Clarity and obsession blur after midnight. Caffeinated collectors scour listings, unaware of the time. Is this piece real or fake? Let me examine the details. Oh no, did a major auction house get fooled by that guy again — the one who has a second-floor room two streets past obscurity? They did! Unbelievable. This scenario…
I wanted to examine this crown from a mythological and iconic perspective. A bird spreads its wings in front of the crown and two bird figures are placed on the left. These three bird figures are connected with palm branches and motifs Bird symbolism is used in Turkish culture and mythology, especially symbolizing…
By Nuray Bilgili I wanted to examine this crown from a mythological and iconic perspective. A bird spreads its wings in front of the crown and two bird figures are placed on the left. These three bird figures are connected with palm branches and motifs. Bird symbolism is used in Turkish culture and mythology,…
From Robert Zehil Gallery “Twenty years ago on December 2, 1997, I was visiting the Drouot salerooms in Paris when 1 noticed this superb comb in a display cabinet and coming up for auction the next day. Though it bore Becker’s monogram the auction catalog described it as being anonymous with an estimate of 2,000 francs…
There is an auction coming up of a Lucien Gaillard hair comb at invaluable.com. The link. Bidding starts at €500, with an estimate of €500 – €600. Perhaps the valuation comes because of its condition. Diagonal striations show in the horn above the tines from the right to the middle of the comb. The inside…
This diadem and its discs were discovered in August, 1929, during an archaeological excavation by Baron Kálmán in Miske, on the eastern spur of the Alps, in the area of St. Vid Hill in Velem, Hungary. It would have been part of the costume worn by a lady of high rank in the Late Bronze…
Pre-Columbian artifacts have not always been viewed as art. There was a window of time, c. 1930 – 1980, when these objects were also seen as innocuous goods to be freely traded and exhibited. In the royal palace of Brussels, Albrecht Dürer saw the “jewels, shields, and clothing” that had been sent, together with six…
From Japan: Edo Era comb, 18th Century, H: 8 cm. W: 12.2 cm. The plot is about 5 crows flying in the clouds at sunset. As was the style, the crows were not drawn in perspective. It is made of shell and encased in a metal frame. The crows are raised and painted with black…
From Japan: A transistor radio designed as an owl. c. 1960’s. H: 7 1/4 in. W: 4 1/2 in. D: 5 in. The tuner buttons also function as the owl’s eyes and turn red, when the radio is on. Owls have many more receptors in their eyes than humans, so they can see in the…
The Museum Showed the Comb Upside Down History is rarely told by the vanquished. If we find their story, we who live in the world of the conquerors don’t know how to read it. We highlight a big ship as the central character in an artwork, as did The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco….