S. Marco Bowl Essay

The heterogeneity of the S. Marco bowl includes not only a wealth of information but also a network of relationships of different levels of meaning. The origin of the individual parts, their materiality, the fragmentation and the gesture of the details demand possible interpretation in the assembly and observation of the object. The Byzantine makers and artisans served as the viewers of the conventional conception of the iconic characters, trying out ideas to ensure that their references could be read as allusive meanings. In short, S. Marco bowl remains to be a visible example of combined elements. It’s not precisely a revival of classical art, but rather the object holds onto the last remnants of a source whose strength was now less in the subject matter and more in the conveyance of a certain form or appearance. Otherwise, it would not be a product of the Macedonian Renaissance if only certain figure types were being revived. There are five medallions compositionally tied together by “gestures of extreme, directional pointing” that are not particularly unique to …show more content…
Marco bowl is a surviving example of the Byzantine culture, wherein art set high standards for quality in craftsmanship and for the use of luxury materials. The artistic qualities inherent in the S. Marco bowl belong to the craftsmanship in their non-Christian, non-Byzantine origins and to intuition in their perception. There is no objection to seeing the classical and Islamic sources that constitute the aesthetic appeal in the bowl, but this should not lead one to believe that the S. Marco bowl was made for the sake of appropriating ancient and Islamic motifs. Otherwise, Alicia Walker is not wrong to claim that the bowl “demands” the modern viewer to rethink the antique and the exotic in the medieval world. The S. Marco bowl is a specialized kind of beauty that illuminates the hybrid nature of both ancient and Islamic, as well as the pursued and preserved insight in