On The Shoulders of Miniatures by Do Ho Suh
Entitled “Floor”, this piece currently showing at Lehmann Maupin gallery in Singapore through February 11th, 2012 features a glass panel held aloft by thousands of tiny plastic figures, all straining to keep the floor of level for you, their unintended god.
(via: My Modern Met)
Ave Maria embedded in the floor before the altar of Zinna Abbey, Brandenburg, Germany. Each letter tile appears as a relief print on an unglazed, red-brown terracotta tile measuring 14 x 14 cm. The Latin inscription dates to the 13th or 14th century and was composed in Gothic majuscule. The text runs as follows:
AVE / MARIA / GRACIA /
PLENA / DOMINVS / TE /
CVM / BENEDICTA / TV /
IN / MVLIERIBVS / ET /
BENEDICTVS / FRVC /
TVS / VENTRIS / TVI /Medieval letter tiles are one-letter ceramic tiles that were employed in monasteries and churches of the late Middle Ages for the creation of Christian inscriptions on floors and walls. They were created by pressing stamps bearing a reverse image into softclay, which was then baked hard, and they were used to form words by assembling single letter tiles in the desired order
A distinct creature amongst the dragons of European legendary tradition, the Wyvern is a reptilian monster sometimes referred to as a ’Dragonet’ due to the sense that they look like adolescent dragons.
Identified by the beakish jaw, a pair of expansive wings and the fact that they only have a set of hind-legs (their wings act as forelimbs) Wyverns are cited as being very individual entities and are prominent in medieval bestiaries, heraldry and iconography. Said to be smaller but more actively aggressive than the average dragon, Wyverns can also be picked out thanks to their sharp, pointed tail (possibly poisonous) and their angular heads.
Considered to inhabit cavern lairs just like conventional dragons, another distinctive feature of Wyvern nature is their lack of acute intelligence and thus it’s believed that their treasure hoards are most likely to be filled with worthless junk rather than real valuables.
Popular in the mythology of medieval Europe, the soaring serpentines were looked to as a symbol of strength, alchemical dabbling or as allegorical icons of Satan and the spread of pestilence. Altogether, Wyverns fly high as fantastic, enthralling mythical beings.
(Source: hundredmythologyhaiku.blogspot.com)
Arguably the greatest achievement of the Vikings was their boat and shipbuilding. The Vikings were not the first people to build ships but they did build the best ships anyone had made up to that time.
The longship is part of the popular image of the Vikings today but there were many different types of boat for different purposes. So far no two boats have been found that are the same.
Sculpture of a medieval cheese merchant, at Gouda City Hall, Netherlands
(Gouda is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Gouda, which was granted city rights in 1272, is famous for its Gouda cheese, smoking pipes, and 15th-century city hall.)
Medieval Judicial Duel (with a dog… called Dragon)
The picture represents the famous trial by combat between the dog “Dragon” and the Chevalier Richard Macaire, the murderer of its master, Aubri de Mondidier, which occurred in the year 1371. The assassination took place in the Forest of Bondy, and the dog not only showed the spot in the forest where the body of his master was buried, but singled out the murderer. The King granted a judicial combat between the dog and the suspected man, in which the dog came off completely victorious.
The so-called “Dalmatic of Charlemagne”.
Eleventh century. Gift of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Isidore of Kiev (1439) to Pope Eugene IV (1431-1447)The only medieval liturgical vestment kept in the Treasury of St Peter’s is this dalmatic. It is a masterpiece of the art of embroidery practiced in Constantinople during the eleventh century. It is not known how the legend grew that it was worn by Charlemagne for his coronation as Emperor in 800 AD. It is made entirely in embroidery with gold, silver and colored thread on blue silk with scenes from the Byzantine iconography of the ninth and tenth centuries.
On the 75th anniversary of the launch of LIFE Magazine, we take a look at David Douglas Duncan’s most iconic images from the Korean War. Duncan is the last of LIFE’s legendary photographers who is still alive. See more here.
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