That's How Thing Started...

‘Gus’

Tyrannosaurus rex, Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous (approximately 67 million years ago), Hell Creek Formation, Harding County, South Dakota, USA

This extraordinary fossil, excavated over field seasons in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

T. rex lived during the Late Cretaceous, in the Maastrichtian age, a time marked by warm climates, high sea levels, and rich coastal floodplains that supported an extraordinary diversity of life across what is now western North America. These environments, from river systems to open woodlands, created the ecological conditions in which large herbivores such as Triceratops and Edmontosaurus flourished, and in turn sustained apex predators like T. rex.

Today, T. rex reigns as the world’s most recognized dinosaur – a creature so embedded in popular consciousness, from blockbuster movies to children’s coloring books, that its silhouette is known worldwide. It is distinguished by an immense skull, deep‑rooted long teeth, and an exceptionally powerful bite, alongside a highly developed sense of smell and forward‑facing vision. Its massive hindlimbs and muscular tail suggest a predator built for bursts of speed and force. “Gus” would have sat right at the top of the ecosystem, using its strength, sharp senses, and adaptability to become one of the most powerful predators the world has ever seen.

A Caryatid seen from behind on the Acropolis,

The Caryatids of the Erechtheion were carved in the late 5th century BC at the height of Athens’ Golden Age. Far from the pale stone we see today, they were once painted in vivid colour, with bronze details woven into their hair and robes.

Today, five of the originals are housed safely in the Acropolis Museum in Athens. Their missing sister was taken by Lord Elgin in 1816 and remains in the British Museum.

The Caryatids were originally built to stand on the south porch of the Erechtheion temple on the Acropolis of Athens. That’s where they supported the roof for over 2,400 years.

This photograph captures one Caryatid gazing over Athens - strong, graceful, and still marked by absence.

A reminder that the debate over the Parthenon Marbles is not only about art, but about identity and return.

Bowl with Vegetal Scrolls

Iran, late 12th-early 13th century (Seljuk Period)

Fritware with turquoise-green glaze and white, red, and black overglaze.

Dimensions H: 3 3/4 × Diam: 7 3/16 in. (9.5 × 18.2 cm)

Mina’i is a modern collectors’ term for ceramics made in Iran during the late 12th to early 13th centuries. The term mina’i, translates as “enamelled” in Persian, designating the colored glass pigments used to paint detailed figural decoration on vessels or tiles, which were then fixed on the ceramic base by multiple firings. The use of a wide range of colors, including turquoise, red, green, purple, and black, also led these types of ceramics to be called by the Persian term “haft rang,” or “seven colors.”

This bowl is a type of mina’i ware called “lavjardina,” a term derived from the Persian word for the blue stone lapis lazuli (lavjard). Rather firing colors on a white background, lavjardina ceramics glazed color over a dark blue base. The patterning on this bowl incorporates a pattern of vegetal scrolls forming a central diamond.

Fang Harp, Gabon,

Originating in Gabon, the ngombi is an eight-stringed harp-zither associated with the Fang people, whose creation is as much an art form as a symbol.

Its shape represents a vibrating body, invested with a mediating function between the visible and the invisible.

At the heart of the syncretic male initiation rites of Bwiti or Sô, it structures the ritual, supports the spoken word, and orders sacred time.

The music produced by the strings was conceived as a "voice," a means of communication with the world of spirits and the deceased. Its sound is inscribed within a cosmology where music and transmission are one, reminding us that certain musical traditions constitute veritable systems of thought.

Fang harps rank among the rarest of objects; only a small number of comparable examples are currently recorded, notably one from the former collection of Mauricio and Emilia Lasansky, as well as those held at the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Madrid and the musée du quai Branly. This rarity likely stems from the ritual value of these objects, long kept from a profane view and carefully preserved.

Through its elegance and the remarkable quality of its carving, this harp stands as a masterpiece. Faithful to Fang aesthetic canons, at the intersection of sculpture and instrument, it powerfully expresses the excellence and depth of this artistic tradition.

