Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads is an artwork by Chinese contemporary artist and political commentator, Ai Weiwei. The work comes in a small (gold) and large (bronze) version. Created in 2010, the zodiac heads (a Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig) are inspired by those which once comprised a water clock-fountain at the Old Summer Palace, which is a complex of palaces and gardens in Beijing that were constructed by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty. The Old Summer Palace was eventually destroyed by French and British troops in
The signed letter of Muhammad al-Mahdi The signed letter of Muhammad al-Mahdi In shia tradition, Tawqee (Arabic: توقیع ) refers to letters that were signed by the Twelve Imams, especially Muhammad al-Mahdi. Etymology of Tawqee is referred to Vaqa’a (Arabic: وقع) which means throwing. Other meaning of it is a sign of camel’s saddle on its body. According to this meaning, Tawqee was a signature of Caliph or rulers on the letter of complaint. For first time, the word of signature was seen in narration of Musa al-Kadhim that was a signature of him at end of the letter. Also, Tawqee with this meaning was seen