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Mummies of Ancient Eggypt: Rediscovering 6 Lives
From July 14 to October 26, the CaixaForum Madrid cultural space hostsed an exhibition made up of a collection of objects on loan from the British Museum in London, which explores the idea of mummification and analyzes the testimony of six people who lived in the Ancient Egypt.
This sample contains six mummies of people who lived between 900 and 150 BC. C. in Egypt. Thus, through a non-invasive investigation carried out with the most modern technology, the discoveries that have been achieved by the hand of these specimens are exhibited.
Through scientific and historical evidence, it is possible to observe what life was like in these lands, the tools and techniques used for mummification, the medicinal recipes with which they were cured, the diet of those people, cosmetics and adornments, music, cultural exchanges and even the role of women and children in the Egypt of the pharaohs.
Mummification became a common practice in ancient Egypt, believing that the body had to be preserved in order to reach the afterlife. For them death was just the beginning and this represented the separation between the body and the soul.
The first mummies are dated between 4000 and 3000 BC. C. and it is thought that this practice could have come from accidentally unearthing some corpses, which had dried due to the heat of the desert. By keeping much of their physical appearance, they tried to manually mimic this preservation. In this way, they dried the deceased by extracting the viscera from the body and then dehydrated them with natron and embalmed them.
Finally found a perfect display case for my LEGO Collectible Minifigures! The display is a higher quality plastic than I'm used to when it comes to display cases. Seems much stronger. There are rubber feet (dots) at all 4 corners to prevent the case from slipping.
I worked for a short while in order to come up with a nice configuration of these figures. Wanted the back row to be raised so that you could see most of each figure in the back row. I wanted there to be some space in between figures and I wanted to have symmetry in terms of space. With this display case I was able to achieve my goals.
I bought the case at AC Moore. They were on sale last week for 40% off. Each one cost me about $13 and I bought 4 of them so I can have the same display for the first 4 series of these figs (if there are 4 series-at this rate though there could be more!).
The company that makes this display case is called MCS Industries Inc and it is in their Collector's Museum line of products. The dimensions are 15.5inX3.5inX3.25in.
Real human scalps, Ugh! On display at the Frontier Texas visitors center in Abilene Texas, showcasing the 1780-1880 Texas Frontier. U.S.A.
Sejmet (/ˈsɛkˌmɛt/), Sekhmet, Sacmis or Nesert (/ˈsækmᵻs/) was a goddess in Egyptian mythology, a symbol of strength and power. She was considered the goddess of war and revenge, but also the goddess of healing. It was said that her breath created the desert.
Mummies of Ancient Eggypt: Rediscovering 6 Lives
From July 14 to October 26, the CaixaForum Madrid cultural space hostsed an exhibition made up of a collection of objects on loan from the British Museum in London, which explores the idea of mummification and analyzes the testimony of six people who lived in the Ancient Egypt.
This sample contains six mummies of people who lived between 900 and 150 BC. C. in Egypt. Thus, through a non-invasive investigation carried out with the most modern technology, the discoveries that have been achieved by the hand of these specimens are exhibited.
Through scientific and historical evidence, it is possible to observe what life was like in these lands, the tools and techniques used for mummification, the medicinal recipes with which they were cured, the diet of those people, cosmetics and adornments, music, cultural exchanges and even the role of women and children in the Egypt of the pharaohs.
Mummification became a common practice in ancient Egypt, believing that the body had to be preserved in order to reach the afterlife. For them death was just the beginning and this represented the separation between the body and the soul.
The first mummies are dated between 4000 and 3000 BC. C. and it is thought that this practice could have come from accidentally unearthing some corpses, which had dried due to the heat of the desert. By keeping much of their physical appearance, they tried to manually mimic this preservation. In this way, they dried the deceased by extracting the viscera from the body and then dehydrated them with natron and embalmed them.
This angle just happens to be similar to one of the vintage photos I posted earier...
www.flickr.com/photos/65986072@N00/8726662216/
...so I've posted a direct comparison here:
Samples
Department of Geological Sciences
Ball State University
There were several cases of geological samples in the hallways outside the department.
These are bona fide oldies! They could well have been in this store since they were new.
Hill Refrigeration is now known as Hillphoenix. If you are a supermarket trivia buff, this may be of interest to you: www.hillphoenix.com/about-us/history/
Former A&P (about to close again), Joliet, Ilinois
Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Today however we are following Lettice’s maid, Edith, who together with her beau, local grocery delivery boy Frank Leadbetter, have wended their way north-east from Cavendish Mews, through neighbouring Soho to the Lyons Corner House* on the corner of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. As always, the flagship restaurant on the first floor is a hive of activity with all the white linen covered tables occupied by Londoners indulging in the treat of a Lyon’s luncheon or early afternoon tea. Between the tightly packed tables, the Lyons waitresses, known as Nippies**, live up to their name and nip in and out, showing diners to empty tables, taking orders, placing food on tables and clearing and resetting them after diners have left. The cavernous space with its fashionable Art Deco wallpapers and light fixtures and dark Queen Anne English style furnishing is alive with colour, movement and the burbling noises of hundreds of chattering voices, the sound of cutlery against crockery and the clink of crockery and glassware fills the air brightly.
Amidst all the comings and goings, Edith and Frank sit at a table for two just adjunct to one of the glass fronted cabinets filled with delicious cakes on display. On the table before them, a Nippie has just placed a pot of tea in a silver pot with a Bakelite*** handle and two slices of a Victoria sponge.
“I say,” Edith remarks a she slips her fork easily through the light and fluffy sponge cake, causing the jam and cream filling between the two layers to ooze out the sides. “This is a lovely treat, Frank.”
“Well, we have so much to celebrate, Edith.” Frank says with a beaming smile as he takes up his own fork.
“Oh yes!” Edith enthuses. “I agree: so much!” She pops a small slice of sponge in her mouth and emits a sigh of happiness as she tastes the light and sweet cake on her tongue.
“I’m so glad you do, Edith.” Frank remarks as his fork slices through his slice of sponge. “Although,” he admits. “I am a little surprised.”
“Surprised, Frank? Why on earth would you be surprised?” Edith laughs happily after swallowing her mouthful.
“I just am. I wasn’t expecting you to be so enthusiastic about it as me.”
“Frank,” Edith puts down her fork and leans across the linen covered table and grasps her beau’s left hand as it sits idly on the table next to his gilt edged plate and squeezes it. “Why wouldn’t I be enthusiastic? Christmas Day was such a wonderful success.”
“Christmas Day?” Frank gives his sweetheart a quizzical look.
