Flora Fauna Faces Font Friday
From the Public Domain Review This 17th-century alphabet seems to show grotesque vegetation, animals and even humans in its forms, reminiscent of DeepDream imaging. An Alphabet of Organic Type (ca.1650) A series of stunning prints – titled Libellus Novus Elementorum Latinorum – designed by the Polish goldsmith Jan Christian Bierpfaff (1600-ca.1690) and engraved by […]
Kintsugi: The Art of Broken Pieces
by Christopher Jobson from colossal.com Wikipedia Kintsugi (or kintsukuroi) is a Japanese method for repairing broken ceramics with a special lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum. The philosophy behind the technique is to recognize the history of the object and to visibly incorporate the repair into the new piece instead of disguising it. The […]
Medieval Bling: Skeletons Encrusted in Jewels and Gold
From hyperallergic.com: St. Valerius in Weyarn (all images copyright Paul Koudounaries and courtesy Thames & Hudson) In a forthcoming book titled Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures & Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs, Los Angeles photographer Paul Koudounaris brings before his lens bejeweled skeletons long-lost in the catacombs of Rome. The remains were first unearthed in 1578, when […]
A pristine ‘temple of the dead’ has been uncovered in Peru
By George Dvorsky from Gizmodo.com: A massive royal Wari tomb has been unearthed in Peru — and it’s full of mummies and artifacts made of silver and gold. Remarkably, the 1,200 year-old site has never been touched by looters, which is a rarity as far as these things go. Above image: A pair of heavy gold-and-silver […]
Minuscule yet functional gold skeleton expected to sell for $150-250,000 at Sotheby’s
By Alexis Coe from The Awl: In 1896, Israel Rouchomovsky, in Odessa, completed a 3-1/2 inch gold skeleton with 167 parts. It had taken five long years to create a fully articulated rendering, and he took particular delight in the lower jaw, which opened and shut. In Rouchomovsky’s memoirs, he wrote that he was truly satisfied […]