Interactive image

Even in a Franciscan missionary context, I'm unable to find any parallels with the readings throughout these pictures. There is a slight mention of : "Painted by a nameless Neapolitan artist around 1336, these works, now lost but known through photographs, included St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata, The Madonna and Child, The Flagellation, and The Crucifixion" (Purtle 193) This mention of the crucifixion could be this painting but it most likely wasn't because the artist and dates don't match up. The only other parallel was perhaps the quote about: Similarly, "another series of Fran- ciscan paintings on cloth was made for the rulers of the Kingdom of Sicily, Robert of Anjou and his wife, Sancia of Majorca; their realm included one of the westernmost sites known to Chinese geographers" (Purtle 193) This painting on cloth could be indirectly referring to this painting as Chinese geographers seemed to get their information of Western lands from these pieces of art presumably. There is little reference of syncretic aspects that support a Global Medieval narrative of art between Eastern and Western aspects. Even if there were it would supposedly be commissioned for missionary purposes that completely ignore and do not respect Asian or African beliefs and traditions.

Q2: How does this have to do with Global Medieval art? If this was created in China or the East how would the elements of this painting elicit Chinese to convert to Christianity. Q3: How can we start an outlook to try to put this in a way to recognize local traditions such as Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism and move away from a view that focuses on Western traditions and cultures.

This helmet is especially fascinating and I especially like it. It is surprising to see that this is the first thing I have seen in this class which has not involved any European or Christian (or Islamic) reference at all which really helps complement our class discussion about how medieval art history or Art history in general is exceedingly focused on the Mediterranean and Eurocentric points of view. On the flipside we can see Global Medieval from a completely new perspective, In the middle as seen by the Met's description is the deity Yamantaka who is the lord of death in Vajrayana Buddhism or Tibetan Buddhism known as གཤིན་རྗེ་གཤེད་, རྡོ་རྗེ་འཇིགས་བྱེད། or gshin rje gshed; rdo rje 'jigs byed in Tibetan and 大威德金刚 or Daweidejingang in Chinese he is a deity who was able to blend with Tibetan cultures. Buddhism is a religion that is able to syncrhnonize with whatever culture it exists in (this can be said by most religions but Buddhism does not attempt to counter the points of other religions) thus allowing it to flourish under Mongolian rule with the added fact of the Mongolian flexible policies on cultures and religions. In fact, Mongolian Buddhism today is under the Vajrayana but it is still considered Mahayana showing how during the medieval period cultures were indeed very rich. Global Medieval art could expand from Tibet to China to Mongolia and under the Mongol Empire the Mongols adapted the traditions of Tibet. People also might identify the Sanskrit inscriptions which might seem weird to some because the Mongols never conquered India however these also come from Tibet because Mahayana Buddhism originates from the Sanskrit texts really showing how far this Global art reaches

Q1: How does the integration of Tibetan inscriptions, Sanskrit mantras, and Mongolian craftsmanship in this helmet reflect the broader cultural, religious, and political interplay between Mongolia, Tibet, and India during the 15th–17th centuries?