NB! · Faith · Art · Moscow · Heritage

The Canopy over the Shrine of Metropolitan Peter

The canopy over the shrine of Metropolitan Peter. Russia, 1819. Dormition Cathedral, Moscow Kremlin

In a round hall with red niches and statues, visitors stand near a huge dark red porphyry bowl on a mosaic floor.

NB! · Archaeology · Faith · Art · Museums · Rome

Porphyry bowl from Nero's Golden Palace in the rotunda of a Vatican museum

Porphyry bowl from Nero's Golden House, with a circumference of 13 metres. It is now in the Michelangelo Simonetti rotunda of the Belvedere Palace in the Vatican, home to the Museo Pio-Clementino (the museum of Clement XIV and Pius VI)

Old photograph of a large two-handled porphyry vase on an octagonal base, captioned as in the National Museum in Naples.

NB! · Geography · Art

Porphyry vase and the porphyry deposit that belonged to Cleopatra

A vase of porphyry, the volcanic rock that turns red when polished. The material came into fashion from the 1st century BC. The only deposit of porphyry known at the dawn of the Era belonged to Cleopatra

A children's portrait with a goat in a gilded frame on a turquoise wall under a chandelier, with a chest of drawers, vases and statuettes below.

NB! · Art · Mores

Children as small adults in European portraits before the rise of Romanticism

Until the flowering of Romanticism, Europe had no tradition of portraying children in characteristically childlike guise. Children were regarded as grown-ups of small stature. Here is a fine example of a little auntie and a little uncle

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Monomakh was depicted in a two-tiered hat that looked more like a papal tiara than the Cap of Monomakh, which, according to legend, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX presented on a golden platter to his grandson Vovka

NB! · Faith · Art

The Magi and the Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus in Her Arms beneath the Star of Bethlehem, Set in Diamonds

The Magi and the Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus in her arms beneath the Star of Bethlehem, set in diamonds. Pendant, 15th century

NB! · Archive · Art · Paris

A Christmas Card of 1920 with a View of Paris

A Christmas card of 1920 with a view of Paris. Today is Eiffel's birthday

NB! · Art · Museums

A Swiss Army Knife of 1560

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Museums · People

Henry VIII's horned helmet, part of the armour given to the English king by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, sets one thinking about the relations and the predilections of both monarchs