources for Genealogy by Nancy Wing (slides)

Day 2:

Genealogy and the Freedman’s Bank: Records of the Freedman’s Savings & Trust Company by Damani Davis (slides)

Military and Civilian Personnel Records:  The National Archives at St. Louis by Ashley Mattingly & Theresa Fitzgerald (slides)

Union Civil War Pension Files by Claire Kluskens (slides)

Federal Penitentiary Records by Jake Ersland (slides)

Finding U.S. Colored Troops at the National Archives by Trevor Plante

Genealogy Through Navy Deck Logs by Mark Mollan (slides)

Oh, The Stories They Tell: Chinese Exclusion Acts Case Files at the National Archives & Records by Marisa Louie (slides)