Goosemilk

Comb: ibex with a knee . Capra ibex nubiana. Madera . 

New Kingdom, Eighteenth Dynasty ( c . 1550-1425 BC.) .

 © Musée du Louvre , dist. RMN -GP / Christian Décamps

Illustrations of African blood-sucking flies other than mosquitoes and tsetse-flies

By Austen, E. E. (Ernest Edward), 1867-1938 

British Museum (Natural History). Dept. of Zoology. Publication info London,Printed by order of the Trustees,1909. BHL Collections: Smithsonian Libraries

Pablo Neruda, tr. by Paul Weinfield, from “Night on the Island,” (via violentwavesofemotion)

“Skin” Model: David McManley Photographer: Aquila Bersont

excuse me for a minute

~ Carvings ~

Sicily, Segesta AR Didrachm. ca 470-461 BC. Hound standing right, sniffing ground / SEGESTAZIB EMI (retrograde), head of nymph Segesta right, in fillet under which hair tucked up behind.

The island of Sicily has some of the most complicated history in terms of ethnic and political divisions from the archaic period of colonization through to the Roman period, but in some features, despite their differences, Sicilian poleis shared certain characteristics.

One of these characteristics was wealth. We have discussed previously that the quality of their coinage attests to this, but it can also be seen in the iconography on the coins. On this didrachm of Segesta, we can see one of the origins of this wealth, a hunting dog scenting an animal. Not only was hunting, for the acquisition of meat and hides a valuable enterprise for the community, but the dogs themselves seem to have been a product of the community. Cirneco dell'Etna dogs, a type of breed developed in antiquity on Sicily, were greatly desired as hunting dogs throughout the Mediterranean and especially in Egypt. They were bred to be able to sustain a hunt for hours without food and water and to be hardy enough to tackle the slopes of Etna. Segesta was especially proud of these dogs and advertised their breeding on their coins.

Roman mosaic.  Bibliothèque Infernale on FB

Excerpt from the Papyrus Harris 500, part of the “Songs of Pleasant Entertainment for Your Beloved, the Chosen of your Heart, When She Comes from the Field” in The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry, ed. W.K. Simpson (Yale University Press, 2003), pg 309.  

Quoted by Kasia Szpakowska in Daily Life in Ancient Egypt (2007), pg. 212.

(via boneandpapyrus)

A very special Art Nouveau tiara comprised of horn, gold, diamond and pearl. Maker’s mark for Paul-Gabriel Liénard and French control marks, circa 1900-1905

Earring, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Medium: Gold

Rogers Fund, 1935 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/323185

Untitled (?)

Zdzislaw Beksinski

Fluorite on Quartz matrix - La Viesca, Asturias, Spain

Lismore Crozier, Medieval Art

Medium: Bronze over wood

Rogers Fund, 1908 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/463132

Pyxis, The Cloisters

Medium: Elephant ivory

The Cloisters Collection, 1970 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/471973

weaving - Finland