My Disney Donald Duck Handkerchief 1950s

This is a wonderful vintage cotton hanky with Donald Duck and his three nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie on a nautical adventure. This little piece of Disney history would look wonderful framed in a vintage frame. It is signed C.Walt Disney Productions in the lower left, and measures about 8.5″ square. Aside from a single hole, the condition is very good.

Other Examples

These images are used to show examples of Donald Duck handkerchiefs:

Interesting Facts about Donald Duck

– Hake’s Americana & Collectibles has sold the first Donald Duck model sheet, created in 1934 for the Disney cartoon The Wise Little Hen, for a record-breaking $75,000.

– Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy.

– Donald Duck comics were never banned in Finland, because the character doesn’t wear pants. That is just an urban legend. In a meeting held in Helsinki regarding youth affairs a candidate for Finland’s liberal party, Markku Holopainen, proposed that the country save money and promote fitness by replacing the Donald Duck comics it was providing to youth with sports magazines, which were cheaper at the time. The proposition was heartily approved by all of those in attendance.

– Donald Duck is the mascot of the University of Oregon.

– Donald has a star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame.

– It has been said that Mickey Mouse represents what we should be, while Donald Duck represents what we are.

– Donald’s temperament is the one thing that stands between Donald and Daisy.

– He usually wears a sailor shirt, cap, and a red or black bow tie, but no trousers (except when he goes swimming).

– Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck are the sons of Della Duck (Donald Duck’s sister) and of her husband (who remains unknown). As identical triplets, Huey, Dewey and Louie are impossible to tell apart.

– Today, Donald Duck is recognized by people of all ages, the world over. His face appears on lunch boxes, T-shirts, and thousands of other products.

Donald Duck’s name in…

Arabic: بطوط (Buttoot)

Bulgarian:  Доналд Дък

Chinese: 唐老鴨 (Tang Lao Ya)

Czech: Kačer Donald

Danish: Anders And

Dutch: Donald Duck

Estonian: Piilupart Donald

Faeroese: Dunnaldur Dunna

Finnish: Aku Ankka

French: Donald Duck

German: Donald Duck

Greek: Ntonalt Ntak – Ντόναλντ Ντακ

Indonesian: Donal Bebek

Italian: Paolino Paperino

Japanese: ドナルドダック (Donarudo Dakku)

Korean: 도널드 덕

Latin: Donaldus Anas

Polish: Kacer Donald – Kaczor Donald

Portuguese: Pato Donald

Russian: Donald Dak – Дональд Дак

Sámi: Vulle Vuojaš

Serbo-Croatian: Paja Patak (Serbia); Pajo Patak (Bosnia/Croatia in ex-YU); Patak Pasko (Croatia today)

Slovene: Jaka Racman

Spanish: El Pato Donald

Swedish: Kalle Anka

Turkish: Vakvak Amca – Donald Amca

Vietnam: Vịt donald

Carl Barks

(27/03/1901 – 25/08/2000, EE.UU.)

Carl Barks is the foremost Duck artist of them all, and many consider him as the best comics creator of all time.

Ode to the Disney Ducks

by Carl Barks

They ride tall ships to the far away,

and see the long ago.

They walk where fabled people trod,

and Yetis trod the snow.

They meet the folks who live on stars,

and find them much like us,

With food and love and happiness

the things they most discuss.

The world is full of clans and cults

abuzz as angry bees,

And Junior Woodchucks snapping jeers

at Littlest Chickadees.

The ducks show us that part of life

is to forgive a slight.

That black eyes given in revenge

keep hatred burning bright.

So when our walks in sun or shade

pass graveyards filled by wars,

It’s nice to stop and read of ducks

whose battles leave no scars.

To read of ducks who parody

our vain attempts at glory,

They don’t exist, but somehow leave

us glad we bought their story.

Read Full Post »

My WMF bon-bon dish – 1910

This delightful silver-plated bon-bon dish featuring a simple and elegant design was manufactured by WMF (1) in Germany in the early 1910’s. Being a Biedermeier style piece, it is decorated with garlands of laurel leaves and flowers. Behind it, there is an oil on canvas painting by Carlos Miranda.

(1) WMF (Wurttembergische Metalwaren Fabrik) was by 1900 the world’s largest producer and exporter of household metal ware, mainly in classic Biedermeier and Rococo styles, very popular Jugendstil and Art Nouveau, and new twentieth-century German designs.

