Not the beady eyes of a spider with heterochromia, nor shining lamps at a harbour entrance marking port and starboard, this is instead a ruby and an emerald, set into a golden ring from the 1400s. It was probably a love token or betrothal ring …
The yellow pigment has faded over time, leaving a white canary and blue foliage, but the subject of this painting – a young girl’s sadness at her first confrontation with death – is as clear to us as it was to viewers nearly 300 years ago …
The royal we were in Istanbul last week, visiting museums and heritage sites. And by chance, this is where the mother of the Ottoman Sultan would carry out her ablutions in private, in her own loo …
The oldest visual representation of a lion in Georgia (2500–3000 BC) this little golden figurine, highly decorated and just a few centimetres, served as inspiration for the logo of the National Bank of Georgia …
Useful for peeking around corners, spreading light in a room and distorting perspective, curved mirrors like these have gone out of fashion since this one was made in the early 1800s. In 2014, the frame …
It can sometimes seem as if there’s a museum for everything. The Pencil Museum gets cited often, but less so the Pen Museum, which is a shame, as Birmingham was a major pen-making industry in the Victorian era …
These men aren’t gods; they’re doctors. The architecture of this museum not only provides a backdrop to the subject of medicine, it also shows the typical features …
Although it looks like two materials, this pot was crafted from a single lump of gold-silver-copper alloy. The artist then worked the surface to create the look of silver and gold. Where the two meet is the important part. It symbolises the balance that’s a key part of Chimú thinking …
Striking royal blue brocade and bright gold thread. Bright as day and over 90 years old. Whatever kind of event ‘Bolton Civic Week’ was, it was worthy of creating something as beautiful as this …
Think big. Think bling. Today’s guest curator, Si Tansley chooses a huge golden throne and tells us not only about its significance but also how visitors react to it when they see it in the museum …
Happy birthday Chris Hoy, born today in 1976. In 2006 he won the Team Sprint for Scotland in Melbourne with team mates Craig MacLean and Ross Edgar. Today his medal is on loan to the museum (he can spare it, surely …
George is not only the patron saint of England. He’s hugely venerated in the eastern orthodox church. A few years ago I came across this row of icons of St George in a little church in North Cyprus …
