Without performing any outside research, answer the following questions about the Prompt Objects for this Visual Analysis Exercise. Your answers need not be “right” but whatever you hypothesize in the questions below should be supported with “evidence” taken from careful examination of the Prompt Object or otherwise supported with a well-reasoned justification. This is a critical thinking exercise designed to make you look/read closely, not meant to test your ability to guess what the Prompt Object actually is.
- What might the prompt object be (specifically)? What is its purpose? Who created it? Who is it for? Why (specifically) do you think so? What evidence/visual details/inferences/comparison did you use to arrive at this hypothesis? (c. 300 words)
This object is a “statue of the caliph” as it was standing, it had lions’ decoration at the base; it symbolized royal power; it was sculptured in “Hisham’s Palace”. It was meant for people who visited the palace in “Khirbet al-Majar” found in the main entrance a visible articulation of power and authority; the standing caliph’s image was earlier seen on coins.
- What information do you expect this object can provide about the past, and is the information this object can provide different from that provided by other types of resources?
The object was sculpted between (661-749 C.E), and it resembles the coins used in “Abd al-Malik’s” reign, mostly found in Sasanian and Byzantine coins. It was vividly painted to display the statuary of the early Islam; it is popularly known to currently in Jerusalem’s ‘Rockefeller Museum.’ An actual representation of the caliph, the statue shows a male sculpture with a beard, a robe, and a sword exultantly posed on top of two lions figurines.
- How might the object testify to contact between Islam and other cultures?
As the sculptor was depicting the “Umayyad” coins, which was a symbol of power for Abd al-Malik and they served to buy and sell goods, thus indicating wealth and prosperity for the Islamic nation plus people easily moving in and out of the Islamic realm.
- What informs your responses to the above questions (ie. Comparison to modern/21st contemporary culture; modern 21st c. media portrayals of Islam; outside knowledge; etc.)?
In most of today’s media, there is an acute obsession of discourse in academics and negative indicators towards the Islam faith, with mainstream press depicting Muslims and Islam in general as extremists, bigoted terrorists, or violent retrograde and fanatical. A period in time describes Muslims as progressives prosperous and politically stable, shown to have good relations with their neighbors, even undertaking trade, thus indicating the biased portrayal of Muslims as completely opposed to the West as wrong.
- Given this object, what do you think you will learn about in this module?
This art piece represents the evidence of ancient Islamic sculpture and proof of the few remaining Umayyad palaces that signify artistic achievements and outstanding architecture of the first Islamic dynasty. Found in Khirbat al-Mafjar, a castle in the desert fortified and full of all types of popular decorations among the wealthy in the Islamic world.