WMF Marks

Other Examples

These images are used to show examples of WMF dishes:

Biedermeier Style

“Bieder”: worthy, sedate, staid, also petit-bourgeois.

“Meier” : one of the commonest German surnames.

Biedermeier was an influential style from Germany and Austria during the years 1815 (Vienna Congress) and 1848 (the year of the European revolutions), based on utilitarian principles. The furniture, decorative arts, and paintings of the period reflected the taste of the newly emerging bourgeoisie. Emphasizing less extravagant means, a new standard of beauty was created through simplicity, proportion, utility and elegance. The Biedermeier style was a simplified interpretation of the influential French Empire Style of Napoleon I. The same style was known as Regency in England, Restoration in France, and Later Federal in USA, but Biedermeier was less ornate. The term became absorbed into foreign languages and from that point on signified a typically German style.

This style is associated with Germany’s greatest poet: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).

In 1776 Goethe stated that the power poetry (Dichtungskraft) needs an environment of familiarity and intimacy (Vertraulichkeit, Bedürfnis, Innigkeit).

Goethe and Friederike Brion

“Ah, this charm is absent from the halls of the palaces of the great and from their gardens, which have been created but as passage ways, as places in which vanity displays itself. The power of poetry only lives where familiarity, necessity and intimacy reign. Woe to the artist who leaves his hut to court distraction in the palaces of the academics.” “After Falconet and about Falconet” 1776

“Ach dieser Zauber ist’s, der aus den Sälen der Großen und aus ihren Gärten flieht, die nur zum Durchstreifen, nur zum Schauplatz der aneinander hinwischenden Eitelkeit ausstaffiert und beschnitten sind. Nur da, wo Vertraulichkeit, Bedürfnis, Innigkeit wohnen, wohnt alle Dichtungskraft, und weh dem Künstler, der seine Hütte verläßt, um in den akademischen Pranggebäuden sich zu verflattern! “Nach Falconet und über Falconet” 1776

Carlos Miranda

He was born in Córdoba, Argentina. His artwork is mostly made up of drawings and paintings around the social theme with forays into fantasy.

Read Full Post »

My Nippon porcelain vases – c.1900

Here is a pair of beautiful Nippon vases in a lovely celestial blue and pink pattern. The hand painted landscape scene depicts a lake, trees, a little house and a pretty sky. Both have the same image and both are painted this same way front and back. The moriage work is used to frame the landscape. The decoration is inspired by the late-Rococo porcelain styles of Germany and France. There is some loss of gold on the Japanese Chin (*) dog handles, and normal signs of wear as appropriate with age. Unmarked, but I believe this to be original Nippon porcelain from the late 19th Century or early 20th Century. Measurements: Height: 5.9″

(*) The Japanese Chin, also known as the Japanese Spaniel is another dog breed that resembles Chinese guardian lions , also called Fu (or Foo) Lions, and originates in China. Professor Ludvic von Schulmuth studied canine origins by studying the skeletal remains of dogs found in human settlements as long as ten thousand years ago. The Professor created a genealogical tree of Tibetan dogs that shows the “Gobi Desert Kitchen Midden Dog”, a scavenger, evolved into the “Small Soft-Coated Drop-Eared Hunting Dog”. From this dog evolved the Tibetan Spaniel, Pekingese, and Japanese Chin.

Nippon Porcelain

The Japanese did not begin exporting their porcelain until the 17th century. It was at that time that a civil war caused the Chinese exporting to halt, prompting the Dutch to convince the Japanese to begin exporting to fill the European demand for porcelain.

Nippon porcelain production began in 1891, when exporting to America was opened, and ended in 1921 when a tariff stating that items had to be plainly marked in English was enacted. The name Nippon simply means Japan. It is not a type of porcelain, but rather a time period that porcelain contained the mark of Nippon.

In general, unmarked Nippon is prior to March 1891; however, this is not a hard and fast rule. Until import laws were clarified, some USA ports allowed goods to enter the country as long as the crate or box was marked with the originating country.

In its day, the Nippon porcelain was inexpensive and often seen as not worthy of collecting. Today, it is not only popular in America, but also Japan and very expensive to collect.

