Bronze statuette of Venus

This statuette has been dated to 2nd century AD and is probably Roman although it was found in Greece in 1791. It's in perfect condition albeit the huge hole in it's hip. How that happened is anybody's guess. It was probably some adornment that fell off and left the gaping hole.

The Medici Valencian Vase

The beautiful vase above is an example of lustreware, a kind of shiny ornamental vases with strong islamic flavor. This type of art was found in Spain during the 1400s and even much later, long after the moslems had been vanquished, however their artistic influence lived on for centuries after that and is apparent in the mosiac architecture of Spain.

Lying Scale

Thutmose III Blue Glass Eyptian Jug

This beauty resides in the British Museum in London.  This is what the description says:

This jug is one of the earliest Egyptian glass vessels to have been found. The few glass beads of the Old Kingdom (about 2613-2160 BC), made a thousand years earlier, seem to have been the result of a mistake in the similar process of faience manufacture. The Egyptians began producing glass in quantity in the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC). The technique was perhaps brought to Egypt by Syrian craftsmen, as its introduction seems to coincide with the successful Syrian campaigns of Thutmose III.

John Constable's Clouds

If you look at this pic long enough, you will keep seeing different shapes in the clouds. Constable painted this in water colors in 1871.

Hildegard von Bingen ............ one

There's something about medieval tunes that gets me going. This piece is from Hildegard von Bingen or Saint Hildegard as she is known. (1098-1179.   St.Hildegard was a nun who was also a composer and   a  poet.... it is also believed she wrote several plays .... religious ones of course, but very few have survived.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M48_LZUpo0Q

All life is dangerous

All life is dangerous. We forget that, we who have been reared in one of the small pockets of civilisation. For that is all that civilisation really is. Small pockets of men here and there who have gathered together for mutual protection and who thereby are able to outwit and control Nature. They have beaten the jungle - but that victory is only temporary. At any moment, the jungle will once more take command. Proud cities that were, are now mere mounds of earth, overgrown with rank vegetation, and the poor hovels of men who just manage to keep alive, no more. Life is always dangerous - never forget that. In the end, perhaps, not only great natural forces, but the work of our own hands may destroy it. We are very near to that happening at this moment. from The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie

The astral beauty of the Marble Statue of Venus

Marble statue of Venus - sculpted probably in Rome between AD 100-150 and found when digging in Lazio, Italy. British excavators found this beautiful piece when digging at the site of a Roman villa in 1794.

The beautiful face of the statue has been copied several times after it's discovery and although some areas of the statue had to be restored the head was very well preserved.

This statue now resides at the Royal Museum in London.   I have seen it and it's a thing of sublime beauty.

The beauty of the Portland Vase

You must have heard about this very famous piece. It now resides in the Royal British museum in England. It is supposed to have been the property of a Cardinal residing in Rome some 400 years ago.

Experts place the origins of this beauty to the era AD 5-25. I believe such objects of beauty were commissioned to pottery makers by rich folks and were given as wedding gifts. Vases showing  a man and a woman with a mythical figure thrown in plus an angel or a kid skipping around, then it was surely meant to be gifted at a wedding with blessings  that  the union bears children.

Many, many replicas of this vase are found all over. When next you go to London, go look on this divine piece and marvel at it's beauty.

Every time I look upon the vase above  it  sends a tingle up my leg.

My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is ... last 2 verses

Sir Edward Dyer        1550 - 1607 

Some weigh their pleasure by their lust,
Their wisdom by their rage of will;
Their treasure is their only trust;
A cloaked craft their store of skill:
But all the pleasure that I find
Is to maintain a quiet mind.


My wealth is health and perfect ease;
My conscience clear my chief defence;
I neither seek by bribes to please,
Nor by deceit to breed offence:
Thus do I live; thus will I die;
Would all did so as well as I  !      


Blogger's note:
Many scholars hold the belief that this poem attributed to Sir Edward Dyer was not written by him.  I have read a bit of Dyer's biography and have come away with the thought that even if this poem was written by de Vere, as most seem to think,  it is best suited for the kind of personality Dyer had.

Maxine has it right as usual !!

My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is .... verses 5 and 6

By Edward Dyer ... 1550  - 1607           Verses 5 and 6


Some have too much, yet still do crave;
I little have, and seek no more.
They are but poor, though much they have,
And I am rich with little store;
They poor, I rich; they beg, I give;
They lack, I leave; they pine, I live.


I laugh not at another's loss;
I grudge not at another's pain;
No worldly waves my mind can toss;
My state at one doth still remain:
I fear no foe, I fawn no friend;
I loathe not life, nor dread my end.


... to be contd...

Maxine: "somebody screwed up."

My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is ..... Verses 3 and 4

Sir Edward Dyer       1550 - 1607           Verses 3 and 4


I see how plenty surfeits oft,
And hasty climbers soon do fall;
I see that those which are aloft
Mishap doth threaten most of all;
They get with toil, they keep with fear:
Such cares my mind could never bear.


Content to live, this is my stay;
I seek no more than may suffice;
I press to bear no haughty sway;
Look, what I lack my mind supplies:
Lo, thus I triumph like a king,
Content with that my mind doth bring.

... to be contd...

Watch out Clem.... here she comes !!!

My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is

The following are the first two verses from  my all time favorite poem by

Sir Edward Dyer    1550 - 1607

My mind to me a kingdom is,
Such present joys therein I find
That it excels all other bliss
That earth affords or grows by kind:
Though much I want which most would have,
Yet still my mind forbids to crave.

No princely pomp, no wealthy store,
No force to win the victory,
No wily wit to salve a sore,
No shape to feed a loving eye;
To none of these I yield as thrall:
For why?  My mind doth serve for all.

.... to be contd........