#1580

Bird

Rock crystal, with gilded silver and rubies. German, Nuremberg ca. 1580, with later renovation

In the 1500s, rock crystal was priced at its weight in gold. The material’s extreme hardness allows it to be worked—cut, carved, or drilled—without shattering, while at its finest, as here, it is luminous and transparent. Through artistry, a pricey mass of heavy pure quartz has here been transformed into a seemingly weightless bird, complete with beady eyes of ruby and a collar and legs of gilded silver.

Mártus from Arknights

"Sage, traitor, hero, villain. The many identities of Mártus are inherently contradictory, but he considers himself only "Seaborn." The ocean belonged to Ægir, until Mártus made it the nutrient for new life, and from its blue depths sprang the children of the sea."

Ceremonial Mace, Italian, 1560-80

#1580