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Should the theatrical fantasy of a statue coming to life involve an actor performing the role of a thing, or a prop taking the place of a human? Proceeding from contests between Hong Sheng 洪昇 (1645–1704) and acting troupes over the staging of the "Crying Statue" 哭像 (Kuxiang) scene in his dramatic masterpiece Palace of Lasting Life (Changsheng dian 長生殿), this article examines how the figure of the living icon became a focal point in broader struggles to conceptualize the relationship between theater and rituals of mourning. Actors staged this complicated scene as an "auspicious sacrifice" (jiji 吉祭), one that foregrounds the transcendence of love over lifeless matter. Hong, conversely, insists on the function of the scene as an "unpropitious rite" (xiongdian 凶奠), a solemn meditation on mortality and the collective expression of grief. By redirecting focus from the object to the space and social dynamics of mourning, Hong questions the drive to bestow on things a life that is not their own. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its form, the term damnatio memoriae was never utilized in antiquity. It is invoked in relation to the Roman world to denote a series of intricate attacks on the memory of vanquished adversaries. This encompasses various public and political actions such as the obliteration of statues and monuments, as well as the effacing of inscriptions. Numerous literary instances, however, indicate that it served not merely as a means of annulment and oblivion, but as a tool for vilifying an enemy, ensuring they were remembered in the most negative light possible. In such a process, the individual's name becomes deeply entwined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1963 the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul purchased a female portrait of unknown provenance. It is clearly recut from an older head. In its final version, the head is late antique, but the recutting and the scarcity of comparable non-Imperial female portraits from this period have made a more secure dating difficult. Here the first half of the sixth-century ad is proposed. This article poses two main questions: 1) Is a non-Imperial female portrait in the round possible as late as the sixth century? 2) Could a woman in a period Shen covered dead were the norm, have herself portrayed with uncovered hair?

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The article profiles Joseph Brant, also known as The Most Painted Indian and the loyalist Mohawk leader of the American Revolution. Topics discussed include Sir William Johnson's role in the success seen by Brant in the Native American affairs, as well as the reason behind his popularity among hereditary chiefs, stories behind his portraits including that by Charles Willson Peale in 1797 and the history behind Brant's miniature engraving made out of ivory.

The article talks about the singularity of Manno Bandini's statue of Boniface VIII in Bologna, Italy. It discusses and comments on Carlo Ragghianti's essay about the statue. The differences between this statue and other portraits of Boniface, which stresses the image of the pontiff as the personification of the mystical body of the church, are discussed. The political significance of erecting a Boniface statue on the facade of the Palazzo della Biada and the message delivered by the sculptor's choice of material are discussed.

The article examines the Bonapartist commission to Canova for a portrait of the emperor's mother, Letizia Ramolino Bonaparte, as a sculpture with a subversive political subtext. It mentions that knowledge of the ancient Roman historians Suetonius and Tacitus essential to the success of Canova's subversion for immediate understanding of the statue's referent rendered Madame Mere either ambiguous or negative as an exaltation of the contemporary Imperial family. It emphasizes that the formal reliance of the pose of Canova's "Madame Mere" on the so-called "Capitoline Agrippina" initially led to charges of plagiarism, above all in France.