Soldius of Licinia Eudoxia (“Marriage Issue”)

Roman, late Imperial–early Byzantine periods
About AD 430–445
Gold

This gold coin—minted in Ravenna—is rare in that both sides feature portraits of a Roman empress. It celebrates the marriage in 437 of Licinia Eudoxia, daughter of Theodosius II the emperor of the Roman East, to Valentinian III, the emperor of the Roman West. Although the two halves of the empire were governed separately, the marriage commemorated by the coin represented a happy reunion of sorts. These images of Licinia Eudoxia, a female ruler bedecked in jewels and enthroned, became a model for the representation of later Byzantine empresses, which in turn influenced the conception of the Virgin Mary as the Queen of Heaven.

Theodora Wilbour Fund in memory of Zoë Wilbour

Armlet

Roman, Late Imperial Period
AD late 3rd–early 4th century
Gold

This gold armlet is a rare luxury object from the later Roman Imperial period. Its decoration is executed in repoussé (metal worked from the reverse side) with details enhanced by the unusual enrichment of chasing (worked on the surface) with theater masks along its circumference. In technique and ornament, the armlet resembles gold adornments produced in the Roman East (Syria, Egypt). The armlet will be featured in the future Byzantine art gallery along with other precious works of art that reveal a continuous tradition of luxury arts from the Roman into the Byzantine period.

Benjamin and Lucy Rowland Fund, John J. Herrmann, Jr. Acquisition Fund for Classical Gold and Silver Objects, Dora Pintner Fund, and by exchange from Gift of Paul E. Manheim, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William de Forest Thomson, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius C. Vermeule III in the Name of Cornelius Adrian Comstock Vermeule, Gift of Richard R. Wagner, Gift of Mrs. Godfrey Peckitt, Gift of Frederick L. Jack, M. Elizabeth Carter Collection, Gift of Mrs. Samuel D. Warren, Museum purchase with funds donated by contribution, and Everett Fund, Gift of Miss M. Elizabeth Carter, M. Elizabeth Carter Collection—Gift of Nellie Parney Carter, Gift of Mrs. Edward Jackson Holmes, Gift of Benjamin W. Crowninshield, James Fund, Gift of Miss. Rebecca Salisbury, Gift of Mrs. Francis B. Lothrop, Mrs. George Batchelder, Jr., and Mrs. Gordon Abbott, Gift of Mrs. Willard Emery, Gift of Martin Brimmer, Gift of the Misses Amy and Clara Curtis, and Gift of Mrs. Jasper Whiting

Emil Nolde

Double Portrait (Doppelbildnis)

1937
Woodcut

The Sniders’ gift of an early etching and two woodcuts by German Expressionist painter and printmaker Emil Nolde augments the Museum’s substantial holdings of works on paper by the artist. Other examples of Expressionist prints by Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Egon Schiele, as well as prints by postwar German artists Markus Lüpertz and Georg Baselitz, were included in the gift.

Gift of Stanley and Mary Ann Snider
© Nolde Stiftung Seebüll, Germany

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff

Girl before a Mirror (Mädchen vor dem Spiegel)

1914
Woodcut

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff was a founding member, along with Erich Heckel and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, of the German Expressionist group Die Brücke (The Bridge). The Sniders’ two woodcuts—a landscape and the nude shown here—constitute a major addition to the MFA’s collection of prints by the artist. Both are iconic Brücke subjects, and unparalleled examples of the German Expressionist style.

Gift of Stanley and Mary Ann Snider

David Hockney

Celia in a Wicker Chair (Black State)

1974
Soft ground etching and aquatint

This year’s gift of two David Hockney prints from the Sniders follows their 2014 gift of his color lithograph Pembroke Studio Interior (1984). This wonderful 1974 etching, drawn with spirited strokes on the plate, depicts British textile and fashion designer Celia Birtwell, Hockney’s longtime friend and muse. The etching joins the Museum’s 1973 colored crayon drawing Celia in a Black Slip Reclining and the promised gift from a Cambridge collector of the 1973 lithograph Celia Smoking, bringing together contemporaneous depictions of the same sitter in three different media.

Gift of Stanley and Mary Ann Snider
© David Hockney

Desk (escritorio)

Ecuador
18th century
Spanish cedar with inlaid woods

This marquetry desk is an extraordinary example of the inlaid furniture made during the 18th century in the Audiencia of Quito, modern-day Ecuador. It belongs to a group of complex, richly decorated Ecuadorean furniture from the colonial period characterized by images of cityscapes (both Ecuadorean and European), local flora and fauna, stylized vases of flowers, and European and indigenous figures. The style of the wood inlay hews closely to that of 16th-century European marquetry table cabinets that were popular when the Spanish were establishing their vast colonial territories in the Americas.

