Mono Mercury
One of a pair of bronze statues of Mercury by the sculptor Sir Charles Thomas Wheeler (the first sculptor to be President of the Royal Academy), seen outside the entrance of Globe House, in Temple Place, London. I have worked on this shot in Photoshop to allow the superb detail to be revealed.
I have been unable to find out exactly when they were cast, but they seem by their style to date from the Art Deco period and Wheeler was certainly producing many sculptures for buildings in central London in the 1920s and 1930s, so this would fit - unless anyone can say otherwise?
Mercury, of course, was a mythological messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. He was also the guide of the dead and protector of merchants, shepherds, gamblers, liars, and thieves, some of which may be considered very appropriate in light of the fact that Globe House is today the headquarters of British American Tobacco, the second-largest purveyor of tobacco in the world.
Mercury has influenced the name of many things in a variety of scientific fields, such as the planet Mercury, and the element mercury. The word mercurial is commonly used to refer to something or someone erratic, volatile or unstable, derived from Mercury's swift flights from place to place. He is often depicted holding the Caduceus in his left hand. The statue above is clearly holding the caduceus in the correct hand - his partner on the other side of the entrance unusually is holding his caduceus in his right hand, presumably for the purposes of symmetry.
The caduceus is a short staff entwined by two serpents, sometimes surmounted by wings. As a symbolic object it represents Mercury and by extension trades, occupations or undertakings associated with the god. In later antiquity the caduceus provided the basis for the astrological symbol representing the planet Mercury. Thus, through its use in astrology and alchemy, it has come to denote the elemental metal of the same name.
The caduceus is sometimes mistakenly used as a symbol of medicine and/or medical practice, especially in North America, because of widespread confusion with the traditional medical symbol, the rod of Asclepius, which has only a single snake and no wings - and that, of course, would be entirely inappropriate outside BAT's HQ!
Mono Mercury
One of a pair of bronze statues of Mercury by the sculptor Sir Charles Thomas Wheeler (the first sculptor to be President of the Royal Academy), seen outside the entrance of Globe House, in Temple Place, London. I have worked on this shot in Photoshop to allow the superb detail to be revealed.
I have been unable to find out exactly when they were cast, but they seem by their style to date from the Art Deco period and Wheeler was certainly producing many sculptures for buildings in central London in the 1920s and 1930s, so this would fit - unless anyone can say otherwise?
Mercury, of course, was a mythological messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. He was also the guide of the dead and protector of merchants, shepherds, gamblers, liars, and thieves, some of which may be considered very appropriate in light of the fact that Globe House is today the headquarters of British American Tobacco, the second-largest purveyor of tobacco in the world.
Mercury has influenced the name of many things in a variety of scientific fields, such as the planet Mercury, and the element mercury. The word mercurial is commonly used to refer to something or someone erratic, volatile or unstable, derived from Mercury's swift flights from place to place. He is often depicted holding the Caduceus in his left hand. The statue above is clearly holding the caduceus in the correct hand - his partner on the other side of the entrance unusually is holding his caduceus in his right hand, presumably for the purposes of symmetry.
The caduceus is a short staff entwined by two serpents, sometimes surmounted by wings. As a symbolic object it represents Mercury and by extension trades, occupations or undertakings associated with the god. In later antiquity the caduceus provided the basis for the astrological symbol representing the planet Mercury. Thus, through its use in astrology and alchemy, it has come to denote the elemental metal of the same name.
The caduceus is sometimes mistakenly used as a symbol of medicine and/or medical practice, especially in North America, because of widespread confusion with the traditional medical symbol, the rod of Asclepius, which has only a single snake and no wings - and that, of course, would be entirely inappropriate outside BAT's HQ!