Hailed as a precious mineral with mysterious and even sacred qualities by many cultures around the world, crystal has been viewed as a substance with the power to help connect people with the divine. The luminous, ethereal, and prismatic qualities of rock crystal have inspired and facilitated spiritual and religious devotion. Many religions have incorporated crystal into their spiritual practices and rites, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, among others.
Early sacred and devotional objects, produced by hand in ancient Egypt and ancient Rome Byzantium, Italy, Thailand, and China, were prized and portable objects meant to be held. Contemporary artists working today, including Marina Abramovic and jen DeNike, look to crystal for its spiritual associations and expressive power.
Crystal Bridges Museum is located in Bentonville, Arkansas. High-quality quartz crystals have been mined from the mountains and caverns of Arkansas for more than a century. The iridescent, enigmatic gemstone has captivated artists, religious leaders, monarchs, and healers across the world for thousands of years.
This unique exhibition has been organized by Crystal Bridges curator of contemporary art Lauren Haynes with guest curator Joachim Pissarro, Crystals in Art: Ancient to Today is the first exhibition of its kind to explore the complex and varied connections between crystal and art throughout the world, spanning history and geography. View ancient artifacts such as engraved gems, figurines, and more alongside works from contemporary artists around the world that explore the power of crystal in art by drawing on its form, properties, and mysterious qualities.
Featuring more than 75 works from Ancient Egypt, Rome, China, and beyond, discover how the power of crystal transcends the boundaries of time and space.
Crystal Bridges Museum – October 12, 2019 – January 6, 2020
Seated Buddha – Thai – Ca. 1400-1500, Rock Crystal with gold and rubies. Lent by Asian Art Museum. This small image of the Buddha was likely made in the late fifteenth century in the workshops of Hot, Thailand. According to Buddhist texts, crystals, rubies, and gold are three of the seven precious materials of which the heavens are made, and each. possesses symbolic attributes. Because of its rarity and clarity, crystal serves as a metaphor for enlightened states of being… such as emptiness and nirvana.
16th Century – Silver-gilt, rock crystal – Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art – This pendant would have hung from a strand of rosary beads and been worn by a church-goer of the sixteenth century. The origins of this pendant are uncertain, however, it is attributed to either Mexico or Flanders (now Belgium). The crystal skull above the cross is a popular motif in Mexican culture and history, symbolizing rebirth and regeneration. While its origin may be uncertain, it is stylistically rooted in Mexican culture.
“Intaglio with Sacrifice to Janus” ca. 16th century. This engraving is the model for numerous Renaissance medals. It is attributed to Valerio Belli, one of the most famous hard-stone engravers of his time. Belonging to Isabella of Portugal (1503-1539), the Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Spain. The intaglio depicts a frieze of figures before an alter, making a sacrifice to Janus, the ancient Roman god who symbolized both beginnings and endings.
Marina Abramović b. 1946 – Self-Portrait with Rock Crystal, 2018 Salt and Quartz Crystals, Private Collection, Vienna, Austria. Marina Abramović cast this self-portrait using salt, a crystalline mineral which is part of our everyday lives. A quartz crystal juts out of the area of her “third eye.” Abramović believes crystal contains a “certain energy” which can help us transcend everyday reality. She continues to engage with materials like crystal “so the public can enter certain states of mind helped by the material itself.”
Marina Abramović – “Dozing Consciousness” 1997 – courtesy of Marina Abramović Archives. The camera is focused in-tight on the artist’s face, which lies buried in crystals. Covering her eyes, they slide into her lipsticked mouth. Deep inhalations and exhalations and the tinkling of shifting crystals create an oddly compelling soundtrack as her face begins to emerge. Dozing Consciousness connects with a number of endurance-related pieces by Abramović, who seeks to experience the world primarily through physical means.
Altar in Milan Italy – a Font for Holy Water – ca. 1685 (attributed to Giovanni Battista Metellino)
Large Quartz Cluster – Garland County, Arkansas
Rock Crystal Statuette of a Lion – Early Byzantine: Roman or Byzantine – 3rd-4th Century Rock Crystal lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This tiny lion was likely mounted onto another object, possibly a scepter, judging by the groove on its underside. found in a cistern in Carthage (now Tunisia, North Africa), this intricately carved form demonstrates the quality of the arts of that great city at a time when the Roman world was becoming Christian.