“Well of course, Christmas Day!” Edith laughs. “It wasn’t that long ago that you have forgotten – at least I do hope not, Frank! I know I won’t forget it in a hurry.” Edith beams across the table at Frank. “It was such a special day, and everything went so perfectly well. Your Gran is such a card! She had us all laughing so much.”
“Yes,” Frank remarks desultory tone. “Partially at my expense. I can’t believe she shared such embarrassing stories about me at Christmas as a little boy. How was I to know as a four year old that Dad was fibbing when he said he heard Father Christmas in the bread oven!”
“Oh I think it was a charming story, Frank.” Edith sooths with a happy smile. “And so were all the others.”
“Humph!” Frank mutters. “That’s only because they weren’t about you.”
“I’m sure Mum and Dad will share plenty of embarrassing stories from my childhood before too long: Dad especially. He enjoys doing that. Anyway, your Gran’s stories were wonderful to help keep Mum on our side and laughing. She knows now that even as a little boy, you were sweet natured and good, just like I know you to be as a young man. And of course, you had Dad eating out of your palm when you gave him that copy of ‘The Murder on the Links’**** by Agatha Christie as his Christmas present.”
“He could hardly believe his eyes when he unwrapped it.”
“Well, you know as well as anyone, Frank, that books are an expensive luxury. Seven and six is nothing to scoff about.”
“That’s true, but you didn’t pay seven and six for it.” Frank pauses for a brief moment. “Did you Edith?”
“No, of course I didn’t, Frank. Miss Lettice gave me the details of her special bookman, Mr. Mayhew***** in Charring Cross who happens to do a brisque trade in well priced seconds of newly printed books out his back door. It only cost three and six.”
Frank sits back against the high Queen Anne back of his chair in relief. “Thank goodness, because that’s all I paid you for it.”
“Of course!” Edith retorts. “Don’t you think for one moment as a hard working maid that I’m going to martyr my wages to subsidise your Christmas spending, Frank Leadbetter.”
“That’s my best girl!” Frank sighs. “Independent and forthright – just two of the many reasons why I love you, Edith Watsford.”
“Well, I’m pleased you like those traits, Frank, because Mum always told me that my ‘forthrightness’ as you so kindly put it, wouldn’t do me any favours when it came to finding a suitable match.”
“Well, it just shows that your Mum never met a chap like me before.”
“And isn’t that the truth, Frank.” Edith giggles.
Frank laughs good naturedly along with his sweetheart.
“And your Mum certainly knows how to make a wonderful Christmas dinner, Edith.”
“Well, like you have Miss Lettice and Mr. Mayhew to thank for the discounted price of the book you gave Dad for Christmas, I have you to thank for the directing me to Mr. Langham to buy our Christmas turkey.”
“It did go down a treat.” Frank remarks. “Your mum roasted it to perfection.”
“With my help, thank you Frank!”
“Oh of course with your help, Edith! I’d never deny your cooking prowess. You learned from the best cook in the world.”
“I did.”
“How did your parents take to you providing them with the family’s Christmas turkey anyway? I never had a chance to ask you discreetly on Christmas Day.”
“Oh Dad was amazed by the size and weight of it when it arrived, and Mum was just tickled pink****** to think that her daughter provided such a fine turkey for Christmas Day. When I said that I wanted to arrange a bird for Christmas, I think she was expecting me to provide a roast chicken.” Edith giggles again.
“Well that just shows how determined you are, not to settle for a chicken, when you can have turkey.”
“More of that determination you like in me, Frank” Edith giggles.
Frank joins in with her laughter yet again before the pair fall into a companionable silence for a little while as they eat some more of their delicious slices of Victoria Sponge, whilst around them the vociferous burble of London diners, the clatter of crockery and scraping of plates echoes through the capacious dining hall.
“More tea?” Edith asks at length, picking up the gleaming silver pot by the black handle and directing it towards Frank’s half empty tea cup.
“I don’t mind if I do.” Frank holds his cup aloft and dangles it closer to make it easier for Edith to fill.
“Let’s make a toast.” Edith remarks, filling her own cup before adding milk and sugar.
“Oh yes! Let’s!” Frank agrees as he finishes his mouthful of cake.
“To a successful Christmas, and a successful 1924 for us, dear Frank.” Edith says with a broad smile as she stares into her beau’s eyes and holds up her cup.
“And to Ramsay MacDonald, our first Labour Prime Minister.” Frank adds, clipping Edith’s cup with his own.
“What?” Edith queries.
Frank returns his cup to its saucer and clears his throat guiltily as he looks down into his lap and wipes his fingers on the linen serviette draped across his thighs. “Well, you see Edith,” he admits awkwardly. “That was why I was surprised when you said you agreed that we had much to celebrate.”
“Well, as wew were just saying, there is much to celebrate about cementing our relationship in Mum and Dad’s eyes, Frank.”
“I know that Edith, and don’t get cross with me, please.” he looks his sweetheart squarely in the face.
“Oh-oh.” Edith remarks, settling back slightly in her chair and delicately folding her arms akimbo as her face clouds over, washing away her happy demeanour. “This sounds like it doesn’t bode well.” She cocks an eyebrow at Frank. “So what is it I’m not to get cross about then, Frank?”
“Well, I wanted to celebrate our first Labour government today. That’s why I invited you out for tea at Lyons.”
“And not to celebrate our first successful Christmas Day together?” Edith asks, unable to keep the disappointment out of her voice as her mouth falls open.
“Well, that too, obviously.” Frank blurts out hurriedly.
“Obviously.” Edith replies in a non-committal fashion, clearly seeing through Frank’s backtracking.
“Oh please don’t be cross with me, Edith!” Frank implores. “It’s the last thing I should want, but don’t you see what a momentous occasion it is to have a Labour Prime Minister?”
“You’d better enlighten me, Frank. Please pardon my ignorance in regards to politics and the government, but as you know only too well, I don’t have the vote*******, as I’m not deemed worthy enough to be given the chance to have my say.”
“Now don’t take on so, Edith. If I had my way, I’d let you cast a vote, and your mum and my Gran.”
Edith softens at Frank’s declaration and unfolds her arms. She stabs at her cake, causing the slice to fall on its side, off centre on the white porcelain of the gilt and patterned edged plate. “I know you would Frank. I’m not cross with you, but I am cross with our government, no matter who they are, for not giving us the vote, after all, there are more women than men in Britain now, thanks to the horrors of the war.”
“I know, Edith,” Frank murmurs softly. “Like I said, I’d give a woman as smart as you the vote any day.”
“Oh, you know I’m not very political,” Edith assures Frank, yet at the same time self consciously toys with her blonde waves as she speaks. “You’d better tell me why it is so good that we now have a Labour Prime Minister.” She blushes with mild embarrassment at her own ignorance.
