July 18 -- Penn Museum, part 3

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Meditation is one of my self-improvement projects.

I've been collecting peaceful faces for a while.

I can't imagine looking this tickled, if I were as hungry as he must always be.....

I don't remember seeing portable Buddhist shrines before.

"Bhodisatva head, Tempera on Plastered Mud Wall, Central Asia, probably from Bazaklik, Turfan area, 7th-8th century."  I don't know the back story, but it's impossible not to suppose this was stolen from a grave, and its origin derived from other clues, since it can't be known for sure whence it came.......

"The facial features reflect the Tang idea of beauty as seen in many examples of mural paintings and figurines from Chinese tombs.  Thought to be from the group Le Coq acquired at the northern route site of Bazaklik."

So few lines needed to depict a face....

I  unfortunately neglected to capture any id info about this.  I have no idea where it's from, or when....

I don't think I've ever seen this sort of writing.  I wonder what it sounds like, when read aloud.....

Still meandering through the museum, with no idea where the rarest treasures may lie.

 One of a "Pair of 'Basket Earrings,' Gold, ca. 2500 BCE, Northwest Turkey, the Troad, Trojan."

That beaten gold is very thin -- I can imagine those little leaves shimmering in the breeze.....

And now I came to the most amazing things in the Penn Museum's amazing collection.  (And the room was air conditioned, alleluia!)

These next (mind-blowing) things are from Ur, and many are from the tomb of Queen Puabi.

"Bowl, Gold, 2550-2450 BCE, Ur, Iraq, PG800, Tomb Chamber)."

This exquisite little thing would easily fit in my two cupped hands.  I wonder what it feels like to hold it.....

And now, the closest we can come to a look at Puabi.

I had never, ever, seen adornment like this.  I've seen a lot of Egyptian jewelry, but this?

The gold leaf (and gold leaves!), the earrings, the hair wrappings, the bead bodice.....

Wow.

 Wow.

Thinking back to that earring in the case just outside this room, with its tiny shimmering golden leaves.

Now this....  Imagine what this must have looked like as she moved..............

"Stunning" barely begins to describe it....

And, of course, she had wonderful taste in color..........

Orange, orange, orange, and, oh yes, orange, with just enough purple to keep things interesting.....

So interesting, that nearly all of this was designed to move.   Move with the air, move in reaction to the movement of the wearer......  I don't think I've ever seen wearables with so much ... action.  Certainly not in any wearables from tombs!

Now, add the way all that gold will have reflected light....  This was a very dynamic collection of things to wear.  It must have drawn every eye in the room.

Puabi's designers clearly knew their marketing!  They understood just how to bring attention to their client, and just how to showcase the level of wealth (and therefore power, no doubt) she had at her command.

Wow.  I mean ... wow.

(Imagining wearing all this -- the weight......  She was a tiny little thing, they know from her skeleton.  Under five feet tall.........)


There was a lot of info in this room about the excavation of Ur.  Who was there, how they interacted with others.  I wish I lived close enough to spend more time absorbing all of this......  Agatha Christie met her second husband, Max Mallowan, there and then.....

There was also information about the changing ways things are interpreted.  The man who found Puabi's jewelry drew conclusions about its arrangement that are no longer thought to be correct.....



There is a model of the Standard of Ur in this room -- another one of the 100 Objects from A History of the World in 100 Objects.  Along with the model are objects from Penn's collection which reflect War or Peace, as depicted on the Standard of Ur.

Also in this room is info about the division of spoils from the digs which discovered this treasure trove.  I did not photograph the info.  As I remember it, it said that Pennsylvania University, the British Museum, and someone else(?) divided the loot into three piles, and drew straws to determine who got what.

Reading about that completed my understanding of the rank of Penn's collection, in the scope of "who's got what?" in the world.

Wow.  Ok.  (boggled....)

I am so glad I decided to come here.  It's a good thing I didn't know beforehand that there was no air conditioning; I might not have come, given that I did not know the breadth and quality of the holdings........

(Impossible to contemplate all of this and not understand why the countries from which it was taken want it back!)



These are on the floor with no indication they shouldn't be walked on!

On the way out.  Walking back through the African section.  I hadn't noticed this, earlier (perhaps because of the hordes of children in this section).

Designs stamped on cloth.  My favorites are the rectangles.  That sort of stamp could be used over and over and over, without getting boring.........

I stopped in the gift shop, as I essentially always do, to check out the postcards.  I saw a postcard of this crystal ball, which I had read was one of the stars of the collection.  I'd missed it, dodging out of the Chinese room to avoid the annoying children.

I decided to go find it, even though it meant going back upstairs.

Love the reflections, particularly.  We can see the enormous cloisonné lion in the background, and again, upside-down in the ball.....  I especially love what happens with the light from the windows around the bottom of the dome overhead, both in the ball, and on the plexiglas case.....

You can tell how big this room is, by how small that lion appears to be.....

I am so glad I went to the Penn Museum, even though it was SO HOT.  Definitely a "DO NOT MISS!" destination, if you have any interest in historical objects!!!

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