Henry H. and Zoe Oliver Sherman Fund

Center table

Marquetry attributed to Joseph Cremer, Paris
Base attributed to Pottier and Stymus Manufacturing Company, New York
About 1870
Walnut, ebonized walnut, chestnut, maple, rosewood, other woods, stain, gilt

This center table is a stunning combination of an imported French marquetry top and an American-made base in the Renaissance Revival style popular in the 1870s. The spectacular surface image, a pair of tigers perched near a body of water, was painstakingly created by piecing together individual pieces of colored wood, an extraordinary example of the art of marquetry. Elaborate tops of this sort were imported by New York cabinetmakers to enhance their wares, demonstrating the robust global trade exchanges of the late 19th century.

John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund, Morris and Louise Rosenthal Fund, and Arthur Tracy Cabot Fund

Armchair

Boston, Massachusetts
1710–30
Maple; reproduction upholstery using 18th-century Russia leather

With an elaborately carved crest and a tall, upright stance, this armchair would have made a regal statement of colonial identity in America. The style relates to fashionable English and Dutch prototypes and was probably made in Boston and exported to New York. The chair is stamped “W • MANCIUS” on the back rail, which is thought to refer to Dr. Wilhelmus Mancius (1738–1808), a physician of Kingston and later Albany, New York. It is one of two chairs in the MFA’s collection that bear the Mancius stamp, both gifts from longtime supporters Anne H. and Frederick Vogel III, and both on view in the Art of the Americas Wing.

Gift of Anne H. and Frederick Vogel III

John Wilson

Monumental Head
2003
Lift-ground etching and aquatint

SMFA alumnus John Wilson based this late etching on an earlier study for his sculpture Eternal Presence, a monumental bronze head that adorns the grounds of Roxbury’s National Center of Afro-American Artists. The flat abstract patterns of the background, where sumptuous fields of aquatint alternate rhythmically with unprinted areas of warm Japanese paper, reveal the influence of Fernand Léger, with whom Wilson studied in the 1940s. The print was on view in the exhibition “Wilson/Cortor,” featuring work by Wilson and his Chicago-born contemporary Eldzier Cortor.

The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection

© Estate of John Wilson/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

2016.414

Pitcher

Medford, Massachusetts
About 1840
Earthenware

Made at an unknown pottery in Medford, Massachusetts, around 1840, this pitcher is still being studied and provokes challenging conversations. It has been thought to be a posthumous depiction of Toussaint L’Ouverture, the former slave who led the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804), the first successful war for independence by enslaved people in the Americas. Although L’Ouverture never sat for a portrait in his lifetime, widely circulated prints mythologized him alternately as a powerful hero or as a ruthless warlord. The vessel’s exaggerated facial features derive from stereotypical images of black people in early 19th-century popular culture.

Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection, Gallery Instructor 50th Anniversary Fund, John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund, and partial gift of Susan and James Witkowski

Maurice de Vlaminck

Paysage de Banlieue

1905
Oil on canvas

In 1905, Maurice de Vlaminck, André Derain, and Henri Matisse were dubbed les fauves (wild beasts) when they exhibited their riotously colored canvases in Paris. With its vibrant colors and ordinary location—outgrowths of Impressionism—Vlaminck’s work is a prime example of how Fauvism pushed the chromatic experimentations of 19th-century painters to new extremes, liberating color from naturalistic description. This is the first Fauve painting in the MFA’s collection, a welcome addition to our strong presentation of French landscape painting. The painting was a gift and bequest of David and Peggy Rockefeller.

Gift and Bequest of David and Peggy Rockefeller
© 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Luohan Bhadra

Chinese, Jin dynasty
1158
White marble

Votive stele with image of the bodhisattva Guanyin

Chinese, Northern Qi dynasty
576
Sandstone

Luohan (arhat in Sanskrit) are beings in the Buddhist pantheon who had been disciples of the historical Buddha and, by following the path laid out by the Buddha, achieved enlightenment. The lion cub stroked by the luohan pictured here identifies the figure as Bhadra (Batuoluo in Chinese), said to be a cousin of the Buddha.

The stele from the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden in Mount Desert, Maine, is currently undergoing conservation. During the early 5th century, shortly before this stele was erected in China, scholars began serious work on translating Buddhist texts from Sanskrit to Chinese. On one side of this stele is an image of the bodhisattva Avalokitsvara, called Guanyin in Chinese. On the back is an unusual double portrayal of the Sakyamuni Buddha, resting with his horse below two entwined bodhi trees just as he has resolved to leave his princely life and seek enlightenment.

Gift and Bequest of the Rockefeller family from the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden in Mount Desert, Maine

Etruscan revival bracelet

Ernesto Pierret, Rome, Italy
About 1860
Gold

Ernesto Pierret was born in Paris but established himself at 20 Piazza Spagna in Rome in 1845. With nearby archeological digs unearthing ancient treasures and an influx of tourists, Rome offered both endless inspiration and a steady stream of customers. Like his contemporaries, Pierret was inspired by the goldwork being excavated in Italy and designed jewelry in the Etruscan revival style. Roman 19th-century jewelers could be quite literal in their interpretation of the past; the bovine head featured in this tour-de-force bracelet closely resembles an ancient Greek pendant in the Museum’s own collection.