“Well,” Frank begins, his eyes lighting up with excitement as he prepares to talk about one of his passions. “Ramsay MacDonald is the first Prime Minister we’ve ever had from a working class background, so it stands to reason that he will create social change, even with a minority government********, for working class people like us.”
“Is this what you keep saying when you say that now is the time for people like us, Frank?”
“Well, sort of, Edith. I think Ramsay MacDonald will help aid the plight of the poor working man and help them to better themselves, and that has to be a good thing.”
“Well then, I think it’s most appropriate we raised a toast to Mr. MacDonald and his Labour government, Frank.”
“Thank you for trying to understand my passions, Edith. You really are a ripping girl, you know.”
“I know.” Edith blushes, before adding, “And it isn’t just my Mum who has never met the likes of you, Frank Leadbetter. I’m quite sure that you are going to do something fine in this world to make a difference to the lives of others too.”
“Goodness!” Frank gasps. “Do you really think so, Edith?”
“I do, Frank.” Edith opines. “I don’t quite know how you will, but I just have a feeling.”
“Thanks ever so, Edith.” Frank sighs.
“So,” Edith looks down meaningly fully at Frank’s plate. “Best you finish up your cake. No soldier ever won a war on an empty stomach.”
“And since I’m paying,” Frank begins.
“Only half, Frank.” Edith interrupts. “My forthright self is telling me that today, in solidarity with all working men and women, I should pay my fair share.” She nods seriously. “And let that be an end to it.”
“Very well, my forthright and honest sweetheart.” Frank agrees. “But just today in honour of our new government. Next week it shall be my treat.”
*J. Lyons and Co. was a British restaurant chain, food manufacturing, and hotel conglomerate founded in 1884 by Joseph Lyons and his brothers in law, Isidore and Montague Gluckstein. Lyons’ first teashop opened in Piccadilly in 1894, and from 1909 they developed into a chain of teashops, with the firm becoming a staple of the High Street in the United Kingdom. At its peak the chain numbered around two hundred cafes. The teashops provided for tea and coffee, with food choices consisting of hot dishes and sweets, cold dishes and sweets, and buns, cakes and rolls. Lyons' Corner Houses, which first appeared in 1909 and remained until 1977, were noted for their Art Deco style. Situated on or near the corners of Coventry Street, Strand and Tottenham Court Road, they and the Maison Lyonses at Marble Arch and in Shaftesbury Avenue were large buildings on four or five floors, the ground floor of which was a food hall with counters for delicatessen, sweets and chocolates, cakes, fruit, flowers and other products. In addition, they possessed hairdressing salons, telephone booths, theatre booking agencies and at one period a twice-a-day food delivery service. On the other floors were several restaurants, each with a different theme and all with their own musicians. For a time, the Corner Houses were open twenty-four hours a day, and at their peak each branch employed around four hundred staff including their famous waitresses, commonly known as Nippies for the way they nipped in and out between the tables taking orders and serving meals. The tea houses featured window displays, and, in the post-war period, the Corner Houses were smarter and grander than the local tea shops. Between 1896 and 1965 Lyons owned the Trocadero, which was similar in size and style to the Corner Houses.
**The name 'Nippies' was adopted for the Lyons waitresses after a competition to rename them from the old fashioned 'Gladys' moniker - rejected suggestions included ‘Sybil-at-your-service’, ‘Miss Nimble’, Miss Natty’ and 'Speedwell'. The waitresses each wore a starched cap with a red ‘L’ embroidered in the centre and a black alpaca dress with a double row of pearl buttons.
***Bakelite, was the first plastic made from synthetic components. Patented on December 7, 1909, the creation of a synthetic plastic was revolutionary for its electrical nonconductivity and heat-resistant properties in electrical insulators, radio and telephone casings and such diverse products as kitchenware, jewellery, pipe stems, teapot handles, children's toys, and firearms. A plethora of items were manufactured using Bakelite in the 1920s and 1930s.
****By 1924 when this story is set, detective mystery fiction writer Agatha Christie had already written two successful novels, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’ published by The Bodley Head in 1921, which introduced the world to her fictional detective Hercule Poirot, and ‘The Secret Adversary’ also published by The Bodley Head, in 1922, which introduced characters Tommy and Tuppence. In May of 1923, Agatha Christie would release her second novel featuring Hercule Poirot: ‘The Murder on the Links’ which would retail in London bookshops for seven shillings and sixpence.
*****A. H. Mayhew was once one of many bookshops located in London’s Charring Cross Road, an area still famous today for its bookshops, perhaps most famously written about by American authoress Helene Hanff who wrote ’84, Charing Cross Road’, which later became a play and then a 1987 film starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. Number 56. Charing Cross Road was the home of Mayhew’s second-hand and rare bookshop. Closed after the war, their premises is now the home of Any Amount of Books bookshop.
******The phrase “tickled pink” is used to denote that someone is expressing delight. The first term, first recorded in 1922, alludes to one's face turning pink with laughter when one is being tickled. The variant, clearly a hyperbole, dates from about 1800.
*******In 1924 when this story is set, not every woman in Britain had the right to vote. In 1918 the Representation of the People Act was passed which allowed women over the age of thirty who met a property qualification to vote. Although eight and a half million women met this criteria, it was only about two-thirds of the total population of women in Britain. It was not until the Equal Franchise Act of 1928 that women over twenty-one were able to vote and women finally achieved the same voting rights as men. This act increased the number of women eligible to vote to fifteen million.
********On the 22nd of January, Ramsay MacDonald became the first Labour Prime Minister in Britain, leading a minority government, following Stanley Baldwin’s resignation after his government lost a vote of no confidence in the debate on the King’s Speech in January 1924. King George V called on Ramsay MacDonald to form a minority Labour government, with the tacit support of the Liberals under Asquith from the corner benches. On the 22nd of January 1924, he took office as the first Labour Prime Minister, the first from a working-class background and one of the very few without a university education. The Government lasted only nine months and did not have a majority in either House of the Parliament, but it was still able to support the unemployed with the extension of benefits and amendments to the Insurance Acts. The Housing Act was also passed during this first term of a Labour government, which greatly expanded municipal housing for low paid workers.
An afternoon tea made up with tea and a slice of Victoria Sponge like this would be enough to please anyone, but I suspect that even if you ate everything you can see here on the table in and in the display case in the background, you would still come away hungry. This is because they, like everything in this scene are 1:12 size miniatures from my miniatures collection.
