NB! · Art · Museums · People

The Aeroplane

The Aeroplane. Viktor Vasnetsov

Iron head cage made of metal bands with a hoop and a mouth plate, displayed in a museum case against blue and orange panels.

NB! · Museums · Mores · Society

Iron scold's bridle used on women accused of gossip in 17th-century England

In seventeenth-century England, this contraption was applied to women accused of gossiping: a metal frame fitted over the head made it impossible to open the mouth. A woman convicted of so nebulous an offence as tittle-tattle was required to walk through the town in such headgear

A hand holds a thick old book with a worn leather spine, with open books and a laptop in the background.

NB! · Observations · Humour

The author compares the time before leaving home to the thickness of an old book

How soon shall I leave the house? In about this long

Conical gold headpiece with figural relief scenes, openwork ornament and a Greek inscription around the body, displayed behind museum glass.

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Gold tiara of Saitaphernes with relief friezes and a Greek inscription

Old sepia photograph of a seated young bearded man in a suit and a taller bearded man standing beside him with a hand behind his back.

NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Nicholas II and George V on photo cards where they swap places

Nicholas II and George V are such fun, swapping places in identical photographs to confuse everyone around them: the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen of their day. I just cannot decide whether this is already "Papasha from the Posters" or still "Two: Me and My Shadow"

A black-and-white portrait of a woman in a dotted veil and glove, in an oval silver frame on a wooden shelf beside a stack of books, one marked “Dalí”.

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Oval silver frame with a portrait of a woman in a veil on a bookshelf

NB! · Paris · People · Pop Culture

Maya Plisetskaya's Balenciaga

NB! · Art · Moscow · Museums · Pop Culture

The beloved Alla Borisovna and Yevgeny Boldin, her husband from 1985 to 1993, in a photograph by Sergei Borisov

The beloved Alla Borisovna and Yevgeny Boldin, her husband from 1985 to 1993, in a photograph by Sergei Borisov. The photograph is shown at Borisov's exhibition at the Multimedia Art Museum

Black-and-white photo of a woman in a light suit and hat seated in an armchair in a salon with lacquer screens, bookshelves, a crystal chandelier and animal figures.

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Woman in a suit and hat in an interior with Chinese lacquer screens

NB! · Archive · Monarchies

Prince Christian and Princess Alexandrine Augusta of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the future King Christian X of Denmark and Queen Alexandrine

Prince Christian and Princess Alexandrine Augusta of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the future King Christian X of Denmark and Queen Alexandrine. The photograph was taken at Fredensborg Palace in 1903

Black-and-white photograph: a man in a coat and two girls, one in a headscarf, stand in a church before an ornate altar with a recumbent figure of Christ and a lace altar cloth.

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A man and two girls before an altar with a figure of the dead Christ

NB! · Archive · Art