Art history guide 30,000 Years of Art, with its presentation of art by historical timeline rather than by culture, includes these religious and funeral pieces from 750AD.
Art tome 30,000 Years of Art, produced by Phaidon Press (the same publisher of art history expert E.H. Gombrich's Story of Art), intriguingly depicts a world view of art by presenting artworks sorted by chronology rather than by culture. The book includes these quintessential examples of funerary, sacred, and religious art.
What funerary and religious art was being created in the world in the year 750 AD?
1. Dinwoody Petroglyphs, Wyoming, USA
Dinwoody rock art features anthropomorphic figures from six inches high to as large as six feet that have been pecked, stippled, and scratched into sandstone cliffs and giant boulders. Some of the figures wear fancy headdresses and look rather bizarre, with smaller figures contained within the torso of larger figures or two connected with wavy lines, all displaying outspread fingers. The scratchings usually show up as a light figure on a darker background, giving them an eerie feel. Legend Rock, in Hot Springs County, Wyoming, was discovered in the 1880s by soldiers in a location sacred to the Shoshone Indians. The boulder and its petroglyphs were victim of vandals until Legend Rock was purchased by the government from local ranchers.
2. Crucifixion with Saints Longinus and Stephen, colors on parchment, Irish Gospel illuminated manuscript of St. Gall
This manuscript, done in Hiberno-Saxon Insular Style (with origins in Celtic art), depicts the infamous piercing of the side of Jesus. The gospel states that at his crucifixion the Romans planned to break Jesus' legs to hasten his death. Suspecting he was already dead, a Roman soldier named Longinus stabbed him in the side. On later learning of Jesus’ rising from the dead, Longinus became an outspoken witness of Christ's Resurrection and inspired the conversions of many pagans. Pontius Pilate ordered him beheaded; he is now honored as a martyr. Today this parchment resides in Stiftsbibliothek, St. Gall [the Abbey Library of St. Gallen, the oldest library In Switzerland].
3. Mosaic, Church of St. Stephen, Jordan
The mosaic floor of the Church of St. Stephen is one of the finest Byzantine church mosaics in the Middle East. The Church of Saint Stephen is a key example of the medieval phenomenon in Palestine of removing images from Christian church interiors. The Byzantine church decorated their churches with pictures of Jesus, Mary, and the saints, and Byzantine Christians paid great honor to these images. In a controversy that lasted 725-842, it was deemed improper to show such honor to the images and many were destroyed. Though much of the city of Madaba is in ruins, this church has been excavated and its mosaic floor found to be perfectly preserved. The mosaic is in situ in the Church of St. Stephen, Umm al-Rasas, Jordan.
4. Zodiac figure of a boar, Kingdom of Unified Silla, Korea
This beautifully carved funerary figure made of steatite, a glassy material like soapstone, standing 15 by 9 inches, once stood at the tomb of General Kim Yusin, a celebrated Korean general known for his desire to give his life to unify the three Korean kingdoms. Following his death, Yusin was given honorary title of king and a tomb as splendid as that of kings, encircled by stone panels on which the twelve zodiacal animals are carved. The tomb figure of the boar can be viewed in the National Museum of Korea, Kyongju.
Source: 30,000 Years of Art. London: Phaidon Press, 2007.
Related article: Decorative world art of 750 AD