Fun things to look for in this tableau:
The slices of Victoria sponge (named after Queen Victoria) on the plates is made by Polly’s Pantry Miniatures in America. The coffee pot with its ornate handle and engraved body is one of three antique Colonial Craftsman pots I acquired from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls House Shop in the United Kingdom, as is the silver tray on which they stand. The milk jug and sugar bowl are made by Warwick Miniatures in Ireland, who are well known for the quality and detail applied to their pieces. The Lyons Corner House crockery is made by the Dolls’ House emporium and was acquired from an online stockist of miniatures on E-Bay. The J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. tariff in the foreground is a copy of a 1920s example that I made myself by reducing it in size and printing it. Edith’s handbag handmade from soft leather is part of a larger collection of hats and bags that I bought from an American miniature collector Marilyn Bickel.
The table on which all these items stand is a Queen Anne lamp table which I was given for my seventh birthday. It is one of the very first miniature pieces of furniture I was ever given as a child. The Queen Anne dining chairs were all given to me as a Christmas present when I was around the same age.
In the background is a display case of cakes. The sweet cupcakes on the glass cake stand have been made in England by hand from clay by former chef turned miniature artisan, Frances Knight. Her work is incredibly detailed and realistic, and she says that she draws her inspiration from her years as a chef and her imagination. The pink blancmange rabbit on the bottom shelf of the display cabinet in the front of the right-hand side of the case was made by Polly’s Pantry Miniatures in America. All the other cakes came from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls House Shop in the United Kingdom. The glass and metal cake stands and the glass cloche came from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering. The glass cake stands are hand blown artisan pieces. The shiny brass cash register also comes from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures.
The wood and glass display cabinet I obtained from a seller of 1:12 miniatures on E-Bay.
Supplying the 1930s fashion needs of women in the South East, I give you the Ladies' Department at Hickey's in New Ross.
Hickey's obviously had A.H. Poole photographers in because of a huge sale they were having. I found an advert in the Kilkenny People from 11 July 1936 for:
Special 'Bus Service for Hickey's
First Great Annual
SUMMER SALE
To New Ross - Saturday, July 18th and Saturday, August 1st
This was followed by a load of locations/times, and then this rather curious line: This 'Bus will travel by Old Time and will stop on signal at any point.
What was Old Time?
Date: Wednesday, 1 July 1936
NLI Ref: POOLEWP 4147
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, October 2013
Francisco de Goya's painting of Don Ramón Satué (1823), reflected in a silver-gilt toilet mirror made for King William I's daughter, Princess Marianne (1829), and in its display case.
Mummies of Ancient Eggypt: Rediscovering 6 Lives
From July 14 to October 26, the CaixaForum Madrid cultural space hostsed an exhibition made up of a collection of objects on loan from the British Museum in London, which explores the idea of mummification and analyzes the testimony of six people who lived in the Ancient Egypt.
This sample contains six mummies of people who lived between 900 and 150 BC. C. in Egypt. Thus, through a non-invasive investigation carried out with the most modern technology, the discoveries that have been achieved by the hand of these specimens are exhibited.
Through scientific and historical evidence, it is possible to observe what life was like in these lands, the tools and techniques used for mummification, the medicinal recipes with which they were cured, the diet of those people, cosmetics and adornments, music, cultural exchanges and even the role of women and children in the Egypt of the pharaohs.
Mummification became a common practice in ancient Egypt, believing that the body had to be preserved in order to reach the afterlife. For them death was just the beginning and this represented the separation between the body and the soul.
The first mummies are dated between 4000 and 3000 BC. C. and it is thought that this practice could have come from accidentally unearthing some corpses, which had dried due to the heat of the desert. By keeping much of their physical appearance, they tried to manually mimic this preservation. In this way, they dried the deceased by extracting the viscera from the body and then dehydrated them with natron and embalmed them.
The wonderful old display case holding up the modern stereo equipment did its best to reflect the Country Store right back into the past from which it came. The days slip by so incredibly fast that the new becomes old and the old becomes new again. The sweet melancholy of time takes ages to truly appreciate.
Carved figurine of ancient Egyptian girl swimmer with duck, in the shape of cosmetic spoon, in the Louvre, Paris (France).
I took this as a very speculative shot through the glass of its display glass. Amazing how neat the swimmer keeps her hair-do as she swims along ! - and how modern-looking (well Art-Deco-ish) the ancient Egyptian sense of stylised female beauty seems. In fact the whole piece is just beautifully surreal once you start to look at it, with the duck so large in relation to the girl. The background is not an editing effect on my part, but the back panel of the display case, appropriately in a watery pattern in shades of Nile green.
A similar spoon in the Louvre is described here:
www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/cosmetic-spoon
- not as pretty, I think as the one in this photo, but the one on the Louvre webpage has more painted detail but no duck. Also, the duck's body here seems to be a very small casket, its flat back looking as if it is a lid with two little lifting handles. This Louvre page also gives a lot of interesting explanation and interpretation. The actual use of these swimmer spoons seems unclear. The age of the spoon on the Louvre page is New Kingdom (about 1550 to about 1069 BC) so I assume this was much the same, in which case it was by far the oldest human-made thing we knowingly saw on our whole trip.
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LONDON - PARIS - CATANIA - ROME - LONDON ----- DAY 2
Photo from the second day of our crazy long distance rail trip from home (London) to Sicily. We spent the first day travelling from home in London to Paris, by Eurostar train, and were meant to the take an overnight train from Paris to Rome that same evening. But our Eurostar train out of London was badly delayed due to 'a fatality [unexplained - perhaps fortunately] on the train'. So we missed our onward connection to Rome and had an unexpected but happy second day in Paris. We left Paris that evening, on the equivalent Rome service.
By the end of the whole holiday trip we had seen things and sites from ancient Greek time to modern, so the trip felt like a mini Grand Tour. Or given the rich mythology of Sicily, Etna and the Straits of Messina (Odysseus, the Cyclops, Scylla & Charybdis, etc.) perhaps our trip was like a modern mini Odyssey of our times. Odysseus took ten years to get home. It took us ten trains - but no monsters.
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PROBLEM WITH FLICKR MAP
According to Wikipedia "The Musée du Louvre is one of the world's largest museums, and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, France, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (district) .... With more than 8 million visitors each year, the Louvre is the world's most visited museum." All the more astonishing therefore that the (often infuriating) database of Flickr's geotagging system was unable to recognize 'Louvre' or any Paris place name that included the word 'Louvre'.)
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Photo
Darkroom Daze © Creative Commons.
If you would like to use or refer to this image, please attribute.
ID: DSC_6558
Mummies of Ancient Eggypt: Rediscovering 6 Lives
From July 14 to October 26, the CaixaForum Madrid cultural space hostsed an exhibition made up of a collection of objects on loan from the British Museum in London, which explores the idea of mummification and analyzes the testimony of six people who lived in the Ancient Egypt.
This sample contains six mummies of people who lived between 900 and 150 BC. C. in Egypt. Thus, through a non-invasive investigation carried out with the most modern technology, the discoveries that have been achieved by the hand of these specimens are exhibited.