Pieces such as vases, pots and plates were decorated using distinctive decorating techniques.  Nippon porcelain was wholly hand painted until 1904. After 1904, piece began appearing with decals and stencil designs.  Many of them were decorated using materials which are no longer available nowadays. It would be very difficult to bring these techniques and materials back into today’s ceramic industry. The decorating techniques include the following:

Moriage 盛り上げ

Moriage is the term used to describe the layering of small beads or lines of slip clay onto the surface of the pottery, vase or bowl to create three dimensional decorative effects.

There are three basic methods for applying the moriage designs. One is by hand rolling and shaping. The second makes use of tubing. The tubing was filled with softened clay and applied to the porcelain much as we decorate cakes today. The third technique is to reduce the clay to a liquid state and brush it on items. Moriage designs are innumerable and varied. They include border trimmings, lacy designs, and floral motifs.

Kin-mori 金盛 or Gold Moriage 金彩

The Moriage were often painted gold after the glaze had been applied, giving the pottery item a unique and special finish. The beads were all placed onto the pottery by hand before it was fired in the kiln. Later, when the mass production of such items was started, the addition of the slip clay beads was replaced by adding small dots of enamel which speeded up the production time of each of the items.

Jewel ジュエル

This is a raised decoration using glassy pigments that looks like a jewel embedded in the enamel. The colours used are red, yellow, blue, green, and pink. Also known as “Hoseki-mori”.

Cobalt コバルト

Cobalt blue was the primary blue pigment used in Chinese blue and white porcelain for centuries, beginning in the late 8th or early 9th century.

Cerulean blue is much used for colouring pottery, and consists of 79 parts of grey flux (fondant aux gris), 7 of carbonate of cobalt, 14 hydrated carbonate. The name of this 19th blue pigment was based on the Latin word “caeruleum” (sky or heavens) previously used in Classical Antiquity to refer to numerous blue pigments. The quite numerous versions of cobalt cerulean already offer quite a various range of undertones.

Designs デザインパターン

Images and patterns are drawn directly onto ceramics by highly skilled craftsmen. These designs are based on complicated, elegant curves and light pastel colours. The paintings were greatly influenced by traditional European decorative style.

Landscape 風景

Portrait ポートレート

Read Full Post »

My Armand Marseille Doll – 390 A11M

Here’s an excellent large example of the German bisque 390 by the Armand Marseille Porcelain Factory, Thuringia, Germany. She has a perfect face and blonde curly wig. Bisque (*) socket head is marked “Made in Germany 390 A11M” and she is 30″ tall.

The wood and composition body (**) is in nice condition, fingers and toes intact. The eyes sleep perfectly and all lid wax is retained. The brows are nicely feathered and she has painted lashes around her eyes. The lips are well shaped and outlined in red, her features are well defined. She wears a very appropriate white cotton dress.

(*) Bisque: A ceramic material that has a matte or unglazed surface. In finer antique dolls, it appears almost translucent. This type of material can be used for the entire body or only the doll’s head.

(**) Composition Body: is a type of material used for antique dolls heads and bodies. All companies tried to protect their techniques, and trade secrets. The detailed formulas or techniques are never expounded. It can be made out of wood pulp, glue, sawdust, flour, rags.

Armand Marseille

Armand Marseille, of Sonneberg & Koppelsdorf, Thuringia, Germany was one of the most common antique dolls that are found today. They made certain of their dolls, including the very plentiful 390 and 370 moulds, for a span of over 30 years, and a large variety of character dolls.

Armand was born in 1856 in St. Petersburg, Russia son of an architect, and immigrated to Germany with his family a short while after 1860. They were a Huguenot family, hence the name that sounds like a French name. In 1884 he bought the toy factory of Mathias Lambert in Sonneberg and in 1885 acquired the porcelain factory of Liebermann & Wegescher in Koppelsdorf.

Marseille produced dolls from 1885 until sometime in 1930. At the turn of the century, it is estimated that the AM production was over 1,000 heads a day.

Armand Marseille dolls are generally very clearly marked on the back of the bisque head; as an example: Armand Marseille- Germany-390 -A 11 M or something similar, where 390 is the mould number. Many of the dolls are marked with A M instead of Armand Marseille. The vast majority of AM heads are bisque. Armand Marseille supplied bisque heads to many American doll and toy companies and distributors, including Montgomery Ward, Arranbee, Louis Amberg, Wanamaker and Sears, to name just a few of the more familiar, and, interestingly, purchased most of their bodies from other makers.

