The 105 Artworks of media Gold Leaf and containing the word danish unknown goldsmith, gold leaf, 300

The Mishneh Torah is the magnum opus of Moses Maimonides, the renowned medieval philosopher. This remarkable text consolidates Jewish law into a systematic, comprehensive and accessible anthology, still consulted by rabbis and scholars today. This manuscript copy of the Mishneh Torah is one of the m...

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When Italian silk mills in Lucca and Venice flourished in the 13th century, technique and patterns were very much dependent on Spain and the eastern Mediterranean. The fabric of this chasuble (in Latin casula, meaning little house, from the originally ‘house-like’ shape of the robe) from Cologne, wo...

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This manuscript is one of a very few illustrated copies of the monumental code compiled by Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon, 1135–1204), the great Jewish philosopher, physician, and legal authority. Illuminated with burnished gold leaf, the colorful, detailed title panels that open the text/

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The Table of Affinity serves as a pendant to the Table of Consanguinity in the section on matrimony in Gratian/

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In the Middle Ages, King David was considered to be the author of the psalms, leading to the frequent inclusion of the Tree of Jesse in psalters. In this manuscript, the tree is one of a series of full-page miniatures preceding the text of the psalms. The genealogical diagram of Christ/

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In a show thought to constitute the origin of today’s kabuki theatre, a shrine maiden from Izumo Shrine, named Okuni, is said to have borrowed the noh stage at Kyoto’s Kitano Shrine to present a dance called kabuki odori in 1603 (Keichō 8) as part of the shrine’s fundraising performance. This famous...

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This magnificent suit of Japanese armor represents a light, form-fitting type designed to protect the body in man-to-man combat. Specialized craftsmen laced together hundreds of lacquered metal and leather plates with red and indigo silk cords to give the suit its distinctive appearance as well as i...

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In the center of this miniature removed from a Gospel book and depicting the Miracle of the Gadarene Swine, Jesus and his followers confront two men whose half-dressed, unkempt state indicates that they are possessed by evil spirits. Jesus performs an exorcism, transferring the demons into a herd of...

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In the section of the Decretals on matrimony, an illuminator provided two full-page diagrams across a double-page spread to explain visually the laws of consanguinity and affinity. These laws were important for determining lines of inheritance and the legality of marriages. The first of these diagra...

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Rakuchû rakugai-zu (sights in and around Kyoto) are illustrations of Kyoto, featuring the temples, shrines, castles, estates, shops, living quarters, and so forth spaced out in the city and outskirts, as perceived from an overhead view. Yearly events such as Gion Festival/

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The Morgan Picture Bible stood over a foot tall and contained more than 380 scenes from the Old Testament, extending from the story of Creation to the reign of King David. Though it originally consisted exclusively of pictures with no accompanying text, three sets of captions were later added to the...

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As the sixth trumpet sounds in the Apocalypse, Saint John, seen in the right margin, hears a voice from the golden altar. The illuminator identified the voice as the Lord/

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On the sounding of the fifth trumpet, a star falls from heaven and is given the key to the bottomless pit. Here the star, with the key dangling from one of its rays, hovers over the pit, nearly obscured by the issuing smoke. From the pit, a legion of monstrous locusts emerges to plague the earth. Th...

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The Gion Festival marking the onset of summer in Kyoto boasts a long tradition originating in the Heian period with a ritual (goryō-e) aimed at exorcising malevolent spirits causing epidemics. The highlights of the festival are the transfer of sacred palanquins from the Yasaka (Gion) Shrine and the ...

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The Gion Festival marking the onset of summer in Kyoto boasts a long tradition originating in the Heian period with a ritual (goryō-e) aimed at exorcising malevolent spirits causing epidemics. The highlights of the festival are the transfer of sacred palanquins from the Yasaka (Gion) Shrine and the ...

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The Rothschild Miscellany is a unique collection of 37 distinct texts: biblical and liturgical books; Rabbinic exegesis (midrash); texts on Jewish law, ethics, and philosophy; astronomy and historical legend; and even entertaining literature. With illumination on almost every leaf, this 946-page man...

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Folding screens are free-standing and portable furniture that were used to partition a room in a Japanese traditional residence, which was normally scarcely furnished and highly flexible. Screens also served as a major painting medium. These screens depict carts with seasonal flowers. The flower car...

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