Untitled

[fripperiesandfobs]

Day dress, mid-1850′s

From Kerry Taylor Auctions

[a-full-moon-and-blooming-flowers]

Another beautiful gown for you to admire. I’m especially in love with the double layer of this dress and the gold details in contrast to the red.

[inhaletheswans]

“Cyclamen”, Johannes Hendrik Eversen, 1951.

[memories-of-ancients]

Gold and Ruby ring, Venice, Italy, 16th century

from The Ashmolean Museum

[cupofmeat]

Detail: reverse side of tent-stitch valance, England, late 16th/early 17th century.

[artschoolglasses]

Ring, German, Mid 16th Century

From the Victoria & Albert Museum

[artschoolglasses]

Ring, German, 1475-1525

From the Victoria & Albert Museum

[artschoolglasses]

Signet Ring, English, 1500-1600

From the Victoria & Albert Museum

[ltwilliammowett]

Two combined nocturnals, sundials and lunar volvelles, by Linge de Foy, 16th century

This navigation tool was used to calculate time at night. Similar to an astrolabe or a sundial clock. A pointer, much like a hand on a  clock, determines the time at night based on the position of the North  Star in relation to another constellation, such as Ursa Minor (the  Little Dipper).

[english-history-trip]

The Bristowe Hat, said to have belonged to Henry VIII. Legend has it that Henry threw the hat in the air in celebration after the surrender of Boulogne in 1544, and it was caught by Nicholas Bristowe, whose family kept it as an heirloom ever since.

While there is no way to verify this, it is recorded that Bristowe, as Clerk of the Wardrobe, received gifts of clothing from executed royal prisoners, including Thomas Cromwell.

[themonsterousregimentofwomens]

A series of engravings from 1883 depicting the Six Wives of Henry VIII

[english-history-trip]

A Tudor salt dish, made between 1530-1550. The item itself is made using salt-glaze pottery, where salt was thrown into the kiln during clay firing to create a glossy, orange-peel-like texture. Formed into the shape of a woman in Tudor clothing, it was glazed with polychrome brown with some yellow to highlight the decoration. Measuring 16.9cm high, salt would have been held in the little dish coming out from the dress of the lady. Salt was a very valuable commodity in the Tudor period, and ownership of it was often a status symbol. Henry VIII had multiple salt holders in his possession upon his death, and his daughter Elizabeth I granted a patent for a new type of iron pan in the 1560s intended to increase salt production in Tyneside. Much salt at this time was imported to London from France, but during the 16th century there was a boom in salt production in Scotland. This salt dish was found in Cardiff's High Street in 1892 when workmen were digging the foundations for a Lloyd's Bank. It was broken and the base has since been heavily restored with plaster of paris. It is held today at St Fagans Gweithdy gallery, Cardiff.

[ducissatenebrarum]

Muerte de San Inocencio. Estatua anónima de alabastro. Francia. 1520

[ducissatenebrarum]

Unexpected Beauty

A masterpiece of Baroque imagination.

Part satyr, part woodland spirit, this extraordinary 17th-century sculpture by Christof Angermair transforms ivory and stag antlers into something both powerful and poetic. The work feels almost alive—its expressive face emerging from nature itself, blurring the line between myth, artistry, and the natural world.

What fascinates me most is how perfectly this object embodies the spirit of its age. Created during a period that celebrated wonder, curiosity, and virtuoso craftsmanship, it is a reminder that great art often lives at the intersection of imagination and technical mastery.

The quality of the carving is astonishing. Every curl of the beard, every furrow of the brow, every contour of the face reveals the hand of a master sculptor. Yet it is the unexpected pairing of materials—precious ivory and rugged antlers—that elevates the piece from sculpture to revelation.

[ducissatenebrarum]

Skull brooch in 18-karat white gold and carved bone, set with diamonds, circa 1950s. Codognato. Courtesy of Alain Truong.

[ducissatenebrarum]

The Chariot of Death (detail)

Théophile Schuler, 1848.

[ducissatenebrarum]

Wool doll carried by a soldier as a protection amulet during World War I. England, 1914-1918

[requiem-on-water]

The Dancer (2012) by Amy Stauffer