Norman Percevel Rockwell

Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades. Among the best-known of Rockwell’s works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter, Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series.

In 1977, Rockwell received the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for his “vivid and affectionate portraits of our country.”

Norman Rockwell’s art reflected an intimate portrait of American life during the 20th century. His themes described universal human experiences ranging from touching moments of childhood to civil rights, America’s war on poverty, and the exploration of space. Norman Rockwell’s art relied on masterful technique, gifted storytelling, humor, compassion.

"Doctor and the Doll" by Norman Rockwell

“The doctor who applies his stethoscope to a young girl’s doll is attempting to acknowledge her world of enchantment. The expression on his face is as serious and concerned as it might be if he were examining the girl herself. Such a willingness to place professional expertise at the feet of childhood magic serves to remind us, again, of things we have forgotten: secret kingdoms inhabited by imaginary beings whose needs seemed as real as those of the people around us. Rockwell’s physician may appear to take the doll’s health seriously as an effort to gain the child’s confidence and trust, but his act of sympathy is also one of grace, accepting his patient’s needs with cheerful serenity.” Neil Harris, from Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People, 1999

"Doctor and Doll" by Norman Rockwell - 1942

“To us, illustration was an ennobling profession. That’s part of the reason I went into illustration. It was a profession with a great tradition, a profession I could be proud of.” Norman Rockwell

Read Full Post »

My Italian opera postcards

Postcards represent a major category in the world of old paper collectibles.
What to collect can be divided roughly into two categories. There are view-cards representing scenes of various locations, which form the bulk of cards produced. And then there are topicals that represent everything else. Topicals can be distinguished by their physical appearance, the method of printing, and most often the subject matter depicted. The topics that are popular with collectors constantly shift over time.
Opera cards fall into a number of categories: opera houses, opera singers, pictures of real productions or artist’s fantasies.
Within my online album you will find part of my opera’s postcard collection.
In the years before movies became ingrained in popular culture, opera played a more important role. Any educated person would have been familiar with at least the most well known operas, their composers, and major performers. G. Ricordi & Co. published hundreds of opera-themed postcards that the public collected and mailed with especial enthusiasm.
Casa Ricordi is a classical music publishing company founded in 1808 as G. Ricordi & Co. by violinist Giovanni Ricordi (1785-1853) in Milan, Italy. Its classical repertoire represents one of the important sources in the world through its publishing of Rossini, Mascagni, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, and Puccini.
The company decided in 1874 to create an in-house printing operation to promote its music. It began by installing the most advanced German lithographic presses and hiring a brilliant master, Adolf Hohenstein, to train a staff of Italian artists. Under the tutelage of Adolf Hohenstein, a brilliant stable of graphic artists emerged at Ricordi. Artists including Leonetto Cappiello, Luigi Emilio Caldanzano, Ludovico Cavaleri, Marcello Dudovich, Adolfo Hohenstein, Franz Laskoff, Achille Beltrame, Leopoldo Metlicovitz and Giovanni Mataloni brought Art Nouveau, known as Stile Liberty in Italy, to a world class level.
With almost two hundred years of history behind it, Casa Ricordi is the oldest Italian music publishing firm still in business.

“Iris” by Adolf Hohenstein and

Giovanni Maria Mataloni – 1898

This is the complete collection of postcards from Iris. These beautiful cards were designed by Adolf Hohenstein and Giovanni Maria Mataloni, for the world premiere of Iris. Art nouveau accents and neglected style combine to make this a truly special set. They were allegedly published twice, once with a blank back and once with a printed back.

Iris is an opera in three acts by Pietro Mascagni to an original Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. Its first performance was at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 22 November 1898.

Adolf Hohenstein (1854-1928)
Russian by birth, he studied art in Vienna, where he produced his first paintings. After numerous journeys (during which he stayed in India, where he decorated the homes of the local nobility), he arrived in Italy in 1879. He settled in Milan, the economic and industrial capital of the newly formed Italian state, and began working as a set designer and costumier at La Scala, with excellent results. This brought him into contact with important composers. Soon, however, he began working in the field of graphics, becoming coordinator of editorial promotion for Ricordi. Giulio Ricordi appointed him as art director, with a project that included the creation of covers for libretti and musical scores, posters, playbills and postcards. This was the context in which Hohenstein produced his designs, including those for Iris, La Bohème, Falstaff, Tosca and Madam Butterfly. Hohenstein was also responsible for the macabre deathbed sketches of Verdi drawn at various hours. He worked for Ricordi for about fifteen years. His cultured and refined style was never strongly influenced by the trends of the period: art nouveau, for example, makes an appearance only in a few decorative elements.

