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Couch from the villa of Lucius Verus near Rome in the Metropolitan Museum
This couch is assembled from fragments, some of which come from the imperial villa of Lucius Verus near Rome and date to the 1st-2nd centuries AD. It is kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The glass inlay may not correspond to the original, but the bone panels are
NB! · Art · Observations · Mores
Banner of the Saint Petersburg Hairdressers' and Barbers' Guild, Founded in 1785
The badge of the Russian Craft Board of the Hairdressers' and Barbers' Guild, established on 26 April 1785. Tell me, am I the only one who finds it slightly ghoulish that a hairdresser's dummy is rendered as a living body, which looks lopped off and mounted
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Observations · Mores
The wealth of Prince Yusupov and the inheritance of Potemkin's nieces
Prince Nikolay Borisovich Yusupov, favourite of Catherine II and son of a governor of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, was so rich that he could not remember all his estates, which lay in almost every province of Russia. And when he was asked whether he owned land in such-and-such
Archive · Museums · Mores
Muriel Stella Williams's dress for the victory celebration of 11 November 1918
On 11 November 1918 a father brought Muriel Stella Williams, then two or three years old, to the Assembly Hall in Brimingham in this dress, made to mark the long-awaited victory. The description of the exhibit says that in honour of the occasion the little girl's skirt
Museums · Observations · Science · Mores
Nineteenth-century anatomical model with an erotic pose at the Museum of the History of Medicine of Catalonia
Can a dead body be sexually attractive? The makers of this anatomical model of the 1800s, from the Museum of the History of Medicine of Catalonia, expressed themselves on the matter quite unequivocally. It looks ghastly, of course, that this macabre woman with her disembowelled belly should have such a
NB! · Art · Mores · Ethnography
Peasant with a spoon in his cap, detail of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s painting “The Peasant Dance”
A sixteenth-century peasant with his spoon. Pieter Bruegel the Elder, detail from the painting "The Peasant Dance".
Observations · Mores · Humour
In 1872 a couple punished a rich bachelor by putting the husband in a dress in the wife's place
An Old Story: He, She and Her Lover... So, the year is 1872. A wealthy bachelor is pursuing a married woman with great persistence, and no refusals have the least effect on him. The spouses resolve to teach the ardent gentleman a lesson: he receives from her a perfumed letter
Faith · Science · Mores · Society · Rome
Pope Gregory XIII and the 1581 ban on Christian women nursing Jewish infants
Pope Gregory XIII was an enterprising persecutor of the Jews. He came up with the idea of compelling Jews to attend Sabbath sermons in Catholic churches, where they were to be imbued with the bright ideas of Christianity. Many, it is true, stopped up their ears with wax. Gregory'
Monarchies · Mores · Paris · Pop Culture · Saint Petersburg
In late 1782 Catherine the Great issued two "fashion" decrees at once, banning French toilettes at court
In late 1782 Catherine the Great issued two "fashion" decrees at once, banning French toilettes at court. The decrees of 23 October and 6 November 1782 limited the width of skirts and the height of the ornaments on gowns, which could no longer exceed two vershoks. Despite its
Science · Mores
Why Ice in Victorian Bars Remained a Rarity Because of Contaminated Water
By the 1840s American bartenders had already shown the British cocktails with ice, but the use of ice in Victorian bars remained a curiosity all the same. Strange as it may seem, many sensible people were extremely wary of drinking water, and equally of adding it to their drinks, even
Books · Observations · Mores · Society
Charles Dickens on Entertainment and Newspapers in “American Notes” of 1843
Is there no amusement here? Why, yes. Over the way, there is the lecture-room, from which shafts of light pour out, and then, three times a week or more, there are evening services for the ladies. For the young gentlemen there are the counting-house, the store and the