Through scientific and historical evidence, it is possible to observe what life was like in these lands, the tools and techniques used for mummification, the medicinal recipes with which they were cured, the diet of those people, cosmetics and adornments, music, cultural exchanges and even the role of women and children in the Egypt of the pharaohs.
Mummification became a common practice in ancient Egypt, believing that the body had to be preserved in order to reach the afterlife. For them death was just the beginning and this represented the separation between the body and the soul.
The first mummies are dated between 4000 and 3000 BC. C. and it is thought that this practice could have come from accidentally unearthing some corpses, which had dried due to the heat of the desert. By keeping much of their physical appearance, they tried to manually mimic this preservation. In this way, they dried the deceased by extracting the viscera from the body and then dehydrated them with natron and embalmed them.
Mummies of Ancient Eggypt: Rediscovering 6 Lives
From July 14 to October 26, the CaixaForum Madrid cultural space hostsed an exhibition made up of a collection of objects on loan from the British Museum in London, which explores the idea of mummification and analyzes the testimony of six people who lived in the Ancient Egypt.
This sample contains six mummies of people who lived between 900 and 150 BC. C. in Egypt. Thus, through a non-invasive investigation carried out with the most modern technology, the discoveries that have been achieved by the hand of these specimens are exhibited.
Through scientific and historical evidence, it is possible to observe what life was like in these lands, the tools and techniques used for mummification, the medicinal recipes with which they were cured, the diet of those people, cosmetics and adornments, music, cultural exchanges and even the role of women and children in the Egypt of the pharaohs.
Mummification became a common practice in ancient Egypt, believing that the body had to be preserved in order to reach the afterlife. For them death was just the beginning and this represented the separation between the body and the soul.
The first mummies are dated between 4000 and 3000 BC. C. and it is thought that this practice could have come from accidentally unearthing some corpses, which had dried due to the heat of the desert. By keeping much of their physical appearance, they tried to manually mimic this preservation. In this way, they dried the deceased by extracting the viscera from the body and then dehydrated them with natron and embalmed them.
Re-Purposed Baseball Bat Display Case over the TV
* Star Wars Concept Figures
* Retro Mandalorian Waves 1 & 2
* Black Series - The Mandalorian: Trapper Wolf & George Lucas (in Stormtrooper Disguise)
Mummies of Ancient Eggypt: Rediscovering 6 Lives
From July 14 to October 26, the CaixaForum Madrid cultural space hostsed an exhibition made up of a collection of objects on loan from the British Museum in London, which explores the idea of mummification and analyzes the testimony of six people who lived in the Ancient Egypt.
This sample contains six mummies of people who lived between 900 and 150 BC. C. in Egypt. Thus, through a non-invasive investigation carried out with the most modern technology, the discoveries that have been achieved by the hand of these specimens are exhibited.
Through scientific and historical evidence, it is possible to observe what life was like in these lands, the tools and techniques used for mummification, the medicinal recipes with which they were cured, the diet of those people, cosmetics and adornments, music, cultural exchanges and even the role of women and children in the Egypt of the pharaohs.
Mummification became a common practice in ancient Egypt, believing that the body had to be preserved in order to reach the afterlife. For them death was just the beginning and this represented the separation between the body and the soul.
The first mummies are dated between 4000 and 3000 BC. C. and it is thought that this practice could have come from accidentally unearthing some corpses, which had dried due to the heat of the desert. By keeping much of their physical appearance, they tried to manually mimic this preservation. In this way, they dried the deceased by extracting the viscera from the body and then dehydrated them with natron and embalmed them.
How Clarissa and the Ghoulies were presented: a display case of specimens collected by Monster Hunters from around the world ( see full list here. )
Antiques galore line the shelves and cabinets at the Peoples Store.
Harold Warp's Pioneer Village
138 US-6
Minden, Nebraska
Kearney County, USA.
July 16, 2008
Paseando por Savile Row, milla de oro de las satrerias, me encontré con este exclusivo y curioso abrigo.
www.savilerow.com.ar/londres.htm
www.sibaritissimo.com/savile-row-el-traje-en-su-maxima-ex...
Samples and Allosaurus Fragilis Skeleton Model
Department of Geological Sciences
Ball State University
There were several cases of geological samples in the hallways outside the department.
kyoto, japan
fall 1972
display case, local shop
(damaged negative)
part of an archival project, featuring the photographs of nick dewolf
© the Nick DeWolf Foundation
Image-use requests are welcome via flickrmail or nickdewolfphotoarchive [at] gmail [dot] com
My new display case for Star Wars minifigs. I have used official Lego "Play & Display Case" 4070 and printed background.
Mummies of Ancient Eggypt: Rediscovering 6 Lives
From July 14 to October 26, the CaixaForum Madrid cultural space hostsed an exhibition made up of a collection of objects on loan from the British Museum in London, which explores the idea of mummification and analyzes the testimony of six people who lived in the Ancient Egypt.
This sample contains six mummies of people who lived between 900 and 150 BC. C. in Egypt. Thus, through a non-invasive investigation carried out with the most modern technology, the discoveries that have been achieved by the hand of these specimens are exhibited.
Through scientific and historical evidence, it is possible to observe what life was like in these lands, the tools and techniques used for mummification, the medicinal recipes with which they were cured, the diet of those people, cosmetics and adornments, music, cultural exchanges and even the role of women and children in the Egypt of the pharaohs.
Mummification became a common practice in ancient Egypt, believing that the body had to be preserved in order to reach the afterlife. For them death was just the beginning and this represented the separation between the body and the soul.
The first mummies are dated between 4000 and 3000 BC. C. and it is thought that this practice could have come from accidentally unearthing some corpses, which had dried due to the heat of the desert. By keeping much of their physical appearance, they tried to manually mimic this preservation. In this way, they dried the deceased by extracting the viscera from the body and then dehydrated them with natron and embalmed them.
This museum, devoted to the art of dance, was opened in 1953, albeit moved to its present location in 1999. I had never heard about it until a couple of months ago. The exhibition doesn't impress, but the interior architecture does, so I had to photograph it. Good thing I did, because the museum will be relocating before the end of the year.
Alec, who is now over 90 years young, is mainly interested in faceting, but recently returned to northern Mexico to collect with me and other friends and had a great time.
Yes, after four and one-third years (roughly the time it would take for a beam of light from Alpha Centauri to reach Earth) Ford's superb statuette was returned to display in the BP Walk Through British Art: 1890 room, close (though maybe not close enough as you'll see) to its companion Applause. Since then, both statuettes have disappeared into the vault again. Sigh.
