The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 3 Exhibitions

While away on Holiday vacation at my Mom’s house, we took adavantage of her proximity to the city and visited the Met. We had longed planned to see the Interwoven Globe and here is my report on that exhibit.

THE INTERWOVEN GLOBE – The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800

This was a huge exhibition and I learned a lot about textiles and their trades between the different countries in those early times. For example, I learned that India crafted patterns in the Chinese or Japanese fashions for sale and trade to European markets when Oriental styles were all the craze, and in the Indonesian style for trade to Java. I learned the origins of the palampores and chintz. I saw beautiful and tremendously detailed embroideries from all over the world in silk and other fabrics. Unfortunately, this exhibition ends on Jan. 5, 2014.

 

Palampore, first quarter 18th Century, India Coromandel Coast, cotton painted resist with mordant dyes. 44 x 72 inches. Chintz.



Palampore, mid-18th Century Indian Coromandel Coast, cotton embroidered with silk, 135 x 103 inches.

 

Panel with flowers, birds and animals, 17th Century. Chinese silk embroidery on silk with gilt wrapped paper thread, 100 x 80 inches.

Man’s morning gown, early 18th Century, India cotton painted resist mordant dyed. 54.3 inches long and 75,75 inches wide. Pine trees and prunus blossoms on red ground imitates Japanese patterns. Oriental style morning gowns became de rigeur in Europe at that time.

SILLA – KOREA’S GOLDEN KINGDOM 57 BC – AD 935

I had to see this show!It had two things that I adore: gold and Buddahs! Hmm. Those things don’t really go together, do they? But it was a really terrific show.


These gold earrings are second Quarter of the 6th Century and were found in the Bomun-Dong Hapjangbun Tomb. They are 3 3/8 inches long. Notice the fine granulation of the top loop, which was all done by hand. Yikes!

This is a chestlace from the end of the 4th Century that was found in the Wolseong-Ro Tomb ga13. It is made of glass, gold and jade. The comma shaped pendant is thought to symbolize power.

JEWELS BY JAR

JAR is Joel A Rosenthal, who now works out of Place Vendôme in Paris. The show had over 400 of his mind-blowing works. JAR is an expert in pavé jem setting. Here is a small sampling of pieces from the show:
 

Sorry about the poor photo quality, I took photos of post cards.

Needless to say, we were both exhausted after seeing all 3 of the exhibitions! Hope you enjoyed my report!