ART 181

Fall 2015
Ancient Art Analysis Paper
50 points

Dr. Sara Meng

DUE: MWF 10/16

TR 10/15

Purpose: This paper will provide you with the opportunity to focus on an ancient culture or
period that interests you and to carefully analyze a work of art or artifact. (Your work may be
from either a Western or non-Western culture, but it should not date after 1300 CE.) It will also
require you to research the on-line collections database of a major museum.
Method:
Using the list below, select one of the museum websites, and from the museums on-line
collections database, select a single ancient artifact or work of art that interests you and
which is in that museums collection. (You must use the list provided!)
Be sure to include the title, culture, date, medium, and museum collection where it is
located in your paper.
After reading about the object, write a detailed description, using your own words. You
may need to do some additional research if the museum does not provide much
information. Consider style and the visual elements discussed at the beginning of the
semester. Is it intact or broken? What color(s) is it? Does it have a design or texture?
Describe your object as precisely and accurately as possible. Think about terms used in
class and discussed in the introductory section of your textbook.
How does the work reflect its particular period or culture?
What do you feel the work communicates and why?
Lastly, note the reason the object interests you. Did you select it because of the culture or
period, or because you like its form, material, or purpose?

Include a printout of your object and information from any website used for the paper, including
the selected museum website; I will return the paper to you if you do not include an image and
printouts of Web sources.
Choose your work from one of the following museum websites:

Boston Museum of Fine Art: http://www.mfa.org/collections

British Museum: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/world_cultures.aspx
The Louvre Museum: http://www.louvre.fr/en/departements
Metropolitan Museum of Art: http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collectiononline?tabname=department

Form: The paper should be well-written, must be at least 2 full, double-spaced, typed pages, and
include a bibliography to indicate sources employed for the image and information. Please use 12
font, 1 inch margins, and be sure to check for grammatical and typing errors, as points will be
deducted it they recur throughout. Use your own words for this assignment and not those of
another author; if you do quote another author or refer to his/her ideas, you must include an

endnote and be certain to include that source in the bibliography. Please use the MLA style; the
library homepage has guidelines on the various styles, including the MLA. (Go to
www.hacc.edu, click on Library, and then Citing Sources.) It also includes a guide on how to
properly cite a range of sources, such as books and websites. Regarding websites, consult only
authoritative sites, such as educational or museum; avoid .com sites, and if you are not certain,
please ask me. Do not use Wikipedia as a source for your paper, since anyone can edit an entry.
Plagiarism, or using the words or ideas of someone else without acknowledging it, is very serious
and will be dealt with accordingly; see statement in the syllabus. The following website provides
very helpful guidance on how to avoid plagiarizing:
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html

Helpful Hints:
*Watch out for typos and misspellings, please read over your paper before turning it in; the
Writing Center in Whitaker 122 can check papers for grammar.
*Its is a contraction for it is, while its is used to indicate possession (Its origin is
unknown.)
*Do not use the same word too often; it is better to vary words and phrases to make the paper
more interesting.
*Avoid writing too many short, choppy sentences.
*When writing about art, use verbs in the present tense to discuss actions shown in the work, but
use verbs in the past tense to discuss actions that have been completed by the artist:
Thutmose created the now famous bust of Nefertiti at his Amarna workshop.
Nefertiti wears a blue crown.

Initial

Emerging

Developed

Highly
Developed

1-3

5-7

10

Detailed written
description of an
ancient work of
art or artifact, not
dating after 1300
CE
Discussion of the
work reflecting
its particular
period or culture

Incomplete
description of
the work

Somewhat
detailed
description of
the work

Mostly thorough
description

Thorough
description

No discussion of
how the work
reflects its period
or culture

Some
discussion of
the appropriate
period or
culture

Mostly addresses
how the work
reflects its period
or culture

Personal
response to the
work (What do
you think it
communicates
and why? Why
did you select
it?)
Displays critical
writing and
thinking skills

Little or no
evidence of the
students own
views towards
the selected
work

Content
reflects some
personal
analysis of the
work

Content reflects a
thorough
personal analysis
of the work

Content reflects
the highest level
of demonstrating
how the work
reflects its period
or culture
Content reflects
the highest level
of developing
original thoughts

Little or no
evidence of the
students own
analytical and
critical thinking
skills
Written
presentation
contains many
grammatical
errors and/or
misspellings; the
paper is less than
1-1/2 pages in
length; sources
are not cited
properly; work
not selected from
list provided

Some evidence
of the students
own analytical
and critical
thinking skills

Content reflects
thorough original
analysis and
critical thinking

Written
presentation
contains some
grammatical
errors and/or
misspellings;
the paper is 11/2 pages in
length; sources
are not cited
properly

Written
presentation
contains a few
grammatical
errors and/or
misspellings; the
paper is mostly
two pages in
length; most
sources are cited
properly

Presentation of
written ideas;
follows specified
form; work
selected from list
provided;
includes citations
and a
bibliography

Essay reflects the

highest level of
developing an
original analysis
and use of critical
thinking
Written
presentation
contains no
grammatical
errors and/or
misspellings; the
paper is two
pages in length;
sources are cited
properly

Score