Line in Relief, in Boundary, and in Marks Drawn at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

I spent the afternoon looking about two rooms at the MFA which included Chinese, Indian, and Iranian works. Visually, they beckon. I am bound by the beauty of line and edge seen in the low reliefs and cut surfaces, which I think could delight you as well. The beauty present in this Chinese limestone slab dating 550-77 A.D. is delicious, as is the image found below.




These scenes are filligree lace, hauntingly lovely. So this blog is not about what I know, but about what I feel...layers of line so close to the surface but not touching it, just behind that front plane, a whisper, a hushed sigh upon an earth gray. I could look at these patterned, swaying surfaces indefinitely. They are gracious, undemanding, patient, lyrical, and so sensitive to touch. I remain entranced and wish you the same happy moments.



Something of peace and generosity presides here and sustains the viewer in the simplest of ways, through cut stone and the light of day.

Seen to the right: Buddhist Shrine with Engraved Figures and Inscriptions, China, Tang Dynasty, dedicated May 10, 704

















Hunting Scene, Iran, Safavid period, 2nd half of the 16th century, gold and opaque watercolor


This is far more beautiful in person but minimally, you get the sense of the narrative unfolding and the fine, almost dainty handling of the elements in this visual.

A detail of Young Bears in a Landscape, Iran, (too much light from a window across from this to catch the whole image...but it's charming enough to want to show you!)



Finally, I'll leave you with a couple of small, lusty works, a bit in contrast to the sacred beauty of some of the prior works. These two are ornate and more clearly voluptuous, ...but like the others pieces, offer a sense of completion. In that sense, these and the others, are all divine.

Lovers, Eastern India (Orissa)about 13th century, ivory














Erotic Scene (panel from a box, Southern India, about 17th C, ivory


I enjoy these selections as a visceral contrast of communication. From the quietest trickling, hair-like lines, to the heavily stated, pushed edges of twisting and undulating forms; each are aware of their boundaries and aware of breaking them. They reach across faith, culture, and time, to unite in life and death, love and loss, pain and glory. They are deeply spiritual and oh so physical, and at the end of the day, rise up gorgeous.