Treasures of heaven : saints, relics, and devotion in medieval Europe / edited by Martina Bagnoli [and others].

Issued in connection with an exhibition held Oct. 17, 2010-Jan. 17, 2011, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Feb. 13-May 15, 2011, the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, and June 23-Oct. 9, 2011, the British Museum, London.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 238-246) and index.

From tomb to altar -- Gathering the saints -- Ritual and performance -- Matter of faith -- Beyond the Middle Ages.

Drawing together an array of treasured objects from collections throughout Europe and the United States, this beautifully illustrated volume examines the medieval cult of relics- the physical remains of holy men and women, and things associated with them. Relics connected Christian faithful with sacred places and people who died as martyrs of their faith. Believed to contain the same power that had animated saints during their lifetime, relics bridged the gap between heaven and earth. To signal their sacred nature, medieval artists fashioned special containers for relics in precious materials and encrusted them with gems. Enshrined in alters of churches and used in the liturgy as well as in public rituals, relics functioned as objects of public and private devotion, carried home from pilgrimages to the Holy Land and sites throughout Europe or worn on the body as protective amulets enclosed in rings or pendants. In essays and catalogue entries, an international group of scholars traces the making of reliquaries from the earliest days of Christianity to the apogee of the practice in the sixteenth century, exploring how medieval artists invented new ways to express the power of sacred remains and the role that relics played in the development of the visual arts in both Eastern Christianity (Byzantium) and Western Christendom. This book also tracks the fate of relics and reliquaries in the wake of the Reformation, anti-clerical movements, and the French Revolution. This book sheds fascinating new light on some 140 extraordinary and rare reliquaries and related objects, including precious metalwork, paintings, sculptures, and illuminated manuscripts, from sources ranging from the Lateran Palace in Rome to European cathedral treasuries and small parish churches. -- from Book Jacket.

Yoga : the art of transformation / Debra Diamond ; David Gordon White, Tamara I. Sears, Carl W. Ernst, James Mallinson, Joseph S. Alter, Mark Singleton, Sita Reddy ; with contributions by Molly Emma Aitken ... et al.

"Published by the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery on the occasion of the exhibition Yoga: The Art of Transformation, October 19, 2013 - January 26, 2014. Organized by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the exhibition travels to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, February 22-May 18, 2014, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, June 22-September 7, 2014."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 318-319) and index.

Essays :  Yoga: the art of transformation /  Debra Diamond --  Yoga in transformation /  David Gordon White --  From guru to god: yogic prowess and places of practice in early-medieval India /  Tamara I. Sears --  Muslim interpreters of yoga /  Carl W. Ernst --  Yogis in Mughal India /  James Mallinson --  Yoga, bodybuilding, and wrestling: metaphysical fitness /  Joseph S. Alter --  Globalized modern yoga /  Mark Singleton.

Catalogue. pt. 1. The path of yoga. Manifestations of Shiva ; Portraying the guru ; Yoginis ; Nath Siddhas ; Jain yoga: nonviolence for karmic purification ; Yoga and tapas: the Buddhists and Ajivikas ; Austerities ; Meditation ; Asana ; The cosmic body ; The subtle body ; The militant ascetic body ; Illusion and reality in the Yoga vasishta -- pt. 2. Landscapes of yoga. Ashram and math ; Pilgrimage ; The cremation ground -- pt. 3. Yoga in the Indian imagination, 16th-19th century. Yogis in the literary imagination ; Transcendence and desire in Ragamala paintings ; Mughal albums -- pt. 4. Yoga in the transnational imagination, 18th-20th century. Company paintings ; Colonial photography ; The bed of nails: the exotic across borders and media ; Fakirs, fakers, and magic -- pt. 5. Modern transformations. Vivekananda and rational spirituality ; Medical yoga ; Modern postural yoga.

Yoga: The Art of Transformation is the companion book to the first ever exhibition of the visual history of yoga, a discipline that is thousands of years old and practiced today by millions of people. Like the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery exhibit, this large pictorial uses a wealth of materials from ancient stone and bronze temple sculptures to early 20th century photographs to illuminate yoga's central tenets and its still partly un-delineated traditions. Explore the discipline's goals of spiritual enlightenment, worldly power, and health and well-being through the beauty and profundity of Indian art.