Metaphysical Boundaries

Butter dish, Kyiv Porcelain Plant, 1849

The size and delicate decoration of this bottle are remarkable; few such large or painterly examples of enameled glass are known. The polychrome phoenix on the neck soars above the central scene of mounted warriors wielding maces, swords, and bows. The warriors might well be participants in a horsemanship exercise, outfitted as combatants from the rival Ilkhanid and Mamluk states. Apart from its astonishing technological accomplishment, evidenced by its size and variety of colors, the most extraordinary aspect of the bottle is its figural decoration.

Glenbow Museum

Of all the things you could list that would help humanity, a trillionaire who acknowledges that he is skeptical about philanthropy is Not one of them.

Images and text information courtesy The Met.

from The British Museum

This woodblock print by the Shin-hanga (New Print) virtuoso Shiro Kasamatsu (1898–1991), is titled "Shinshu Shirahone Onsen" (Shirahone Hot Spring in Shinshū)., 1935, Japan. The artwork captures the historic, hidden mountain onsen (hot spring) of Shirahone, nestled deep in the Japanese Alps of Nagano Prefecture (historically Shinshū). Famed for its opaque, milky-white thermal waters rich in calcium and magnesium, the spring is presented here as an idyllic, secret sanctuary.

Mermaid Forest by Jennifer Hrabota Lesser Studio

reblog if you're corny and insufferable

from The Musee de l'Armee