Religion

• 

  Los Tres Reyes Magos

  Description

  Among the most famous characters in the stories about the birth of Jesus are the Three Kings, also called the Three Wise Men, or Magi. The Bible doesn't specify their names or nationalities, only that they were guided by the star of Bethlehem to bring three gifts to honor the birth of Christ, the "King of the Jews." On the Catholic calendar, the Three Kings are celebrated on the 6th of January. On this day, Puerto Rican children traditionally expected their Christmas gifts, not from Santa Claus, but from the Three Kings. This set is from the town of Morovis, probably crafted by a member of the Rivera family around 1900.

  Description (Spanish)

  Entre los personajes más famosos de la historia en torno al nacimiento de Jesús se cuentan los Reyes Magos. La Biblia no especifica sus nombres o sus países de origen, solamente dice que los guió la estrella de Belén para llevar tres obsequios en honor al nacimiento de Cristo, el "Rey de los Judíos". Según el calendario católico, el día de los Reyes Magos se celebra el 6 de enero, en cuya oportunidad los niños de Puerto Rico esperan que los Reyes Magos, y no Santa Claus, les traigan sus regalos de Navidad. Este conjunto de Reyes Magos proviene del pueblo de Morovis y probablemente su artesano haya sido un miembro de la familia Rivera.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  Date made

  early 20th century

  ID Number

  1997.0097.0511.001

  catalog number

  1997.0097.0511.001

  accession number

  1997.0097

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Handheld Church Fan, 1970s

  Description

  This fan from Knoxville, Tennessee, is dated to the 1970s. It depicts an image of Martin Luther King Jr., John Kennedy, and Robert Kennedy on one side, titled "Freedom Fighters," and an advertisement for Reed’s Mortuary on the other. Handheld fans were often used in churches across America, particularly southern Protestant congregations. Church fans often included depictions of religious or famous figures of the past and present on the front, and information from local businesses on the back. They were at once devotional objects, connections between churches and social movements such and civil rights, and an effective advertising medium. The fans were usually made with paper, cardboard, wood, and ink.

  Date made

  1970

  depicted

  Kennedy, Robert F.

  King, Jr., Martin Luther

  Kennedy, John F.

  ID Number

  CL.306787.33B

  catalog number

  306787.33B

  accession number

  306787

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• Fraktur

  Location

  Currently not on view

  Date made

  1800-1899

  ID Number

  CL.310074.01

  catalog number

  310074.01

  accession number

  310074

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Virgin of Vladimir Icon Pendant

  Description

  This small metal icon mounted as a pendant depicts a painted image of the Virgin of Vladimir. This representation of the Mary holding the infant Jesus to her cheek dates to the 12th century and has been highly venerated by Russian Orthodox Christians ever since.

  The Russian Orthodox faith arrived in North America in the 18th century when Russian traders settled in what is now Alaska. A steady stream of Eastern Europeans many of whom were Orthodox came to America during the 19th century with a large influx leading up to the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. This political turmoil in Eastern Europe and Russia likely explains how the small icon came to America although the story is not definitively known.

  It was donated to the Smithsonian by Julia Asenath Romaine van Schaick. Neither she nor her husband’s family appear to have Russian ancestry. Both Julia and her husband resided in Belgium assisting the Red Cross with war relief beginning in 1917 and it is possible that she acquired the icon while she was in Europe. Her husband was a well-known Universalist minister who hosted Abdu’l-Baha, the leader of the Bahá'í Faith, at his church in Washington, DC in the Fall of 1912. Abdu’l-Baha spoke about the liberty of speech and religion enjoyed by Americans.

  This little Virgin of Vladimir pendant represents not only the arrival of the Russian Orthodox faith in America but perhaps through its ownership by the van Schaick’s also represents the generosity of America in offering relief to victims of war and their openness to all religions whether Russian Orthodox, Bahá'í, or Universalist.

