Books · Observations · Society

Interest in one's own history as a glance back after a fall at full stride

Klyuchevsky has these words:. "Why do people so love to study their past, their history? Probably for the same reason that a man who has stumbled in mid-stride likes, once he is back on his feet, to look round at the spot where he fell." When we

Aristocracy · Art · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Humour

Before you are two remarkably similar portraits

Before you are two remarkably similar portraits. The one in colour shows Charles II, King of England; the second, the English aristocrat and politician Charles Boyle. Evidently, Boyle commissioned an exact copy of the king's portrait, with his own head fitted on to it. The clothes, the pose,

NB! · Observations · Palaeontology · Nature

These organisms lived on the floor of an icy sea 550 million years ago

These organisms lived on the floor of an icy sea 550 million years ago. I do not know whether they are animals or plants, but they are very beautiful, especially Tumblina and Tamga. Were I a designer, I should pay particular attention to these little ones

NB! · Books · Observations · Palaeontology · Nature

Found a most interesting and charming book, "Ancient Monsters of Russia", and in it, vital information about mammoths

A miniature black coffin with a carved bone lid, and an open coffin with a bone skeleton against red lining.

NB! · Art · London · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

Miniature early 19th century coffin with skeleton sold at Sotheby's for £3,000

At Sotheby's this 15-centimetre memento mori souvenir from the kit of an early nineteenth-century English soldier sold for £3,000. A thoroughly disagreeable trinket, but there is no disputing about historical tastes..

Still life with a lidded clay jug, a pewter plate of stacked waffles, a plate of butter, an apple, a bread roll and a glass on a stone table.

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

German school still life of the early 17th century with waffles, beer, butter, an apple and a bread roll

German School. An abundant, even sumptuous table by the standards of the 1600s. Beer, butter, an apple, a bread roll, salt and plenty of wafers. Tell me, does anyone really need much more for happiness?

Observations · Mores · Pop Culture · Ethnography

Hallucinogenic ointments and the origin of the image of a witch on a broom

There is a version according to which the broom became one of the symbols of witchcraft not at all because it had long appeared in folklore in association with certain goddesses, but thanks to the use to which it was put in the fourteenth and fifteenth ce. It was then

Light blue satin breeches with buttons on the waistband, lace and embroidered cuffs lie in a box on white tissue paper.

NB! · Observations · Humour

Light blue breeches with lace, gold braid and floral embroidery

Well, what do you make of these culottes? I think one ought to take them

Faith · Observations · Science · Mores · Society

Britain's switch to the Gregorian calendar in 1752 and the 11 days that disappeared

On 2 September 1752 Great Britain switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian, some 170 years after Pope Gregory XIII proposed abandoning the outdated system of reckoning time. And so, in Britain in 1752, 2 September was followed directly by 14 September. Eleven days vanished from the history of

NB! · Aristocracy · Art · Observations · Humour

A charming Gothic-style chair from the study of the Comtesse d'Osmond

A charming Gothic-style chair from the study of the Comtesse d'Osmond. The work of Jacob Dismalter, a reproduction of around 1820. Terribly cool unicorns.

NB! · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

An eighteenth-century choker: a diamond-studded bonnet string from grandmother's cap

An eighteenth-century choker: a diamond-studded bonnet string from grandmother's cap. With a little imagination, one could play this up rather nicely. I picture Alla Verber in one, for instance. Or Evelina Khromchenko

Faith · Art · Observations · Humour

The Magi, called magicians and kings, and the three parts of the medieval world

At different times the Magi were called sorcerers and kings. And they represent, naturally, the three parts of the world known in the Middle Ages: Africa, Asia and Europe. Though, you know, I rather got carried away: Magi are all very well, but how are we to know what they