There's ugliness in the world, and there's beauty and achievement that inspires real awe. I'm concentrating on the latter today with a post about jewellery and ancient toiletries, an amazing statue and its restorers, reaching for the stars and what the crazy algorithm has been up to.
Stunning jewellery and beauty kits from ancient times
I went to Rome to see Villa Giulia in the lovely Borghese Gardens, which houses the Etruscan Museum. The Etruscans lived in west-central Italy and 28-27 centuries ago they were at the height of their wealth and culture. This museum proves it with some amazing and exquisite works of art and above all - at least for this TGirl's interests - lots of beautiful items of female toiletry and jewellery.
This decorated bronze casket is a cista for keeping your beauty kit in - makeup, perfume, combs, brushes, mirrors and the like.
Decorated bronze mirrors. You can polish the smooth rear side to a high shine.
There's none of the shower gel and exfoliating scrub that we put up with these days. Etruscan household staff would rub the ladies with oil and exfoliate their skin with one of these bronze strigils till it was smooth and glowing. Ah, when bathtime was a pampering ceremony, not an afterthought!
I've done what I can to take good photos of jewellery through glass cases with lights reflecting off but here is a breakdown of distinct fashion phases:
(1) Iron Age (8th C BC), statement pieces with metal pendants and big rocks (maybe an heirloom from Grandma Flintstone).
(2) "Oriental style" (7th C BC), very different and heavily influenced by Phoenician (Syrian/Lebanese) trade.
(3) The "Archaic" phase (6th C BC), much more delicate and pretty with very detailed goldwork.
There's nothing to see from the 5th Century BC because of the economic collapse occasioned largely by Persian expansionist pressures on the West. The tragedy of US foreign policy this past century is the American failure to understand that other nations have long histories. The 2500 year old rivalry and mistrust between the West and Persia/Iran is a wound best left unprobed. (Meh, who's listening?)
(4) The "classical" phase (4th-2nd Cs BC). Someone was evidently interested in stars and moons.
(5) The "Hellenising" phase, i.e. Greek influence with its colourful stones.
(6) The Romans, who absorbed the neighbouring Etruscans into their own state, really knew a thing or two about jewellery.
(7) For contrast and comparison, they also have a medieval jewellery section.
(8) There were then many cases full of imitations of these ancient pieces made in the last 500 years. No one knows when humans first started to decorate their bodies (humans? lots of animals do it, too) but it's a lot of fun and I was spellbound by all this pretty stuff.
Awed by a statue
In January I went to Genoa and stood in awe of one of the world's most famous musical instruments (last item here). In this museum there is a wonderful statue of a couple reclining on a couch, the Sarcophagus of the Spouses. They both have braided hair but she wears a soft hat and pointed shoes, he is barefoot and bare chested. I would love to have her ankle-length dress.
This terracotta piece is over 2500 years old and I cannot put in words just how alive they look, how happy they seem together and how beautiful the craftsmanship is. I first saw this 30 years ago and bought a poster of it which hung in my kitchen for many years.
This time it was being restored, hence the Wiki picture above rather than my own, but you could visit the restoration rooms and, although the statue had been disassembled, you could get right up close as the restorers cleaned its sections and chatted about it. I was so impressed by the schoolkids' there because of their fascination and the intelligent questions they asked. I am just spellbound by this beautiful artwork and was thrilled to be allowed this close to it.
The lower halves of their bodies have been restored already and put back in the museum. The memory plays odd tricks, though. I could have sworn she had heels on her shoes but they are flat.
I did remember her shoelaces correctly, though. And the pleats of her dress.
One restorer was saying how much she'd love it if a modern shoe manufacturer would make shoes like this now. I so envied the restorers their job.
Caption:
"Be happy," they said.
"Throw your hands in the air like you just don't care," they said.
And that's how I lost my job as a museum restorer!
Anyway, I found it enthralling and beautiful. You may like to compare this visit to my recent trip to the Museum of Perfume in Grasse, France.
And is it a wonder that in the 18th Century Josiah Wedgewood named his pottery in Staffordshire, England, Etruria after the land of the Etruscans where all the ancient art that he modelled his pieces on was found?
Modern awe
I watched the blast-off of the Artemis II rocket the other evening. On CBS they and NASA made all the right noises about human destiny. progress and achievement, etc., so that made it seem so much like the exciting old days of the space race again. It was delightful to listen to Harrison Schmitt, the last man to have walked on the moon, still lively and sparkle-eyed at 90, talk about spaceflight missions old and new. (You know, the old guard of space pioneers are uniquely fascinating, like Buzz Aldrin of Apollo 11, whom I heard talk at my school in the '80s, or Alexei Leonov, the first man to spacewalk, who gave an enthralling talk at the Science Museum in London during the incredible Cosmonauts exhibition in 2015).
Much as I detest the squalling brat currently in charge in the USA, this is a great achievement. When I was little we really thought our future lay in the stars; now I'm a little jaded and confess that I'm not sure the stars deserve to suffer our visits! But let's see what comes of it.
Modern oopsies
At the end of February I invited people to suggest a caption for this funny looking cactus I saw outside the Grimaldi Castle / Picasso Museum in Antibes, France.
The inimitable Lynn Jones of Yet Another Trans Girl Blog fame did more than that and made the cactus more expressive.
Thank you, Lynn. Your prize of a bag of best succulent potting compost is on its way. (By which I mean it's intended for potting succulents, not that it itself is succulent, just to be clear. But you're free to eat it if you want.)
This image is now the Official Whacky Cactus Hilarity Award (or OWCHA! for short) for thorny issues that crop up in unintended, misunderstood or unexpected ways.
And this week the award goes to the Almighty Algorithm that suggested a charming video made last year by Iranian Tours inviting me to visit the delights of Kharg Island. The main sights in this lesser-known holiday destination being oil pipelines, a date plantation and a few tombs. I hear it's lovely at this time of year. Maybe I should hurry and book before the proportion of pipelines to tombs changes.
Easter
Wishing you a nice easter weekend. If you have an easter bonnet, do wear it with a pretty spring frock. But if you have a bunny costume, it's time to pop that on instead. Enjoy the chocolate. Diet starts Tuesday.
Sue x
