Finnishyourcheese

theartofgooglebooks:

A library paper punch adds stars to illustrated constellations.

From Salt-water Poems and Ballads by John Masefiel (1916). Original from Harvard University. Digitized March 27, 2006.

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Netsuke

Japan, 19th century

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art

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Trumpet

Moche, 200-600 AD

The National Museum of the American Indian

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Bookend

France, 1930

1stdibs.com

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Venus Riding a Chariot

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, 1774

The Hermitage Museum

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Chandelier

France, 1900-1910

1stdibs.com

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Candlestick

America, 1830-1855

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Desk and Chair

Carlo Bugatti, 1890

1stdibs.com

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Long-Stemmed Goblet

Friedrich Zitzman, 1900

The Minneapolis Institute of Art

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Canoe Prow

Papua New Guinea (New Ireland), 20th century

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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Mask

Godogala, early 20th century

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

“In the past, the art of the Gogodala people centered largely on two major themes, the ornamentation of canoes and the creation of ritual paraphernalia for aida, a complex ceremonial cycle that culminated in male initiation, which honored the supernatural heroes who established Gogodala culture. Among the most engagingn creations of Gogodala artists were small wood heads (ganabi), which were typically attached to larger works such as masks, ceremonial rattles, and canoe prows. This head likely once adorned a ligale, a large oval dance mask worn during the aida rites. The heads on ligale represented primordial totemic ancestors or clan founders, shown with the distinctive conical basketry hats (diba) worn by Gogodala men. Presented at initiation, the diba was permanently affixed to the top of the head and protected the wearer from malevolent spirits, who were believed to enter the body through the hair. Largely abandoned in the 1930s due to the influence of Christian missionaries, many Gogodala art forms were revived in the 1970s and continue today.”

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Diana with Fawns

France, 1930s

Christie’s

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Thunderbird Giving Birth to the First Man

Ellen Neel, 1950-1966

The Royal Ontario Museum

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Tankard

England, 1548-1549

The British Museum

“By the second quarter of the sixteenth century, Venetian glassmakers had developed an entirely new type of decoration, composed of opaque-white lattimo (‘milky’) canes which are actually embedded in the glass itself. In the simplest use of the technique (a fili), white canes are incorporated into the colourless body of the glass, forming a series of parallel lines. In a more complex decorative scheme, the plain white canes (a fili) alternate with canes of twisted pattern (a retorti). This tankard features blue and white vetro a retorti

The decorative glass made in Venice and in northern Europe in the‘façon de Venise’, was highly valued in England from the mid-sixteenth century; a number are listed in royal inventories, mounted in silver gilt. Although the technique of this tankard is of Venetian glass, the form is derived from contemporary northern European pottery, particularly of the type known as ‘Malling’ tankards. Documents record that in 1549 there were eight glassmakers from Murano (Venice) working under contract in London: it seems likely that this is one of their products.”

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Tea Service

Paul Revere, 1792

The Art Institute of Minneapolis