Giovanni Maria Mataloni (Roma, 1869-1944)
The imagery and chiaroscuro shadings typify not only Mataloni’s work but that of Metlicovitz and Dudovich from about 1898 to 1910. But far from being an imitator, he in fact preceded those colleagues at Ricordi printing, where he arrived in 1890. He brought Art Nouveau to Italy.

Metlicovitz’s art nouveau “Tosca” set – 1900

Here’s a set of the opera Tosca done by renowned illustrator Leon Metlicovitz, and published by Ricordi. It consists of twelve postcards. The images were originally created in watercolor form.

Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Victorien Sardou’s drama, La Tosca. The work premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on January 14, 1900.

The earliest postcards from this set are numbered:

060 – Tosca laying over Cavaradossi’s body.
061 – Angelotti, an escaped political prisoner, takes refuge in a side chapel.
062 – Tosca hovering over the tortured Cavaradossi.
063 – Tosca with knife after stabbing Scarpia.
064 – Inside the church.
065 – Tosca and the dead Cavaradossi alone on top of the Castel      Sant’Angelo.
066 – Scarpia offering his hand to Tosca.
067 – One of Scarpia’s henchmen delivering news.
068 – Cavaradossi painting while the sacristan looks on.
069 – Scarpia offering holy water to Tosca.
070 – Cavaradossi kissing Tosca.
071 – Cavaradossi in front of the firing squad.

Leopoldo Metlicovitz (Trieste, 1868 – 1944)
Like Hohenstein, he was a commercial artist, lithographer, painter, and graphic artist. He did many opera designs and many of his creations found their way to posters, postcards, and other paper media to advertise new operatic works or Italian products. His postcards can be identified by an “LM”.

“La Colonia Libera” by Achille Beltrame – 1899

Seven full-color souvenir postcards depicting the various scenes from the opera “La colonia Libera”, signed by Achille Beltrame.

Pietro Floridia (1860-1932)
Studied with Beniamino Cesi, Paolo Serrao and Lauro Rossi. As a young student he wrote and published several compositions for piano and at the age of 22 he produced his first opera “Carlotta Clepier”. After the Great success of “Maruzza” he composed “La Colonia Libera”, an opera based on Bret Harte’s “M’Liss” with libretto by Luigi Illica. This opera had its debut in Rome at the Costanzi theater (now called Teatro Dell’opera) on May 7Th 1899.

Achille Beltrame (Arzignano, Vicenza 1871 – Milan 1945)
A pupil of Giuseppe Bertini, in Milan, Achille Beltrame was the most famous and celebrated illustrator in Italy in the first half of the 20th Century. Beltrame edited most of the cover pages of the magazine “La Domenica del Corriere”, published by the Milanese newspaper “Il Corriere della Sera”, from its foundation in 1899 until 1945.

Read Full Post »

My Rosenthal porcelain trinket box – c.1920

This is a very decorative and highly collectible Rosenthal porcelain trinket box, beautiful decorated with wonderful roses on the top and sides, and gold adornment around the rim of the lid. The box is marked on the bottom with green printed marks “Rosenthal, Bavaria E” (1919-1935).

Some Examples of Rosenthal Boxes

Rosenthal, Design for Creative Consumers

Founded in 1879, Rosenthal has been Germany’s leading maker of fine porcelain for more than 125 years.

Rosenthal worked closely together with about 1000 designers, artists, architects and couturiers. These highly talented men came from all around the world and included such names as:

Bjoern Wiinblad (Denmark )

Constantin Holzer-Defanti (Austrian)

Ernst Wenck (Germany)

Ferdinand Liebermann (Germany)

Georg Küspert (Germany)

Gerhard Schliepstein (Germany)

Gianni Versace (Italy)

Hans Theo Baumann (Germany)

Raymond Loewy (France)

Raymond Peynet (France)

Richard Aigner (Germany)

Tapio Wirkkala (Findland)

Walter Gropius (Germany)

Andy Warhol (USA)

Read Full Post »

My problematical artifact – The Hookah

This problematical artifact may just be main body of a pipe water. Carefully hand crafted in copper, embellished with multi-colored gemstones (aquamarine, peridot and garnet), it is authentic down to the final detail. Send me your ideas and suggestions on this piece!