  Date made

  c. 1891

  ID Number

  CL.325928

  catalog number

  325928

  accession number

  70654

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  1800 - 1850 Quilted Indian Prayer Mat

  Description

  This intricately designed prayer mat was produced in India and quilted in the first half of the 19th century. The top is a single piece of fabric; a central mihrab (prayer niche) with floral motifs that is framed by several printed borders of various widths. The cotton fabric used for the prayer mat is block-printed, hand-printed, resist-printed, and dyed. Black outlines of stems and leaves and red outlines of flowers are block-printed with a series of small blocks. Resist-painted details were added to flowers before red-dyeing. Blue color appears to be painted. Painted yellow appears in the mihrab and some other areas. The lining is a roller-printed cotton with a small overall floral pattern. It has a cotton filling. The quilting consists of parallel diagonal lines in a running stitch. It is bound with a silk/cotton bias strip. Printed cotton prayer mats were sold and used across the Islamic world.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1800-1850

  maker

  unknown

  ID Number

  TE.T14440

  catalog number

  T14440

  accession number

  275379

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  1885 - 1886 Harriet Powers's Bible Quilt

  Description

  Harriet Powers, an African American farm woman of Clarke County, Georgia, made this quilt in about 1886. She exhibited it at the Athens Cotton Fair of 1886 where it captured the imagination of Jennie Smith, a young internationally-trained local artist. Of her discovery, Jennie later wrote: "I have spent my whole life in the South, and am perfectly familiar with thirty patterns of quilts, but I had never seen an original design, and never a living creature portrayed in patchwork, until the year 1886, when there was held in Athens, Georgia, a 'Cotton-Fair,' which was on a much larger scale than an ordinary county fair, as there was a 'Wild West' show, and Cotton Weddings; and a circus, all at the same time. There was a large accumulation farm products--the largest potatoes, tallest cotton stalk, biggest water-melon! Best display of pickles and preserves made by exhibitor! Best display of seeds &c and all the attractions usual to such occasions, and in one corner there hung a quilt-which 'captured my eye' and after much difficulty I found the owner, a negro woman, who lives in the country on a little farm whereon she and husband make a respectable living . . . . The scenes on the quilt were biblical and I was fascinated. I offered to buy it, but it was not for sale at any price."

  Four years later, Mrs. Powers, at the urging of her husband because of hard times, offered to sell the quilt, but Miss Smith's "financial affairs were at a low ebb and I could not purchase." Later Jennie sent word that she would buy the quilt if Harriet still wanted to dispose of it. Harriet "arrived one afternoon in front of my door in an ox-cart with the precious burden in her lap encased in a clean flour sack, which was still further enveloped in a crocus sack. She offered it for ten dollars--but--I only had five to give." Harriet went out to consult her husband and reported that he said she had better take the five dollars.

  Mrs. Powers regretfully turned over her precious creation, but only after explaining each of the eleven panels of the design, which Jennie Smith recorded. Briefly, the subjects are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, a continuance of Paradise with Eve and a son, Satan amidst the seven stars, Cain killing his brother Abel, Cain goes into the land of Nod to get a wife, Jacob's dream, the baptism of Christ, the crucifixion, Judas Iscariot and the thirty pieces of silver, the Last Supper, and the Holy Family.

  In her narrative about the quilt, artist Jennie revealed why she was so taken with it: "Her style is bold and rather on the impressionists order while there is a naievete of expression that is delicious." In recent times, historians have compared Harriet's work to textiles of Dahomey, West Africa.

  The Bible quilt is both hand- and machine-stitched. There is outline quilting around the motifs and random intersecting straight lines in open spaces. A one-inch border of straight-grain printed cotton is folded over the edges and machine-stitched through all layers.

  Harriet Powers was born a slave near Athens, Georgia, on October 29, 1837. At a young age, she married Armstead Powers and they had at least nine children. Some time after the Civil War, they became landowners. Eventually, circumstances forced them to sell off part of the land but not their home. The date of Harriet's death, Jan. 1, 1910, was recently discovered on her gravestone in Athen's Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1885-1886

  quilter

  Powers, Harriet

  ID Number

  TE.T14713

  catalog number

  T14713

  accession number

  283472

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  A Rabbi

  Description

  This etching by Léopold Flameng is known as either Un Rabbin or Un Vieux (An Old Man). The painting by Rembrandt hangs in the Musée Bonat, Bayonne, France. The print was etched for the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, a publication started in Paris by Charles Blanc in 1859, which ceased only recently. Flameng had met Blanc in the studio of a well-known engraver, Luigi Calamatta, and became one of two graphic artists on the new publication. He etched no fewer than 100 plates for the Gazette and some forty plates for Blanc’s book on Rembrandt’s work, published in 1859. Flameng’s etchings after Rembrandt were highly regarded by collectors in this period.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  Date made

