Trinity miniature from the Rothschild Canticles (MS 404), made in Flanders, ca. 1300. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

Luna from "The Gods Who Preside Over the Planets" c. 1529 by Master I.B. German

•Ensemble.

Date: late 18th–19th century

Culture: Russian

Sphinx, Anonymous Italian Maker, 18th century, Jasper cameo on quartz. Metropolitan Museum of Art

Scanned from Yasuhiro Ishimoto 1948-1989 retrospective photobook.

"Berrak, the animal on which the Prophet visited heaven." The dervishes. 1868.

• Headdress.

Date: early 19th century

Culture: Russian

Azerbaijani painter writes Quran on transparent silk pages

Azerbaijani painter and decorative artist Tünzale Memmedzade has transcribed the Quran onto transparent silk pages. Memmedzade, a 33-year-old artist, used 50 meters of transparent black silk, and 1,500 milliliters of gold and silver inks in the project, which has taken three years to complete. (read more)