Many more photos will follow, but for now here's a teaser. And if you are the artist in the photo, could you please post your sketches of the statue here as well. Thank you.
Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Today however we are following Lettice’s maid, Edith, who together with her beau, local grocery delivery boy Frank Leadbetter, have wended their way north-east from Cavendish Mews, through neighbouring Soho to the Lyons Corner House* on the corner of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. As always, the flagship restaurant on the first floor is a hive of activity with all the white linen covered tables occupied by Londoners indulging in the treat of a Lyon’s luncheon or early afternoon tea. Between the tightly packed tables, the Lyons waitresses, known as Nippies**, live up to their name and nip in and out, showing diners to empty tables, taking orders, placing food on tables and clearing and resetting them after diners have left. The cavernous space with its fashionable Art Deco wallpapers and light fixtures and dark Queen Anne English style furnishing is alive with colour, movement and the burbling noises of hundreds of chattering voices, the sound of cutlery against crockery and the clink of crockery and glassware fills the air brightly.
Amidst all the comings and goings, Edith and Frank wait patiently in a small queue of people waiting to be seated at the next available table, lining up in front of a glass top and fronted case full of delicious cakes. Frank reaches around a woman standing in front of them in a navy blue dress with red piping and a red cloche and snatches a golden yellow menu upon which the name of the restaurant is written in elegant cursive script. He proffers one to Edith, but she shakes her head shallowly at him.
“You’ve brought me here so many times, Frank, I practically know the Lyons menu by heart, Frank.”
Frank’s face falls. “You don’t mind coming here again, do you Edith?” he asks gingerly, almost apologetically.
“Oh Frank!” Edith laughs good naturedly. She tightens her grip comfortingly around his arm as she stands beside him with it looped through his. “Of course I don’t mind? Why should I mind? I love coming here. This is far grander than any other tea shop around here, and the food is delicious.”
“Well so long as you don’t think it’s dull and predicable, Edith.”
“How could anything be dull and predictable with you involved in it, Frank?”
Frank blushes at his sweetheart’s compliment. “Well it’s just that we seem to have fallen into rather a routine, going to the Premier in East Ham*** every few weeks, before coming here for tea.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with that, Frank. You know I love going to the pictures, and a slap-up tea from here is nothing to sneeze at.”
“Well, so long as you don’t mind, Edith.”
“Frank Leadbetter, I don’t mind anything that I do with you.” Edith squeezes his arm again. “Anyway, it isn’t like we haven’t done other things on our days off as well between our visits here. We go walking in Hyde and Regent’s Parks and Kensington Gardens, and we do go dancing at the Hammersmith Palais****, so it’s not always the same.”
“And you’ve been a good sport, coming with me to the National Portrait Gallery.” Frank adds with a happy smile.
“Oh, I loved gong there, Frank!” enthuses Edith. “Like I told you, I never knew that there were galleries of art that were open to then public. If I had, I might have gone sooner.” She smiles with satisfaction. “But then again, if I had known about it, I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of you introducing me to it. I’m looking forward to us going back again one day.”
“But I suspect you enjoy the pictures more than the National Gallery.” Frank chuckles knowingly.
“Well,” Edith feels a flush fill her cheeks with red. “It is true that I perhaps feel a bit more comfortable at the pictures than the gallery, Frank, but,” She clarifies. “That’s only because my parents never took me to the gallery when I was growing up, like your grandparents did with you.”
“Whereas your parents took you to the pictures.”
“Oh yes Frank!” Edith sighs. “It was a cheap bit of escapism from the everyday for the whole family: Mum, Dad, Bert and me.” Her voice grows wistful as she remembers. “I used to look forward to going to the pictures on a Saturday afternoon with Mum and Dad and Bert. We’d walk into the entrance of the Picture Coliseum***** out of the boring light of day and into the magic darkness that existed all day there. I grew to love the sound of the flick and whir of the protector, knowing as I sat in my red leather seat in the balcony that I was about to be transported to anywhere in the world or to any point in time. Dad and Mum still love going there on the odd occasion to see a comedy. The pictures became even more important to me as a teenager after I left home and went into service for nasty old Widow Hounslow. She never gave me anything to be happy about in that cold house of hers as I skivvied for her in my first job, day in and day out, from sunrise to sunset, so the escape to a world of romance filled with glamorous people where there was no hard work and no dirty dishes or floors to scrub became a precious light in my life.”
“Alright, you’ve convinced me.” Frank chuckles.
“You know Frank, because I thought everyone went to the pictures, I’ve never actually asked you whether you enjoy going to them. Perhaps with your grandparents taking you to the gallery, you might not like it. Do you Frank?”
“Oh yes I do, Edith,” Frank assures his sweetheart. “I’m happy if you are happy, but even before I met you, I used to go to the pictures. Whilst I might not be as enamoured with the glamour and romance of moving picture stars like Wanetta Ward like you are, I do like historical dramas and adaptations of some of the books I’ve read.”
“Does that mean you didn’t enjoy ‘A Woman of Paris’******?” Edith asks with concern.
Frank turns away from his sweetheart and rests his arms on the glass topped counter, and gazes through it at the cakes on display below. “Oh, yes I did, Edith.” he mutters in a low voice in reply.
Edith hooks her black umbrella over the raised edge of the cabinet and deposits her green handbag on its surface and sidles up alongside Frank. “It doesn’t sound like you did, Frank.” she refutes him quietly.
“No, I really did, Edith.” he replies a little sadly. “Edna Purviance******* is so beautiful. I can well understand your attraction to the glamour of the moving pictures and their stars.”
“But something tells me that you didn’t like the film.” Edith presses, nudging Frank gently. “What was it?”
“Oh, it’s nothing, Edith.” Frank brushes her question off breezily as he turns his head slight away from her so she cannot see it.
“Well, it must be something. I chose the film, so I shall feel awful if you didn’t want to see it.” Edith tries to catch his eye by ducking her head, but fails. “You should have said something, Frank.”
A silence envelops them momentarily, at odds to all the gay noise and chatter of the Corner House around them. At length Frank turns back to Edith, and she can see by the glaze and glint of unshed tears in his kind, but saddened eyes, that this is why he turned away. “I didn’t mind seeing ‘A Woman in Paris’, Edith. Honestly, I didn’t.” He holds up his hands. “Like you are with me, I’m happy to go anywhere or do anything with you.”
“Then what is it, Frank?” Edith says with a concerned look on her face. “Please, you must trust me enough to tell me.”
Frank reaches out his left hand and wraps it loving around her smaller right hand as it sits on the surface of the counter, next to her handbag. “Of course I trust you Edith. I’ve never trusted a girl before, the way I trust you.” He releases her hand and runs his left index finger down her cheek and along her jaw lovingly. “You’re so good and kind. Goodness knows what you see in me, but whatever it is, Edith, I’m so glad you do.”