Museum purchase with funds donated by the Rita J. and Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation, Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf, and Monica S. Sadler

Necklace

Marcus & Co., New York City
About 1900
Gold, peridot, diamond, platinum, plique-a-jour enamel, pearl

During the early 20th century, Marcus & Co. offered a diverse range of styles and influences, and the firm’s work demonstrates the variety of tastes favored by American consumers. With a dazzling combination of gemstones, undulating gold wirework, and plique-a-jour enamel, the design for this pendant was influenced by Art Nouveau. While the avant-garde art movement was strongest in France and Brussels, by 1900 American jewelers in New York and Newark incorporated a more restrained use of its various design elements, like the whiplash curve seen here.

Gift of Jody Sataloff in memory of Dr. Joseph Sataloff

Necklace

Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York City
About 1910
Gold, black opal, demantoid garnet, sapphire

With the resources of Tiffany & Co., and a less commercial and more artistic aesthetic, Louis Comfort Tiffany combined stones and metalwork in fresh and exciting ways. Tiffany also elevated female designers like Julia Munson, who supervised the metalsmiths working in Tiffany Studios until 1914. Working closely with the Tiffany & Co. gemologist George Frederick Kunz, Tiffany designed garland frames intended to highlight exceptional gemstones like this black opal. Swirling vines and flowers circle the reverse of the opal, and the back of the pendant is as beautiful as the front.

William Francis Warden Fund

Juan Pedro López

Our Lady of Guidance (Nuestra Señora de Guía)

About 1762
Oil on panel

The MFA’s first Venezuelan painting, this iconic image vividly demonstrates the cross-cultural nature of Latin America during the viceregal period. Our Lady of Guidance was closely associated with maritime travel and venerated from the Philippines to the Canary Islands. Juan Pedro López, a Caracas native of Canarian descent, portrays in paint an image of a popular devotional statue, including details of the rich fabrics, laces, and jewels that dressed the sculpture. Probably made for the convent of Carmelite nuns in Caracas, this magnificent piece retains its original frame and may once have been part of a larger altarpiece.

Promised gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of Jorge Rivas

Fleuron (florón)

Attributed to Francisco José Cardozo
Caracas, Venezuela
Late 18th century
Gilt cedar

This type of elaborately carved, gilt fleuron was used as a reflective ceiling ornament from which to hang a chandelier—popular in the opulent colonial houses of Caracas. This example’s exuberant organic forms and latticework carving are characteristic of the work of Caracas cabinetmaker Francisco José Cardozo. An artist of mixed-race descent, he was the scion of a prominent Caracas family of furniture makers, which included his father Antonio José Cardozo and his brother José Ramón Cardozo.

Gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of Carolina Cisneros Phelps

Armchair (silla)

Attributed to Antonio Mateo de los Reyes
Caracas, Venezuela
About 1740
Polychromed and gilt cedar

The blending of European and indigenous design elements is one of the hallmarks of Spanish colonial furniture. While the shape of this chair is similar to that of Spanish 16th-century armchairs, the stylized scrolls and intricate plant patterns carved throughout indicate the chair’s New World origins. Attributed to the Venezuelan master cabinetmaker Antonio Mateo de los Reyes, the chair may have once graced the luxurious Caracas home of Don Antonio Pacheco y Tovar, Count of San Javier.

Gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of Carlos Duarte

Curtain panel

American
About 1939
Printed cotton plain weave

The 1939 New York World’s Fair coincided with the 150th anniversary of George Washington’s inauguration but looked firmly to the future with exhibits on technology, industry, and transportation. The focal point of the fair was the visionary Theme Center, distinguished by the 610-foot-high Trylon and spherical Perisphere, known to fairgoers as the “egg and tack.” More than 4,000 licensed (and many pirated) souvenir products appeared during the run of the fair. This printed cotton features many of the signature buildings and was probably used as a curtain.

Gift of the American Textile History Museum

Coverlet

Made by Harry Tyler, Jefferson County, New York
1839
Wool, cotton

Coverlets made by New York weaver Harry Tyler are iconic examples of this distinctive American art form. Tyler created the lion motif found in the corner blocks. According to family history, his eldest son and fellow weaver, Elman, thought the lion was too English; by the mid-1840s, Harry Tyler had replaced it with a more patriotic motif: eagles surmounted by stars. Families settling western New York after the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 patronized Tyler and other independent artisans of the region, whose inventive work competed with industrially produced British imports.

Gift of American Textile History Museum

Nou Rouz shawl

Designed by Amédée Couder, Paris
Woven by Gaussen Aîné & Cie, Paris
1839
Wool, cotton, and silk

The Nou Rouz shawl caused a sensation when it was shown at the Exposition of Products of the French Industry held in Paris in 1839. Both its weaver and designer maximized the potential of the jacquard mechanism, in which each patterning weft’s placement is controlled by one punched card. A total of 101,000 cards were needed to weave the shawl. Inspired by the Persian New Year celebration Nowruz, the shawl’s design includes a procession with elephants and dancing figures.

Gift of the American Textile History Museum—Martha Bayles Boyd Collection