A young woman in a yellow skirt and white wrap sits at a dressing table with a mirror, while a man in dark clothes beside her holds a sheet of paper.

NB! · Art · Moscow · Observations · Mores · Humour

A lady at her dressing table in a painting by Nicolas Lancret, early 18th century

Spent half a day with Mamma in the cosmetics halls of TsUM and am already fit to advise Madame Geoffrin on matters of beauty. Nicolas Lancret, early eighteenth century

A hand-painted fan shaped like a bat with outspread dark blue wings dotted with small white stars.

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

Miniature Hand-Painted Fan in the Shape of a Bat, 1900

Found a splendid gift for witches of my acquaintance. A hand-painted miniature fan with a bat, 1900

NB! · Architecture · Observations

One of the principal rooms of a great country house: the red dining room

One of the principal rooms of a great country house is the red dining room. The rooms on the first floor are laid out in a circular enfilade, with the ballroom and banqueting hall at its centre. One must proceed anticlockwise)

Old handwritten land survey plan of Khmelita showing boundaries, fields, woods and inscriptions, hanging on a wall.

NB! · Archive · Maps · Museums · Observations · Heritage

Land survey plan of Khmelita and the 24,000 hectare area of the present-day museum reserve

Survey plan of the lands at Khmelita. Observe that not a single scrap of land went unclaimed: every last inch was made to yield a living. Today the historical, cultural and natural museum-reserve of Khmelita covers 24 thousand hectares

Aristocracy · Archive · Observations · Mores

Serf craftsmen at Khmelita supplied the whole household of the Griboyedovs

The "Economic Notes of the General Survey for Smolensk Province" of 1781 record that the inhabitants of Khmelita included:. "confectioners, distillers who make vodka of various sorts for household consumption, blacksmiths, locksmiths, joiners, cooks, weavers who make German tablecloths, painters, gilders, lacquerers, bookbinders, saddlers, cobblers, shoemakers, tailors

NB! · Architecture · Observations · Heritage

Khmelita's double-flight grand staircase was also destroyed: it beggars belief that anyone could have razed it to the ground!

Khmelita's double-flight grand staircase was also destroyed: it beggars belief that anyone could have razed it to the ground! But it really does say a great deal about our patriotism

Baroque palace with blue walls, white columns and a green roof under an overcast sky, with a lawn in front.

NB! · Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Reportage

A visit to Khmelita, the Griboyedovs' baroque palace in the Smolensk region

In September I had the good fortune to visit the Khmelita estate. I had long followed the fortunes of the Baroque palace of the Griboyedovs in the Smolensk region, yet I was surprised all the same by its beauty on making its personal acquaintance.

Close-up of a dark cracked surface with a white strip of paper showing printed text.

NB! · Books · Observations · Humour

Telescope made from an old scientific work with legible words colunt est

I have encountered all manner of uses for old books, but a telescope made from a scholarly treatise is a first. One can make out the words colunt est

An old telescope with a cracked dark tube and a brass guide rod in front of patterned wallpaper and a framed portrait with an inscription.

NB! · Museums · Observations · Science

Seventeenth-century telescope made of recycled paper with Latin text at the Jan Sobieski exhibition in Vienna

A seventeenth-century telescope is on display at the Jan Sobieski exhibition in Vienna. I do not know the story of its origin, but on closer inspection it is plain that the instrument is made of recycled paper with Latin text

Art · Monarchies · Museums · Observations

Two dresses of Catherine II, one with the Russian arms, one a Preobrazhensky Regiment uniform

Incidentally, both of the Empress's dresses are rather instructive as facts in the history of fashion. The first is of silver brocade with silver and gold embroidery. Over it Catherine wore a gold brocade mantle with black eagles. It was the first dress in history whose principal decorative

Books · Observations · Mores · Reportage

Visit to a warehouse sale of old things, furniture and books with a 1000 rouble entry fee

Went to a junk sale today. There is an organisation that collects unwanted things and furniture, free of charge or for a small sum for the items or the removal. This cast-off stuff ends up in a warehouse, for entry to which they charged 1000 roubles today, and after

NB! · Observations · Mores