  19th century

  original artist

  Rembrandt van Rijn

  graphic artist

  Flameng, Léopold

  publisher

  Gazette des Beaux-Arts

  ID Number

  GA.14958

  catalog number

  14958

  accession number

  94830

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• Journal of ... Thomas Chalkley ...

  Description (Brief)

  Book, leather over boards.Binding broken.

  A Journal or Historical Account of the Life, Travels, and Christian Experiences of ...Thomas Chalkley; bound with The Works of Thomas Chalkley, Part II only (no Part I). Both imprints Philadelphia: Printed by B. Franklin and D. Hall, 1749

  Location

  Currently not on view

  Date made

  1749

  associated date

  1749

  printer

  Franklin, Benjamin

  Hall, D

  ID Number

  GA.16522

  accession number

  118225

  catalog number

  16522

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• PSALM 100:1 MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE....

  Location

  Currently not on view

  Date made

  c. 1960

  ID Number

  CL.306787.12

  catalog number

  306787.12

  accession number

  306787

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Retablo del Santo Niño de Atoche

  Description

  The image shown here represents El Santo Niño de Atoche, a depiction of the Christ child common throughout Mexico and the American Southwest. Made by Rafael Aragón in Santa Fe, this particular image is from a retablo, a kind of Catholic devotional art. Aragón came from a family of santeros (religious artisans) who worked during the golden age of Spanish colonial art in New Mexico in the first part of the 1800s. In isolated communities where there were few priests, religious art within the home played a huge role in promoting Catholic beliefs and maintaining religious faith. When this retablo was made, between 1840 and 1850, New Mexico was the most populated region of Mexico's northern territories. Its ancient colonial history was shaped by violent contests over land, trade, and religion between Spanish settlers and various indigenous communities. The exchanges between these peoples, and then later, between immigrants from Mexico and the eastern United States, created several unique cultures in New Mexico. The phenomenon of tourism, beginning in the late 1800s, further transformed New Mexico and its art and craft traditions. Santeros and other artisans are still producing religious images like this retablo, though today many are valued for decorative rather than devotional use.

  Description (Spanish)

  Esta imagen representa a El Santo Niño de Atocha, un retrato del Niño Jesús muy habitual a lo largo de México y el sudoeste americano. Esta imagen en particular, elaborada por Rafael Aragón en Santa Fe, pertenece a un retablo, una manifestación del arte religioso católico. Aragón provenía de una familia de santeros (artesanos religiosos) que trabajaron durante la época dorada del arte colonial español en el Nuevo México a principios del 1800. En aquellas comunidades aisladas donde había tan solo unos pocos sacerdotes, el arte religioso doméstico desempeñaba una función preponderante para el fomento de las creencias católicas y la conservación de la fe. Este retablo data del período entre 1840 y 1850, en que Nuevo México era la región más poblada de los territorios del norte de México. Su antigua historia colonial se forjó entre violentas competencias por la tierra, el comercio y la religión entre los colonos españoles y las distintas comunidades indígenas. Los intercambios entre estos pueblos, y más tarde entre inmigrantes de México y del este de los Estados Unidos, generaron diversas culturas únicas dentro de Nuevo México. El fenómeno turístico, que se inició a fines de los 1800, transformó más aún a Nuevo México y a sus tradiciones artísticas y artesanales. Los santeros y otros artesanos aún producen imágenes religiosas como este retablo, si bien hoy en día muchas de ellas se valoran por sus cualidades decorativas más que por sus connotaciones religiosas.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  Date made

  1840 - 1850

  artist

  Aragon, Rafael

  ID Number

  CL.67.806

  accession number

  269937

  catalog number

  67.806

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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