March 30 -- Nelson, part 2

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More and more Chinese artifacts.

The largest Chinese artifact at the Nelson is a temple.  The painted walls, the wooden ceiling....  I confess that I did not read all of the info.  I suspect this sculpture was in the temple in China....

A couple of closeups....

Here my info-recording fell apart for a while.  I'm sure this is a Bodhisattva, and I bet it's Guanyin.

This is right outside the doorway into the temple.  I read his info, but neglected to take a pic, and promptly forgot what I'd read.  He is so much less idealized than the Bodhisattvas....  I think he may be a real person.

More horses, the long-legged central Asian ones.  Carrying court ladies through a game of polo.

Alas, I didn't get a pic of the info that went with this.

Celadon-glazed stoneware bottle.  Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).

The gray-green color of celadon glazes comes from the iron in the glaze.

One of the interesting things about ceramics is that you never know what you will get.  The colors in the glazes (particularly when the ware is fired at a very hot temperature) depend on the composition of the clay, the minerals in the glaze(s), the exact heat of the fire (and its duration), the amount of oxygen in the kiln.....

A potter often knows exactly what she wants to achieve, but never knows until the kiln is cool whether that's what she got.

This bottle's info said "low iron glaze."

Love the shape....

Ceramic portal, with stone lions.  It surrounds a real doorway, into a real hall, so you can guess how big it is.

The next three were grave goods, all from one tomb.  Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534), Henan Province.

Love the shape....

Love the shape, love the ridges.....

The label said this was a bolster, and there was a sketch of a person leaning back against something of this shape.  Somehow it doesn't seem that this shape would be as comfortable as, say, a cylinder.....

I like this shape for its own sake, while doubting that it is optimally comfortable as something to lean on.

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