Roman – 100-1BC – Statuette of Venus – Rock Crystal from the J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection. Venus – Worshipped by the Romans as the goddess of love, sex, beauty, and fertility. Venus is depicted here in the act of washing. Crystal is often associated with water, birth, and fertility, because of its clean appearance. Her sensuous human form and the luminescent glow of the crystal highlights Venus’s dual role as a woman and deity. When held in the hand, this figurine adopts the skin tone of the person holding it.
Egyptian – 525-332 B.C. First Persian Period-Late Period – Rock Crystal Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art Taweret (the “Great One”) is an ancient Egyptian goddess made up of parts of different animals: a hippopotamus with pendulous human breasts, and the attributes of a lion and a crocodile – an image both fierce and maternal. Thought to ward off evil forces and protect pregnant women, especially during childbirth, and to prevent childhood illnesses and death. Images like this one appeared in both temples and homes, and on instruments used by midwives. Taweret is also associated with water, and more broadly represents fertility, including the fertility of Egypt.
Jon DeNike – “Bird in Space Becoming Dancer” – 2019 Quartz Crystals mined by the artist, near Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Caddoan Culture – Agee arrowhead – 700-1000 AD – Created during the Mississippian Period, projectile points like this one were produced in southwest Arkansas, northeast Texas, eastern Oklahoma, and northeast Louisiana. Agee points made of stone were used in hunting small game and birds, but this crystal one was likely ceremonial of decorative in nature.
Seated Buddha
Byzantine – Rock Crystal Flask with Cross – ca. 10-12th Century – lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Standing Cup by Jean-Valentin Morel – 1850-1851 – Rock Crystal, silver-gilt, enamel, pearls – lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Quartz Sphere (lower right in hand) This painting is attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, title: Salvator Mundi” ca/1500 oil on wooden panel.“THE HOLY GRAIL” quartz cluster, Garland County, Arkansas
Mexican Skull – Carved Rock Crystal – on loan from the Smithsonian Institution Department of Anthropology. This hollow, milky quartz specimen carved as a human skull stands nearly 10 inches tall and weights 31 pounds. An anonymous donor sent this object to the National Museum of Natural History in 1992 saying it was Aztec, but the skull was assessted to be a modern fabrication, not Aztec, most likely to have been carved in the 1950s in Mexico. It was polished with an abrasive not available until after WWII. It has artistic value on its own merit and possesses the same power as do all crystals.
The mystery of creation – the symbolism in Albrecht Durer’s “Melencolia” is always the best aspect of this print from 1514. An angel sits dejected, holding a measuring device and surrounded by woodworking tools while sand passes through an hourglass. On the far left, a crystalline shape divides the foreground from the background.
Victoria Era Cigarette Case – English ca. 1880 – rock crystal, gold, diamond, sapphire, carved and painted rock crystal.Anthony James b. 1974, Portal Icosahedron – 2019 – Steel, glass, LED Lights, Courtesy of the artist. Inspired by the historical cosmology of Plato and drawing from minimalism, the Light and Space artistic movement, and conceptual art, James constructs these steel structural icosahedrons – a polyhedron (three-dimensional solid object) with 20 aces and 30 edges – at varying scales. With no beginning, middle or end, the large-scale steel sculptures are lined with transparent mirrors, inside. This creates an illusion of infinite space, nodding to the ancient concept of the universe as a set of concentric planetary orbits.
Anthony James – Portal Icosahedron – 2019 – DETAIL of the view inside the mirrored icosahedron.
Ai Weiwei b. 1957 – “Chandelier” 2015 Copper, Crystal and light fixtures – Courtesy of the artist. Chinese contemporary artist and activist Ai Weiwei uses his art to comment on consumerism and industrialism among China’s elite. Among many things, he aims to highlight the unreasonably luxurious ways of life promoted through consumerism and popular media, particularly in Western culture. This sculpture, a towering chandelier filled with a dazzling array of exquisite synthetic crystals, represents an excessive display of unbridled extravagance.
