NB! · The East

Oriental tales, why are you making eyes at me

NB! · Architecture · Cinema · Books · Observations · Humour

Episode 1 of Game of Thrones recalled Chetham's Library in Manchester: the same little gates as in the Citadel, though here they went further and chained the books down, and in place of Samwell Tarly it was Karl Marx who sat up late

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Heritage · Humour

The marble lions that lay for 409 years at the foot of the tomb of the French king Charles V and vanished from Saint-Denis in the years of the Revolution, were found 200 years later and sold at auction for £9 million

NB! · Faith · Art · Observations

A woman, whatever we choose to call her, cares for her beauty: in one hand a comb, in the other, presumably, a mirror

A woman, whatever we choose to call her, cares for her beauty: in one hand a comb, in the other, presumably, a mirror. The most interesting thing is that this pair comes from the church where Shakespeare lies with his wife

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Art

Carving of Sea Creatures in a Twelfth-Century English Church

Pencil sketch of the Bastille with labelled towers and a note giving a length of about 42 toises.

NB! · Art · Observations · Mores · Humour

Victor Hugo's drawing of the Bastille, known to him only from paintings

Today is Bastille Day, when my neighbour from the 3rd entrance, Uncle Lyonya, used to get drunk and bellow "A young Cossack strolls along the Don". This is Victor Hugo's drawing of the Bastille, which he knew only from paintings, but it looks rather like it

A row of metal manicure tools on red velvet, twisted reconstructions on the left and old originals on the right

NB! · Archaeology · Observations · Mores · Humour

Original and reconstructed tools of a medieval manicure set

Looking at this manicure set (originals on the right, reconstructed tools on the left), I would not wish life in the Middle Ages on anyone!!! anyone!!! Well, except Louis-Philippe and Yana Rudkovskaya

A dark child's shoe with an embroidered cat face: large round eyes, lashes, ears and a tassel for whiskers.

NB! · The East · Observations · Ethnography

Chinese child's shoe of 1926 with a cat face as a charm against evil spirits

A child's shoe from China, 1926. The cat fooled evil spirits and kept the child safe. It brings a lump to the throat: my grandmother sewed me just such shoes when I was little, as her own grandmother had sewn them for her in her day

NB! · Art · Observations · Pop Culture

thanks to Vogue for the good pictures from the Dolce & Gabbana show; below: nineteenth-century fish earrings, a Schiaparelli brooch and the Dolce & Gabbana lobsters in real life

thanks to Vogue for the good pictures from the Dolce & Gabbana show; below: nineteenth-century fish earrings, a Schiaparelli brooch and the Dolce & Gabbana lobsters in real life. Polyvore, forgive me!

NB! · Archaeology · Mores

Traces of a Child in Sandals and a Puppy on a Tile of the 1st Century AD

Engraving of a king seated on a throne under a canopy, with a crowned man kneeling before him and courtiers standing around.

NB! · Archive · Art · Monarchies

Richard II confers knighthood on four Irish kings

Richard II knights the Irish kings of Connacht, Ulster, Thomond and Leinster. In the first place, it is beautiful..

Black-and-white engraving: a man chained to a stake burns in tall flames; around him are a crowd, horsemen and guards with pikes, with an arcaded building behind.

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