Franz

-Franz -weird history nerd and artist

[frnzbv]

Antinous, 10” x 10”, Lino block print

[ltwilliammowett]

Stained glass window in St Mary’s Church, Banbury - Pictured here is HMS Terror stuck in the ice. The images was taken from the Arctic reports and notebook of Admiral Sir George Back during his Arctic expedition in 1836. It was commissioned by Henry Back, the admiral’s brother and vicar of the church in c. 1860.

[thecollectibles]

Art by R Kikuo Johnson

[chamerionwrites]

“Crystalline Light,” reduction linocut, 2025. By William Hays

[dearparentheses]

Tokuhiro Kawai

[s4ltedcod]

gif-ing endurance dogs to deal with all my current problems

[history-of-fashion]

1620 Anthony van Dyck - Portrait of a Young Man & Portrait of a Young Woman

(Liechtenstein Museum)

[romanceyourdemons]

sometimes you just want to look at the qing dynasty jadeite cabbage again

[romanceyourdemons]

here she is!

[ID: a sculpture of a chinese cabbage carved from a piece of two-tone white-and-green jadeite, resting on an intricate wooden stand /end ID]

[ltwilliammowett]

This need to put a coin under a mast just won’t let me go. It is originally a Roman custom, as the Greeks also did and put the coins under the pillars of a temple when it was built to hope for protection and luck. This is also what the coin under the mast is said to do. However, there is one thing that may also play a role. A silver coin was placed under the tongue or on the eyes of a dead person so that he could pay Charon, the ferryman of the underworld, for his passage. If a ship sank, it was hardly possible to give a coin to the dead and not everyone had a coin directly with them when this happened. What if this coin was not only a good luck charm but also a means of payment for Charon when this happened? I will think about it further and read some books, maybe there is a clue for this thesis….

[verecunda]

Oh! Is this a widespread custom, then? I know I’ve read about a Roman shipwreck in the Thames that was found with a coin in the mast-step, but I didn’t realise it was a common thing. That was the first time I’d ever heard of it.

Interesting theory about it being intended to pay Charon!

[ltwilliammowett]

Oh that was even very common, so far 17 ships have been found with a coin, like this one

Dr. Deborah Carlson has written a very interesting article on this subject,  “Mast‐Step Coins among the Romans”  maybe you want to read more about it.

[velvetcloak]

Ottoman cape and vest, 1890s. Whitaker Auctions.

[tanuki-kimono]

Kitsune procession in the rain, and cute snail on basho leaves (Japanese fiber banana), rare summer man juban (seen on and on)

[frnzbv]

Finding the South Pole, lithograph.

Final piece in my print series on polar exploration.

[frnzbv]

Finding the Northwest Passage, lithograph.

Part of the printmaking series I did on historic polar exploration.

[frnzbv]

Remains of the Terra Nova Expedition copper etching, 8” x 10”. Including excerpts from Apsley Cherry Garrard’s book.

Part of my series of prints on historic polar exploration.

[frnzbv]

James Fitzjames jaw copper etching, 8” x 10”.

Part of a series of prints I did revolving around historic polar exploration.

[ancientcharm]

Colourful paint pigments preserved in their original pots.

Antiquarium of Pompeii 

[02void]

december 14th, 2025