“What’s gotten into you, Frank?” she replies in consternation. “What was it about the film that has upset you so much and given you such doubts?”
The awkward silence falls between the two of them again as Edith waits for Frank to formulate a reply. His eyes flit between the shiny brass cash register, the potted aspidistra standing in a white jardinière on a tall plant stand, the Art Deco wallpaper and Lyons posters on the walls and the cakes atop the counter. He looks anywhere except into his sweetheart’s anxious face.
“It was the relationship between Jean’s mother and Marie in the film, Edith.” he says at length.
“What of it, Frank?”
“It reminded me of the relationship between your mum and me, Edith.”
“What?” Edith queries, not understanding.
“Well,” Frank elucidates. “Jean’s mum didn’t like Marie and refused to accept her.”
“I keep telling you, Frank,” Edith reassures her beau, looking him earnestly in the face. “Mum doesn’t dislike you. She just struggles with some of your more,” She nudges him again, giving him a consoling, and cheeky smile. “Progressive ideas. Anyway, Jean’s mum and Marie made up at the end of the film and went off to set up an orphanage in the countryside.”
“Are you suggesting that your mum and I might do the same?” Frank laughs a little sadly, trying to make light of the moment.
“That’s better, Frank.” Edith encourages, seeing him smile.
Frank looks back down again at all the cakes on display in the glass fronted cabinet. Cakes covered in thick white layers of royal icing like tablecloths jostle for space with gaily decorated special occasion cakes covered in gooey glazed fruit and biscuit crumbs. Ornate garlands of icing sugar flowers and beautifully arranged slices of strawberries indicate neatly where the cakes should be sliced, so that everyone gets the same portion when served to the table. Frank even notices a pink blancmange rabbit sitting on a plate with a blue and white edge.
“I love coming here because there are so many decadent cakes here.” Frank admits, changing the subject delicately, but definitely. “It reminds me of when my Gran was younger. She used to bake the most wonderful cakes and pies.”
“Oh, Mum loves baking cakes, pies and puddings too.” Edith pipes up happily. “She’s especially proud of her cherry cobbler which she serves hot in winter with hot custard, and cold in summer with clotted cream.”
“Being Scottish, Gran always loved making Dundee Cake********. She used to spend ages arranging scorched almonds in pretty patterns across the top.”
“That sounds very decadent, Frank.” Edith observes.
“Oh it was, Edith!” Frank agrees. “Mind you, I don’t think it would have taken half as long if she hadn’t been continually keeping my fingers out of the bowl of the decorating almonds and telling me that the cake ‘would be baked when it is done, and no sooner’.”
Edith chuckles as Frank impersonates his grandmother’s thick Scottish accent as he quotes her.
“Mum always made the prettiest cupcakes for Bert’s and my birthdays.” Edith points to the small glass display plate of cupcakes daintily sprinkled with colourful sugar balls and topped with marzipan flowers and rabbits sitting on the counter.
“I bet you they were just as lovely as those are, Edith.”
“Oh, better Frank,” she assures him. “Because they were made with love, and Mum is a very proud cook.”
“I did notice that when I came for Sunday roast lunch.”
Edith continues to look at the cakes on display on stands on the counter’s surface, some beneath glass cloches and others left in the open air, an idea forming in her mind, formulating as she gazes at the dollops of cream and glacé cherries atop a chocolate cake, oozing cream decadently from between its slices.
“That’s it Frank!” she gasps.
“What is, Edith?”
“That’s the solution to your woes about Mum, Frank.” She snatches up her bag and umbrella from the counter.
Frank doesn’t understand so he asks yet again, “What is, Edith?”
Edith rests her elbow on the glass topped counter as she looks Frank squarely in the face. “Who is your greatest advocate, Frank? Who always speaks well of you in front of others.”
“Well, you do, Edith.” He gesticulates towards her.
“Yes, I know that,” she admits. “But besides me, who else always says the nicest things about you?”
“Well Gran does.” Frank says without a moment’s hesitation.
“Exactly Frank!” Edith smiles. “You need someone other than me in your corner, telling Mum what a wonderful catch you are. And that someone is your Gran, Frank!” Her blue eyes glitter with hope and excitement. “See, now that you’ve met Mum and Dad, and I’ve met your Gran, it’s time that they met. I bet Mum and your Gran would bond over cake baking and cooking, and of course Mum would believe anything a wise Scottish woman who can bake a Dundee Cake would say.”
“And everything she would say would be about me!” Frank exclaims. “Edith! You’re a genius!”
Frank cannot help himself as he reaches out and grasps Edith around the waist, lifting her up and spinning her around in unbridled joy, causing her to squeal, and for the people waiting in line around them to chuckle and smile indulgently at the pair of young lovers before them.
“Oh, put me down Frank!” squeaks Edith. “Let’s not make a scene.”
Reluctantly he lowers his sweetheart to the ground and releases her from his clutches.
“Now, all we need to do is talk with Mum and Dad, and your Gran, and settle on a date.” Edith says with ethusiasm.
“We’ll talk about it over tea and cake, shall we, Edith?” Frank asks with an excited lilt in his voice.
“Ahem.” A female voice clearing her throat politely interrupts Edith and Frank’s conversation. Turning, they find that whilst they have been talking, they have reached the front of the queue of people waiting for a table, and before them stands a bright faced Nippie with a starched cap with a red ‘L’ embroidered in the centre atop a mop of carefully coiffed and pinned curls, dressed in a black alpaca dress with a double row of pearl buttons and lace apron. “A table for two, is it?”
*J. Lyons and Co. was a British restaurant chain, food manufacturing, and hotel conglomerate founded in 1884 by Joseph Lyons and his brothers in law, Isidore and Montague Gluckstein. Lyons’ first teashop opened in Piccadilly in 1894, and from 1909 they developed into a chain of teashops, with the firm becoming a staple of the High Street in the United Kingdom. At its peak the chain numbered around two hundred cafes. The teashops provided for tea and coffee, with food choices consisting of hot dishes and sweets, cold dishes and sweets, and buns, cakes and rolls. Lyons' Corner Houses, which first appeared in 1909 and remained until 1977, were noted for their Art Deco style. Situated on or near the corners of Coventry Street, Strand and Tottenham Court Road, they and the Maison Lyonses at Marble Arch and in Shaftesbury Avenue were large buildings on four or five floors, the ground floor of which was a food hall with counters for delicatessen, sweets and chocolates, cakes, fruit, flowers and other products. In addition, they possessed hairdressing salons, telephone booths, theatre booking agencies and at one period a twice-a-day food delivery service. On the other floors were several restaurants, each with a different theme and all with their own musicians. For a time, the Corner Houses were open twenty-four hours a day, and at their peak each branch employed around four hundred staff including their famous waitresses, commonly known as Nippies for the way they nipped in and out between the tables taking orders and serving meals. The tea houses featured window displays, and, in the post-war period, the Corner Houses were smarter and grander than the local tea shops. Between 1896 and 1965 Lyons owned the Trocadero, which was similar in size and style to the Corner Houses.
