7 results
Family at the Table Accompanied by Musicians. China, 1874-75
In 1874-75, the Russian government sent a research and trading mission to China to seek out new overland routes to the Chinese market, report on prospects for increased commerce and locations for consulates and factories, and gather information about the Dungan Revolt then raging in parts of western China. Led by Lieutenant Colonel Iulian A. Sosnovskii of the army General Staff, the nine-man mission included a topographer, Captain Matusovskii; a scientific officer, Dr. Pavel Iakovlevich Piasetskii; Chinese and Russian interpreters; three non-commissioned Cossack soldiers; and the mission photographer, Adolf Erazmovich ...
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National Library of Brazil
Troupe of Musicians Playing Traditional Chinese Instruments. Shanghai, China, 1874
In 1874-75, the Russian government sent a research and trading mission to China to seek out new overland routes to the Chinese market, report on prospects for increased commerce and locations for consulates and factories, and gather information about the Dungan Revolt then raging in parts of western China. Led by Lieutenant Colonel Iulian A. Sosnovskii of the army General Staff, the nine-man mission included a topographer, Captain Matusovskii; a scientific officer, Dr. Pavel Iakovlevich Piasetskii; Chinese and Russian interpreters; three non-commissioned Cossack soldiers; and the mission photographer, Adolf Erazmovich ...
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National Library of Brazil
A Ruthenian Lyrist
This signed oil sketch by the illustrator and painter Sigismund Ajdukiewicz (1861–1917) depicts a scene from Ruthenia, a region located south of the Carpathian Mountains in present-day Ukraine, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and ruled by Hungary until 1918. Ajdukiewicz, also known by his Polish name Zygmunt Ajdukiewicz and by its Austrian variant, Sigismund von Ajdukiewicz, was born in Witkowice (present-day Poland). As a young man he studied art at the Vienna Academy and in Munich. From 1885 until the end of his life, he lived and ...
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Austrian National Library
Three Actors
The term ukiyo-e, literally “pictures of the floating world,” refers to a genre of Japanese artwork that flourished in the Edo period (1600–1868). As the phrase “floating world” suggests, with its roots in the ephemeral worldview of Buddhism, ukiyo-e captured the fleeting dynamics of contemporary urban life. While being accessible and catering to “common” tastes, the artistic and technical details of these prints show remarkable sophistication, their subjects ranging from portraits of courtesans and actors to classical literature. This print features a central male actor holding a sake container ...
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Library of Congress
Dance Performance of "Tsuri Shinobu Mebae no Fusuzuka"
The term ukiyo-e, literally “pictures of the floating world,”refers to a genre of Japanese artwork that flourished in the Edo period (1600–1868). As the phrase “floating world” suggests, with its roots in the ephemeral worldview of Buddhism, ukiyo-e captured the fleeting dynamics of contemporary urban life. While being accessible and catering to “common” tastes, the artistic and technical details of these prints show remarkable sophistication, their subjects ranging from portraits of courtesans and actors to classical literature. This nishiki-e, orfull-color print, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798–1861) shows a ...
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Library of Congress
The Book of Songs
Abu Al-Faraj Al-Isbahani (or Al-Isfahani, 897–967 AD) was a literary scholar, poet, and genealogist who was born in Isfahan, in present-day Iran, but lived much of his life in Baghdad and Aleppo. Kitab al-Aghani (The book of songs) is often considered his masterpiece. A dozen or more other works by him are known. Most of them describe the indulgent social life of his times, a topical choice that prompted considerable criticism especially from clerics, some of whom went as far as to question his scholarly rigor and authenticity. Al-Isbahani ...
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Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Moroccan State Trumpeters, 1864
This original gouache painting of 1864 is by the celebrated British artist, Sir John Gilbert (1817–97). It originally was thought to depict Moroccan state trumpeters, but many of Gilbert’s paintings are indistinct in terms of time and place and their exact subjects difficult to determine. Gilbert never traveled beyond Europe, but like many Victorian painters he was attracted to exoticism and to tales from Arabia, such as the story of Aladdin, and this piece reflects this interest in the exotic. One of the most prolific painters of his ...
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Brown University Library