The World's texture - Terry phillips

This relief found in a funerary depicts musicians playing at a dinner with the blind harpist being center focus. It features a course stone, similar to sand-stone, with deep chiseled entrenchments forming the images and hieroglyphics. The imperfect lines, both shallow and deep, give the piece a 3-D texture.

Here is a metal brooch, or clothing clasp shaped like the figure “8”, a symbol of infinite. The racetrack shape is formed by weathered metal that may have once been smooth, while the inner tracks contain, gritty, cylindrical beads with gold ends that appear like tiny scrolls. The beads form a rippled texture with deep divots in between. They are imperfectly spaced and have the clear distinction of being hand-made.

This is Japanese style ceramic jar that was hand-made between 2500 and 1500 BCE. It follows the Asian pattern of curved lines with pointed corners. This piece also contains many rough, inconsistent lines and swirls that can be traced by a finger. While depicted as coarse and sand-like, it may have one had a smooth, polished surface that has aged over time.

This is another relief sculpture found in an Egyptian tomb depicting 5 donkeys, sheaves of wheat, and symbols during harvest. This piece contains a smooth granite-like stone that has been carefully etched to detail each piece of wheat and the donkey’s expressions. When touched, you would feel the raised stone outlining the donkeys and the symmetrical lines forming the legs. You would feel shallow ridges outlining each strand of wheat within the sheaf. Overall, this would feel like smooth, unpolished stone with many chiseled lines to follow.

Next we have a sandstone relief sculpture of Bes, the ancient Egyptian dwarf god. It is not the completed piece but this details the face with many etched lines carved into the stone. The gritty sandstone can be felt with smooth lines detailing his ears, cheeks, beard, and even teeth. You could feel the naturally pitted stone that forms his chest. The mixed depth of carving shows a 3-D image highlighting his cheeks, ears, and prominent chin; and even noting the pendant around his neck.

This piece shows an early Buddha in the forefront, seated with other people behind and to either side. This is a high relief sculpture with a smooth, dark stone as the medium. There are many shallow lines uses to form the leaves and archway behind the figure and deeper, harsher grooves to carve the figures. If you were to feel the sculpture, you would feel even, symmetrical circular symbols on the bottom of the feet and hands. The kneeling figures at the top corners are displayed at a diagonal angle, both with detailed head pieces. There is good use of straight and curved lines along with abstract lines in the details.

Next we have an ivory, cylindrical container depicting St. Menas’ martyrdom. When first touched, this would seem rough and jagged. However, the texture is a soft smooth ivory with and extreme amount of detailed etching that gives it the rough feel. This often portrays rough and soft and smooth at the same time.

Here we have a soft limestone ossuary, or burial box from first century Israel. The ossuary is soft stone with symmetrical circular patterns. It contains many smooth indentations in I spiral and somewhat floral pattern. Each pit has a smooth finish inside while some of the ridges that form the design became jagged over time. When touched, you would feel many different smooth stone textures.

This item is a gold belt buckle was discovered in China in the first century AD. This extremely detailed piece is made of gold and though the gold is soft and smooth, the small pieces used create the feeling of a course gold metal piece. It is made with thousands of tiny gold spheres and metal strips that form a dragon. This is very intricate and as you run your hand on the piece you would be able to feel the spheres that form the spine of the creature.

Finally we have a bronze shrine replica that resided in Poland during the middle ages. This container was possibly used to store bones and is made of bronze. It contains creatures protruding out of the metal on each bend. There are metal strips forming the “skeleton” of the shrine that are made smooth with studded rivets spaced evenly along the edges. In the plains of the metal are etched, abstract designs made of soft metal but seeming rough. The metal would feel dull and imperfect but when polished, would present a shiny, glossy texture.