Art History Test #1

The “old” Stone Age, during which humankind produced the first sculptures and paintings

A pointed tool used for engraving or incising

To cut into a surface with a sharp instrument; also, a method of decoration, especially on metal and pottery

Origin or source; findspot

In sculpture, figures projecting from a background of which they are part. The degree of relief is designated high, low, or sunken. In the last, the artist cuts the design into the surface so that the highest projecting parts of the image are no higher than the surface itself

The way in which an artist organizes forms in an artwork, either by placing shapes on a flat surface or arranging forms in space

A convention of representation in which part of a figure is shown in profile and another part of the same figure is shown frontally; also called twisted perspective

Hard-baked clay, used for sculpture and as a building material. It may be glazed or painted

“burial mound”; Also characteristic of the Japanese Kofun period of the 3rd and 4th centuries

A picture, usually stylized, that represents an idea; also, writing using such means; also, painting on rock

“wedge-shaped”; A system of writing used in ancient Mesopotamia, in which wedge-shaped characters were produced by pressing a stylus into a soft clay tablet, which was then baked or otherwise allowed to harden

The chamber at the center of an ancient temple; in a classical temple, the room in which the cult statue usually stood

A gift of gratitude to a deity

An artistic convention in which greater size indicates greater importance

A composition that is symmetrical on either side of a central figure

Assyrian guardian in the form of a man-headed winged bull

An arcade have no true openings, applied as decoration to a wall surface

A plant native to Egypt and adjacent lands used to make paper-like writing material; also, the material or any writing on it

Late Egyptian writing

"bench"; An ancient Egyptian rectangular brick or stone structure with sloping sides erected over a subterranean tomb chamber connected with the outside by a shaft

In ancient Egypt, the container in which the organs of the deceased were placed for later burial with the mummy

“city of the dead”; A large burial area or cemetery

A rule, for example, of proportion. The ancient Greeks considered beauty to be a matter of “correct” proportion and sought a canon of proportion, for the human figure and for buildings. The 5th century BCE sculptor Polykleitos wrote the Canon, a treatise incorporating his formula for the perfectly proportional statue

Vertical channeling, roughly semicircular in cross-section and used principally on columns and pilasters

Usually, the front of a building; also, the other sides when they are emphasized architecturally

A male figure that functions as a supporting column

A female figure that functions as a supporting column

A hall with a roof supported by columns

The fenestrated (having windows) part of a building that rises above the roofs of other parts. The oldest known clerestories are Egyptian. In Roman basilicas and medieval churches, clerestories are the windows that form the nave's uppermost level below the timber ceiling or the vault

A low-fired opaque glasslike silicate

Fashioned of gold and ivory

A method of stone construction, named after the mythical Cyclops, using massive, irregular blocks without mortar, characteristic of the Bronze Age fortifications of Tiryns and other Mycenaean sites

Formed in relief by beating a metal plate from the back, leaving the impression on the face. The metal sheet is hammered into a hollow mold of wood or some other pliable material and finished with a graver

The ancient name of Greece

A mixture of fine clay and water used in ceramic decoration

An ancient Greek two-handled jar used for general storage purposes, usually to hold wine or oil

Greek, “young woman.” An Archaic Greek statue of a young woman

Greek, “young man.” An Archaic Greek statue of a young man

A painting technique in which pigment is mixed with melted wax and applied to the surface while the mixture is hot.

In classical architecture, a colonnade all around the cella and its porch(es). A peripteral colonnade consists of a single row of columns on all sides; a dipteral colonnade has a double row all around

One of the two systems invented in ancient Greece for articulating three units of the elevation of a classical building: the platform, the colonnade, and the superstructure(entablature). The Doric order is characterized by, among other features, capitals with funnel-shaped echinuses, columns without bases, and a frieze of triglyphs and metopes

One of the two systems invented in ancient Greece for articulating three units of the elevation of a classical building: the platform, the colonnade, and the superstructure(entablature). The Ionic order is characterized by, among other features, volutes, capitals, columns with bases, and an uninterrupted frieze

A more ornate form than Doric and Ionic; it consists of a double row of acanthus leaves from which tendrils and flowers grow, wrapped around a bell-shaped echinus. Although this capital form is often cited as the distinguishing feature of the Corinthian order, no such order exists, in strict terms, but only this style of capital used in the Ionic order

The lintel or lowest division of the entablature; also called the epistyle

The part of the entablature between the architrave and the cornice; also, any sculptured or painted band in a building

The projecting, crowning member of the entablature framing the pediment; also, any crowning projection

A triple projecting, grooved member of a Doric frieze that alternates with metopes

The square panel between the triglyphs in a Doric frieze, often sculpted in relief

The convex profile (an apparent swellin) in the shaft of a column

The use of perspective to represent in art the apparent visual contraction of an object that extends back in space at an angle to the perpendicular plane of sight

The disposition of the human figure in which ope part (usually hips and legs one way, shoulders and chest another), creating a counterpositioning of the body about its central axis. Sometimes called “weight shift” because the weight of the body tends to be thrown to one foot, creating tension on one side and relaxation on the other

Greek, “cube.” A tiny stone or piece of glass cut to the desired shape and size for use in forming a mosaic

In Buddhist thought, a potential Buddha who chooses not to achieve enlightenment in order to help save humanity

A container for holding relics (the body parts, clothing, or objects associated with a holy figure)

A varnishlike substance made from the sap of the Asiatic sumac tree, used to decorate wood and other organic materials. Often colored with mineral pigments, lacquer cures to great hardness and has a lustrous surface

In ancient China, jade disks carved as ritual objects for burial with the dead. They were often decorated with piercings that extended entirely through the object, as well as with surface carvings

The space between two columns, or one unit in the nave arcade of a church; also, the passageway in an arcuated gate

In Buddhism, an account of a sermon by or a dialoge involving the Buddha. A scriptual account of the Buddha

A Chinese ceramic technique in which the design is incised through a colored slip