Art History HQ

03/02/2024

British Museum have revealed a bumper haul of treasures found by the public. Finds reported to England’s Portable Antiquities Scheme include a medieval bone rosary bead and a 3,000-year-old gold dress fastener.

'Caroline Nunneley was mudlarking along the shore of the Thames in London – inching on her hands and knees while scanning the mud for archaeological finds – when she suddenly spotted a miniature human skull looking up at her. She picked up the small, exquisitely carved object and showed it to a friend. “We turned it over and we went: ‘Whoa.’ Because we hadn’t realised that there was a face on the other side.”

What they had found was a late medieval rosary bead, dating back possibly as far as 1450, that had been carved from bone and, thanks to the anaerobic river mud, perfectly preserved for five centuries.'

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/23/british-museum-reveals-bumper-haul-of-treasures-found-by-the-public

01/02/2024

Perhaps a souvenir from an exciting day at the chariot races in the Circus Maximus. The detail is amazing: a chariot race is taking place, with the spina, the carceres (starting gates), and even the heads of the spectators depicted.
Late 2nd-early 3rd c. CE.
BritishMuseum
via on X.com

26/09/2023

🔸An extraordinary Acheulean handaxe knapped around a fossil shell circa 500,000-300,000 years ago.

The maker appears to have deliberately flaked around the shell to preserve and place it in a central position. As a result this handaxe has been described as an early example of artistic thought.

From West Tofts, Norfolk.

📷 Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge

: Courtesy Alison Fisk

16/09/2023

28/07/2023

Before photography became most prevalent, Egyptologists would heavily rely on artists to document the relics and monuments of the ancient world. Even Howard Carter himself started his career as an artist, documenting what he saw before him in temples and tombs.

Here we see an example of the beautiful artwork of Émile Prisse d'Avennes (1807-1879), a French archaeologist, who in this piece, has documented various painted wooden spoons, which were fashionable during the New Kingdom period.

Such spoons would not be for eating, but for cosmetic usage. Perhaps pigments for make up would be held within as an Egyptian noblewoman was made up for the day. Some spoons also had a swivel lid and box compartment, to perhaps contain cosmetics or trinkets.

Read more:
https://egypt-museum.com/art-of-the-egyptologist/

26/07/2023