What is water pipe?

It is an ancient tradition enjoyed by the people of the Middle East. A water pipe or hookah operates by water-filtration and indirect heat. It can be used for smoking many substances, such as herbal fruits and tobacco. Originally the tradition consisted of smoking opium and hashish rather than tobacco, which was introduced to hookahs only after the discovery of America almost 5 centuries later as first tobacco leaves arrived from America to Europe in 1601.
This has many names, depending on region: calean , kalian, chichi, shesha, hookah, nargillah, arghille, habel-babel, hubbly-bubbly, and other names. Also the shape slightly differs from region to region. According to the oldest sources, hookah originated somewhere along the border with Pakistan, in Western India specifically known today as Gujarat and Rajasthan provinces about 900 years ago.

Hookah (Hindustani: हुक़्क़ा / حقّہ hukkah, and from Arabic شيشة). Is most commonly used in English for historical reasons. Hookah has become the standard name in English speaking countries. Sometimes it’s spelled hooka, hookkah, hukka, hookka.

In Pakistan and India

– Huqqa The original water pipe came from India, but it was rather primitive as it was made out of coconut shell. Its popularity spread to Iran and then to the rest of the Arab world.

In Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Somalia
– Shisha (شيشة) is from the Persian word shishe (شیشه, literally
translated as glass and not bottle).

In Armenia, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Israel, Bulgaria and Romania
– Nargileh  (نارگيله) derives from Sanskrit will nārikela (नारीकेल) , which became Persian word nārgil (نارگیل) or “coconut”. The spelling varies: argileh (Lebanon), narghile, nargila, argila and argile.

In Turkey
– Nargile When the water-pipe was brought to Anatolia in the 17th century, Turkish craftsmen found a new way through which they could display their skills. It was in Turkey that the nargile completed its revolution, and did not change its style for the last few hundred years. The nargile itself consists of 4 pieces which are as follows: Agizlik (mouthpiece), Lüle (the top of the nargile), Marpuç (the tube) and the Gövde (the body of the pipe which is filled with water). Water-pipes, made in Beykoz and İznik workshops were smokers’ favourites because of their decorative appearance.

In Iran, Russia, Ukraine, Lativa, Lithuania, Estonia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirgyzstan, Kazakhstan
– Ghalyun (غلیون ) also spelled ghalyan, ghalyaan or ghelyoon, which is apparently derived from Arabic aghla (“to make bubbles, to boil”).

In the rest of the territory of former Soviet Union
– кальян in Cyrillic alphabet.

In Afghanistan
– Chilam The hookah has been popular for some time, especially in Kabul .

In South Africa
–Hubble-bubble or Hubbly-bubbly Referring to bubbling noise.

Hookah in Images

Hookah in Art

Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904)

The Island by Lord Byron

XIX.
But here the herald of the self-same mouth [60]
Came breathing o’er the aromatic south,
Not like a “bed of violets” on the gale,
But such as wafts its cloud o’er grog or ale,
Borne from a short frail pipe, which yet had blown
Its gentle odours over either zone,
And, puffed where’er winds rise or waters roll,
Had wafted smoke from Portsmouth to the Pole,
Opposed its vapour as the lightning dashed,
And reeked, ‘midst mountain-billows, unabashed,
To AEolus a constant sacrifice,
Through every change of all the varying skies.
And what was he who bore it?–I may err,
But deem him sailor or philosopher.[61]
Sublime Tobacco! which from East to West
Cheers the tar’s labour or the Turkman’s rest;
Which on the Moslem’s ottoman divides
His hours, and rivals opium and his brides;
Magnificent in Stamboul, but less grand,
Though not less loved, in Wapping or the Strand;
Divine in hookas, glorious in a pipe,
When tipped with amber, mellow, rich, and ripe;
Like other charmers, wooing the caress,
More dazzlingly when daring in full dress;
Yet thy true lovers more admire by far
Thy naked beauties–Give me a cigar!

"Harem servant girl" by Paul Trouillebert -1874

Read Full Post »

My Victorian hat box – 19th

It is a wonderful Victorian hat-box with a hinged lid that fastens the box,with a lockable clasp and a strap and buckle which acts as a handle. The hat-box is intended to secure the safekeeping of finest hats, in the days when people traveled by ship, carriage or train.