**The name 'Nippies' was adopted for the Lyons waitresses after a competition to rename them from the old fashioned 'Gladys' moniker - rejected suggestions included ‘Sybil-at-your-service’, ‘Miss Nimble’, Miss Natty’ and 'Speedwell'. The waitresses each wore a starched cap with a red ‘L’ embroidered in the centre and a black alpaca dress with a double row of pearl buttons.
***The Premier Super Cinema in East Ham was opened on the 12th of March, 1921, replacing the 800 seat capacity 1912 Premier Electric Theatre. The new cinema could seat 2,408 patrons. The Premier Super Cinema was taken over by Provincial Cinematograph Theatres who were taken over by Gaumont British in February 1929. It was renamed the Gaumont from 21st April 1952. The Gaumont was closed by the Rank Organisation on 6th April 1963. After that it became a bingo hall and remained so until 2005. Despite attempts to have it listed as a historic building due to its relatively intact 1921 interior, the Gaumont was demolished in 2009.
****The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, in its last years simply named Hammersmith Palais, was a dance hall and entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, England that operated from 1919 until 2007. It was the first palais de danse to be built in Britain.
*****Located in the west London inner city district of Harlesden. The Coliseum opened in 1912 as the Picture Theatre. In 1915 it was renamed the Picture Coliseum. It was operated throughout its cinema life as an independent picture theatre. Seating was provided in stalls and balcony levels. The Coliseum closed in December 1975 for regular films and went over to screening adult porn films. It then screened kung-fu movies and even hosted a concert by punk rock group The Clash in March 1977. It finally closed for good as a picture theatre in the mid-1980’s and was boarded up and neglected for the next decade. It was renovated and converted into a pub operated by the J.D. Weatherspoon chain, opening in March 1993. Known as ‘The Coliseum’ it retains many features of its cinematic past. There is even cinema memorabilia on display. There is a huge painted mural of Gary Cooper and Merle Oberon in “The Cowboy and the Lady” where the screen used to be. Recently J.D. Weatherspoon relinquished the building and it is now operated as an independent bar renamed ‘The Misty Moon’. By 2017 it had been taken over by the Antic pub chain and renamed the ‘Harlesden Picture Palace’.
******’A Woman of Paris’ is a feature-length American silent film that debuted in 1923. The film, an atypical drama film for its creator, was written, directed, produced and later scored by Charlie Chaplin. The plot revolves around Marie St. Clair (Edna Purviance) and her beau, aspiring artist Jean Millet (Carl Miller) who plan to flee life in provincial France to get married. However when plans go awry, Marie goes to Paris alone where she becomes the mistress of a wealthy businessman, Pierre Revel (Adolphe Menjou). Reacquainting herself with Jean after a chance encounter in Paris a year later, Marie and Jean recommence their love affair. When Jean proposes to Marie, his mother tries to intervene and Marie returns to Pierre. Jean takes a gun to the restaurant where Marie and Pierre are dining, but ends up fatally shooting himself in the foyer after being evicted from the restaurant. Marie and Jean’s mother reconcile and return to the French countryside, where they open a home for orphans in a country cottage. At the end of the film, Marie rides down a road in a horse drawn cart and is passed by a chauffer driven automobile in which Pierre rides with friends. Pierre's companion asks him what had happened to Marie after the night at the restaurant. Pierre replies that he does not know. The automobile and the horse-drawn wagon pass each other, heading in opposite directions.
*******Edna Purviance (1895 – 1958) was an American actress of the silent film era. She was the leading lady in many of Charlie Chaplin's early films and in a span of eight years, she appeared in over thirty films with him and remained on his payroll even after she retired from acting, receiving a small monthly salary from Chaplin's film company until she got married, and the payments resumed after her husband's death. Her last credited appearance in a Chaplin film, ‘A Woman of Paris’, was also her first leading role. The film was not a success and effectively ended Purviance's career. She died of throat cancer in 1958.
********Dundee Cake is a traditional Scottish fruit cake that has gained worldwide fame since its first appearance over three hundred and fifty years ago. The Dundee Cake is one of Scotland's most famous cakes and, it is said, was liked by the Queen at tea-time. The story goes that Mary Queen of Scots didn’t like cherries, so a fruit cake was made and decorated with the distinctive almond decoration that has now become very familiar to those of us in the know. A more likely story is that the Dundee Cake recipe was created in the 1700s, later to be mass-produced by the Marmalade company Keiller’s Marmalade.
An afternoon tea made up with sweet cakes like this would be enough to please anyone, but I suspect that even if you ate everything you can see here in and on this display case, you would still come away hungry. This is because they, like everything in this scene are 1:12 size miniatures from my miniatures collection.
Fun things to look for in this tableau:
The sweet cupcakes on the glass cake stand have been made in England by hand from clay by former chef turned miniature artisan, Frances Knight. Her work is incredibly detailed and realistic, and she says that she draws her inspiration from her years as a chef and her imagination. The pink blancmange rabbit on the bottom shelf of the display cabinet in the front of the right-hand side of the case was made by Polly’s Pantry Miniatures in America. All the other cakes came from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls House Shop in the United Kingdom. The glass and metal cake stands and the glass cloche came from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering. The glass cake stands are hand blown artisan pieces. The shiny brass cash register also comes from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures.
The J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. tariff is a copy of a 1920s example that I made myself by reducing it in size and printing it.
Edith’s handbag handmade from soft leather is part of a larger collection of hats and bags that I bought from an American miniature collector Marilyn Bickel.
The black umbrella came from an online stockist of 1:12 miniatures on E-Bay.
The wood and glass display cabinet I obtained from a seller of 1:12 miniatures on E-Bay.
The storage shelves in the background behind the counter come from Babette’s Miniatures, who have been making miniature dolls’ furnishings since the late Eighteenth Century. The plates, milk jug, silver teapots, coffee pots and trays on it all come from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls House Miniatures.
The aspidistra in the white planter and the wooden plant stand itself also come from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls House shop, as does the 1920s Lyons’ Tea sign you can see on the wall.
The Art Deco pattern on the wall behind the counter I created myself after looking at many photos of different Lyons Corner House interiors photos. Whilst not an exact match for what was there in real life, it is within the spirit of the detailing found in the different restaurants.