human
Write a essay that compares and contrasts two art works from a collection of ancient arts
assistant
##Executive Summary
The essay compares and contrasts two art works from a collection of ancient arts. The comparison and contrasting is done in view of art aspects such as style, symbolism, materials used, as well as aesthetic issues.
#Ancient Artworks Comparative Analysis Essay
##Introduction
This essay compares and contrasts two art works from a collection of ancient arts. The comparison and contrasting is done in view of art aspects such as style, symbolism, materials used, as well as aesthetic issues.
The comparison was done on the, ‘Head and Bust (fragment) of a man’ which is believed to have originated between the period of 1980-1630 B.C. from the Smithsonian’s Museums of Asian Art and Casket with Warriors and Mythological figures, from the Heilbrunn timeline of art history (Freer, 2011).
Before drawing the contrast that exists between the two art works, it is imperative that their historical backgrounds are surfaced.
The casket with warrior and mythological figures is thought to have been probably made in the formally powerful city, in the Constantinople. The art work bore ornamental strips stuck on wood fastened with a lock plate made in silver. The art work was given to J. Pierpont Morgan as a gift in the year 1917.
‘Head and Bust (fragment) of a man’ was a gift given to Charles Lang freer. The two art works vary in different aspects, first and foremost the pieces of work vary based on the materials that are used in their preparation, the head and bust of a man is made of lime stone while the Casket is made of strips of wood with silver lock (Freer, 2011).
Another notable difference in the two sculptures is their origin and the theme that is being passed across in both cases. The Casket was made in the Constantinople according to the historical information. The head and bust, however traces its root to the Egypt in origin. Both works however are both three dimensional.
The styles in both works show differences in style although with weak resemblance. Both works reveal an open meaning and the hidden themes to their audiences. The casket is decorated to bring out classical antiquity. On the casket there are soldiers and horsemen. These keen considerations differ from the head and bust which reflect a Pharaoh.
The Casket is rich in artistic in terms of content and size as opposed to the head and bust. For instance, the Casket displays an enthroned leader in the military and a youth holding snake that is winged (Frazer, 1985). The widespread use of this type of art also varies with the head and the bust which was largely a preserve of the privileged. The art would only be sold within Egypt to a clique of the privileged.
Both the artists in these two structures use the natural color of the material, for example the head and the bust are made of the same color as the material. Chalk color of limestone is used. The casket is also made in natural color although the quality is well refined through polishing (Frazer, 1985).
The head and the bust seem to be used to plainly represent the way the Pharaohs used to address. But the image of pharaoh was significant. The use of pharaoh’s image pulls out the abstract ideas and helps present a more realistic figure that was admired throughout the country. The literary depiction on both cases is politics and leadership. This is justified by the historical events that took place simultaneously during the said period (Frazer, 1985).
Both the art sculptures are standing upright, with the head and bust completely in a human upright position, although the Casket has an opening, both seems to share their objectives in a less hidden or straight way. The contents in both cases rest on politics, although the artist’s world of imagination was still rife.