Different types of hat boxes

Rita Preuss Paintings

Born in Germany in 1924.

Selbst Pinselkranz

Hutschachtel - 1987

Read Full Post »

My italian straw hat – c.1900

This is an genuine spring straw hat, made in Italy, and beautifully adorned with flowers of that period. Circa 1900

Straw Hats Examples

The Straw Industry in Italy

The demand for straw plait was driven by fashion. By the 1800s, the Italians had the largest European straw industry employing 80,000 people. The industry was centred in villages around Florence, but there were other centres in the Piedmont and around Venice.

Today…

Gallery of Art

 

Pierre Auguste Renoir - Luncheon at the Boating Party

 

 

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - French Impressionist Painter, (1841-1919)

Pimenov Jury – Russian painter (1903-1977)

George Romney (1734-1802) English portrait painter - Emma Hart in a Straw Hat

Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755–1842)

 

Read Full Post »

My Mercury bronze bust sculpture – 1900

Exceptional bronze sculpture, bust of the god Mercury (1) on wooden base. Unsigned, c.1900.

(1) In Roman religion, Mercury is the god of merchants, commonly identified with the Greek Hermes son of Zeus and Maia. A popular deity, Hermes was the messenger of the gods who often led men astray. He was god of travelers and roads, of luck, of music and eloquence, of merchants and commerce, of young men, and of cheats and thieves. He was credited with having invented the lyre and the shepherd’s flute. is sometimes depicted holding a purse, symbolic of his business functions. More often he is given the attributes of Hermes and portrayed wearing winged sandals or a winged cap and carrying a caduceus.

The God Mercury in Art

Metamorphoses by Ovid – BOOK II

Mercury sees Herse

The god with the caduceus lifted upwards on his paired wings and as he flew looked down on the Munychian fields, the land that Minerva loves, and on the groves of the cultured Lyceum. That day happened to be a festival of Pallas, when, by tradition, innocent girls carried the sacred mysteries to her temple, in flower-wreathed baskets, on their heads. The winged god saw them returning and flew towards them, not directly but in a curving flight, as a swift kite, spying out the sacrifical entrails, wheels above, still fearful of the priests crowding round the victim, but afraid to fly further off, circling eagerly on tilted wings over its hoped-for prey. So agile Mercury slanted in flight over the Athenian hill, spiraling on the same winds. As Lucifer shines more brightly than the other stars, and golden Phoebe outshines Lucifer, so Herse was pre-eminent among the virgin girls, the glory of that procession of her comrades. Jupiter’s son was astonished at her beauty, and, even though he hung in the air, he was inflamed. Just as when a lead shot is flung from a Balearic sling it flies on and becomes red hot, discovering heat in the clouds it did not have before. He altered course, leaving the sky, and heading towards earth, without disguising himself, he was so confident of his own looks. Nevertheless, even though it is so, he takes care to enhance them. He smooths his hair, and arranges his robe to hang neatly so that the golden hem will show, and has his polished wand, that induces or drives away sleep, in his right hand, and his winged sandals gleaming on his trim feet.

Mercury elicits the help of Aglauros

There were three rooms deep inside the house, decorated with tortoiseshell and ivory. Pandrosus had the right hand room, Aglauros the left, and Herse the room between. She of the left hand room first saw the god’s approach and dared to ask his name and the reason for his visit. The grandson of Atlas and Pleione replied “I am the one who carries my father’s messages through the air. My father is Jupiter himself. I won’t hide the reason. Only be loyal to your sister and consent to be called my child’s aunt. Herse is the reason I am here. I beg you to help a lover.” Aglauros looked at him with the same rapacious eyes with which she had lately looked into golden Minerva’s hidden secret, and she demanded a heavy weight of gold for her services. Meanwhile she compelled him to leave the house.

Puppenbrücke (Lübeck)

Puppenbrücke

Poem by Emanuel Geibel(1815-1884)

Zu Lübeck auf der Brücken
da steht der Gott Merkur.
Er zeigt in allen Stücken
olympische Figur.
Er wußte nicht von Hemden
in seiner Götterruh;
drum kehrt er allen Fremden
den bloßen Podex zu.

Other Mercurys

Mercury Temple in the Schwetzingen Castle

Read Full Post »