Draft: this lesson was written with AI help and has not yet been read by a human editor.
1 What your class asks
This lesson asks you to be aware of works of art and artistic traditions from diverse communities, times and places. The museum offers one painting tradition of India, Mughal painting, and one pottery tradition of the Ottoman lands. The other examples in the curriculum are for your class to bring. 1
Curriculum expectations, with their official codes
- D3.2 demonstrate an awareness of a variety of works of art and artistic traditions from diverse communities, times, and places […]
2 Before you start
A thought to carry into the lesson.
3 The lesson
What do you see first, and what tells you where it was made?
Look at a painting or a piece of pottery and name what you see: a shape, a colour, a subject. Then ask what might tell you where and when it was made.
Go deeper
Look at three elephants painted in India. The art historian Milo Cleveland Beach says one is a general type, one stays a general symbol, and the Mughal one is a particular elephant in a fairly natural space 2 3. That is how he describes Mughal painting. Now look at pottery from the Ottoman lands. R. L. Hobson says that on one group of it a brilliant tomato red sits beside flowers you can name: the rose, the carnation, the tulip and the hyacinth 4. This is Iznik pottery.
Think about it
On this pottery you can name the rose, the carnation, the tulip and the hyacinth. Which flower would you paint on a bowl for a friend, and why would you choose it?
Into the museum
- Mughal painting: the three elephants, and how the Mughal style began.
- Iznik pottery: the tomato red, the flowers, and three groups of the pottery.
Try this
Read about Mughal painting and about Iznik pottery. Draw an animal or a flower, choose whether to show one particular one or a general type, and say why.
4 Carry it further
Where this lesson leads in the museum.
5 Check yourself
Nothing here is marked or sent anywhere. It is for you.
In your own words: what does Mughal painting have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
A particular elephant. Milo Cleveland Beach writes that a recognisable Mughal style was formed under Akbar, mixing Rajput and Muslim Indian elements with those of Safavid Iran. Beach describes a Mughal elephant as a specific elephant in a relatively naturalistic space. What do you notice when a painter shows one particular animal?
In your own words: what does Iznik pottery have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
Flowers fired on clay. R. L. Hobson describes a new and striking style of pottery decoration that developed in the Ottoman lands towards the middle of the sixteenth century, marked by bold designs of naturalistic flowers. In its first group a brilliant tomato red appears with blue, leaf green, turquoise and black outlines, and the rose, carnation, tulip and hyacinth can be recognised. Which flowers would you look for on a piece of pottery, and in which colours?
I can now
Notes
- 1. Ontario Ministry of Education, The Ontario Curriculum: The Arts
- 2. Milo Cleveland Beach, The Grand Mogul: Imperial Painting in India 1600–1660 (Williamstown, Mass.: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1978), p. 17
- 3. Milo Cleveland Beach, The Grand Mogul: Imperial Painting in India 1600–1660 (Williamstown, Mass.: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1978), p. 18
- 4. R. L. Hobson, A Guide to the Islamic Pottery of the Near East, London: British Museum, 1932, p. 130