Intersting article

[Mibeck]

British Museum had at least two carved beads on display when i visited in 1986

heres a link to their web site with a photo.

 

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highl...in_boxwood.aspx

 

marvelous detail! Neat topic!

 

-Miles

[Phil White]

There is a spectacular miniature tabernacle at the BM as well:tabernacle

 

I would love to see a better image of the top. The Gothic tracery is very unusual.

 

Hyllyn, you might try the Arts and Crafts Museum on Hamburg: Hamburg Museum site

Nothing listed online, but I have see reference to a couple of his pieces there. Fantastic sculptor.

 

Deutsche Kleinplastik der Renaissance und des Barock

(Hamburg: Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, 1975)

708.3 H17.6b no. 12 Main

Catalogue of the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbeʼs collection of German Renaissance and Baroque sculpture.

Discusses the work of Jakob Auer, Joachim Henne, Peter Flötner, and Johann Christoph Ludwig von Lücke.

Includes a bibliography, and a list of museum publications. German text.

 

Phil

[Hyllyn]

There is a spectacular miniature tabernacle at the BM as well:tabernacle

 

I would love to see a better image of the top. The Gothic tracery is very unusual.

 

Hyllyn, you might try the Arts and Crafts Museum on Hamburg: Hamburg Museum site

Nothing listed online, but I have see reference to a couple of his pieces there. Fantastic sculptor.

 

Deutsche Kleinplastik der Renaissance und des Barock

(Hamburg: Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, 1975)

708.3 H17.6b no. 12 Main

Catalogue of the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbeʼs collection of German Renaissance and Baroque sculpture.

Discusses the work of Jakob Auer, Joachim Henne, Peter Flötner, and Johann Christoph Ludwig von Lücke.

Includes a bibliography, and a list of museum publications. German text.

 

Phil

 

Thanks for the tip Phil. I will most definitely have to go to Hamburg at some point then.

 

This is the piece that got me interested in his work a few years ago, I still go and visit the V&A just to see this piece.

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/objectid/O87330

 

(Edit: I just wanted to add a photo of the same piece above http://www.flickr.com/photos/takomabibelot...31001/sizes/l/)

 

As for the other pieces I described that is what I was referring to, a tabernacle, it's just that my memory deserted me when it came to thinking about the word.

[Phil White]

That's a great piece, Hyllyn. I can see why you want to see more. Me too.

 

Phil

[fkvesic]

I've been drooling over these pics for days and was equally interested in the article, especially the mention of pomanders. I've been wondering about the possibilities of a carved and pierced nut, or a pierced ryusa which could also store a piece of perfumed incense resin, some stiff gum arabic mixed with perfume oils or something like a kumquat studded with cloves, to go inside.

 

More smelly suggestions for you, Clive!

 

Btw, on mixing perfume oils - once you've mixed the essential oils to your liking, you'd need to dilute them with oil. Pure almond oil is often used as it has no smell of its own and is easily obtainable. The ratio is 1: 7-10 usually.

[Ana Veler]

I've been wondering about the possibilities of a carved and pierced nut, or a pierced ryusa which could also store a piece of perfumed incense resin, ...

 

You may find that there is a long record of hollow, pierced pendants [ LINK to a fairly glamorous lot]. I am not very aware of the original uses of most versions, especially the Asian ones are a bit of a mystery - it seems that the pierced style has long since detached its popularity from any practical use as a container [i tried to find an example of Pala tourmaline done in this style but without much luck: THIS is of the kind].

 

Intrigued by the same thought, I have tried to use a pierced silver locket as you describe [Elderberry pith supports aromatic oil] and found it very trying to achieve a socially-acceptable level of scent . Clearly, the mores and odors of public places have changed a bundle since the days of pomanders - only the temptation to wear perfume that way remains, as we both seem to agree! In the end, the locket scents the innards of my jewelry box and a porous rock 'carved' by generations of boring sea creatures stands in for non-portable air freshener [rarely used, but as a pretext for keeping interesting rocks on one's desk without Japanese excuses]. I do not think the habit is very common at all, but who knows... perhaps writing about it should prove otherwise.

 

Ana

[Phil White]

Thanks for the links, Ana

 

I recently acquired a small book on this subject, and included were a couple of images of pomanders. This continues to fascinate me.

 

Phil

[Janel]

I had a recent inquiry from a journalist/writer regarding 16th Century boxwood prayer beads hoping for help with her search for the source of one of the linked documents in this topic. She has since located the information needed, but offered these interesting links, two of which are germane to this topic:

 

 

Hidden Masterpieces: The Prayer Nut (scroll through the video list to the right of the viewing screen)

 

Curators's Project: Investigating Miniature Boxwood Carving at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto

 

The writer is doing research for a novel project on the round prayer beads, though it may be many years from now before it is completed.

 

 

Janel

[Josh Murray]

These pieces are amazing. I'm tempted to do one in silver.

[Colin]

I'm in the process of reading a book by Bill Bryson - A short History of Nearly Everything - in which be describes aperiod of time (16th century) where an English man (Robert Hooke) made a microscope -x10 times-which enabled him to see cells in cork. He wrote about this in 1665. About a decade later a Dutchman - Leeuwenhoek-made a microscope which had a magnification of 275 times. So the instruments where there to enable people to see small objects. But how they carved them with such dexterity is amazing...CRH