Between form and resonance, between material and the invisible, it embodies a mode of thought in which the object is never reduced to itself, but becomes passage, voice, and memory.

H:  74.5 cm. (29 3⁄8 in.)

Rock Crystal Jar from the Galloway Hoard,

The Galloway Hoard was buried around 900 A.D., and contains an unprecedented assemblage of precious artifacts and materials from Ireland, Anglo-Saxon England, Persia and even as far as Central Asia.

The gold filigree-mounted rock crystal jar was of Anglo-Saxon manufacture, and the quality of materials and craftsmanship places among the greatest examples of Anglo-Saxon metal work. A Latin inscription on the base reading H Y G V A L D E P : F A C : I U S S (“Bishop Hyguald had me made”) identifies it as having come from a Northumbrian cathedral treasury, although no bishop named Hyguald has been found in the patchy surviving church records of the 9th century.

The rock crystal itself, however, long predates the gold mount. It was carved with lobes that when viewed upside down look like the acanthus leave layers of Corinthian column. The wear on the hard material and the great skill needed to carve it point to it having been made in the Roman Empire. It was the capital of miniature column — several of these objects are in the collection of the Vatican Museums — and bears a central drilled hole originally used to hold the column parts together.

It seems the carved crystal top, long separated from the rest of the column, was treasured as an heirloom for centuries. Hundreds of years later, it was flipped upside down and ornamented with gold in a unique filigree technique using spirals of twisted and plaited wire and granulation. The drilled hole was alighted with a gold spout. It was probably used to hold a small amount of liquid, a precious substance, perhaps a relic.

When it was placed in the fine silver pot with the other objects in the Galloway Hoard, the rock crystal jar was wrapped in linen, then placed inside a leather pouch lined with a layer of opulent samite (a decorated silk that originated in Asia or Byzantium).

Greek gold bee, Ca: 3rd or 2nd century BC,

This tiny sculpture, measuring only about 1.5 cm in length, likely served as a decorative ornament or pendant.

In Ancient Greece, honey was a vital sweetener and was often used in religious offerings to the gods, making bees highly regarded and frequently depicted in their art.

The Temple of Jupiter, Baalbek, Lebanon

It was once the largest Roman temple ever built, dedicated to the Roman god Jupiter.

Uffington White Horse, Berkshire Downs, Oxfordshire, England,

 Late Bronze Age or early Iron Age (c. 1380–550 BC)

It is a highly stylized prehistoric hill figure stretching approximately 110 metres (360 feet) long.

Carved into the upper slopes of White Horse Hill, it is the oldest chalk-cut figure in Britain.

Iggaak, Thule, Native American, ca. 800–1200,

Walrus ivory,  1 1/8 × 5 in. (2.9 × 12.7 cm),

These goggles were used to shield the eyes from windblown ice and the glare of the sun upon the Arctic snow. Significant to the owner or maker, engraved double lines, spikes, and linear projections form the border. The designs, along with the narrow eye openings, create a distinct appearance. Arctic peoples have made and worn such highly effective eyewear for centuries.

A white jade double gourd form snuff bottle, Qing dynasty (1644-1911).

Zoomorphic frog/avian pendant,

Veraguas, Panama, 800-1500 CE,

14k gold,

Standing dog with spouted tail,

Colima, Protoclassic, c. 100 BCE-250 CE,

Earthenware,

Kwele (Bakwele),

Rare and Exceptional dance mask, Gabon, c. 1900

Carved wood, native trade paints, charring, pigment,

Eagle-shaped Pottery Tripod

Neolithic, Yangshao Culture (c. 5,000-3,000 BCE)

Its body is smooth and without decoration. It is supported by three fulcrums - the thick legs and tail feathers. The form emphasizes the eagle’s inherent physical and spiritual characteristics and achieves a harmonious unity with the shape of the pottery tripod.

Unearthed in 1958 in Taiping Village, Hua County, Shaanxi Province,

It stands approximately 35.8 cm high with a mouth diameter of 23.3 cm.

Temple of Apollo, Side, Turkey,