NB! · The East · Art · Museums · Observations · Paris · Humour

To gauge the level of early medieval Japanese sculpture, simply compare these wooden guardians with, say, the French statue of Adam from the 12th century in the Musée de Cluny

NB! · Aristocracy · Art · People

Baroness Natalya Mikhailovna Stroganova (1743 - 1819)

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Books · Museums

A medieval portable bookcase in the form of a chest on a pole, from Hereford Cathedral, the very one that houses the famous chained library

A chain of red-orange coral links with a carved cross, lying in a museum display case.

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Museums

Coral chain of the Order of the Holy Spirit that belonged to Louis XVI

The collar of the highest French order, that of the Holy Spirit, made of coral and belonging to Louis XVI. The other members of the order had to make do with something plainer: gold and enamel

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

In the month named after Mars, let us remember the god of war and the patron god of the Eternal City

In the month named after Mars, let us remember the god of war and the patron god of the Eternal City. The front face of the altar from the Ostian portico of AD 124, with its bas-relief of Mars, Venus and a goose, has survived rather badly, having probably

NB! · Art · Nature

Wenzel Jamnitzer's Daphne stands on the earth, at once showing her kinship with nature and paying tribute to the earthly metamorphoses that people turn into art

Wenzel Jamnitzer's Daphne stands on the earth, at once showing her kinship with nature and paying tribute to the earthly metamorphoses that people turn into art. A most interesting find: the clods of earth are made of uncut quartz crystals and are almost indistinguishable from the real substrate.

NB! · Faith · Museums · Heritage · People

The terrifying mask of the Scottish prophet lay hidden for hundreds of years, kept in secret by the Peden family as the most precious relic of their famous forebear, and was shown to the public only in 1840

The terrifying mask of the Scottish prophet lay hidden for hundreds of years, kept in secret by the Peden family as the most precious relic of their famous forebear, and was shown to the public only in 1840. It is now on display in the National Museum of Scotland

NB! · Archive · Science · Humour

It is hard to believe this invention did not become the most popular in history

It is hard to believe this invention did not become the most popular in history. A contrivance for descending from the upper floors without a staircase! GE-NI-AL!

NB! · Archaeology · Faith · Art

The Stoibadeion: a phallus on a pedestal adorned with a relief of a cock with a penis for a head

The Stoibadeion, a phallus on a pedestal adorned with a relief of a cock with a penis for a head. One of two sculptures beside the sanctuary of Dionysus on the island of Delos. He was patron not only of parties but also of fertility, and was associated with phallic

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Museums · Rome

Cupid and Psyche, 4th century AD, Ostia Antica

NB! · The East · Art · Museums · Observations

Tutankhamun's child's chair, ebony, bronze, gold, ivory

Tutankhamun's child's chair, ebony, bronze, gold, ivory. The armrests are adorned with gold plates depicting antelopes and plants. How utterly charming

Bedroom with two beds, green fern-pattern wallpaper, a bay window, a polished wardrobe and framed portraits on the walls.

NB! · Archive · Moscow · Mores · People

Interiors of Andropov's flat on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, photographed in 1984

Andropov's flat at 26 Kutuzovsky Prospekt. The photographs were taken in 1984, after the death of the General Secretary