#National Museum Of

[sacramentohistorymuseum]

October 29th is National Cat Day! Keeping up with highlighting some of the absurd, odd, and strange cuts from our print shop exhibit this month, Howard letterpress printed an electrotype (copy of a woodcut) made about 125-130 years ago from the Lewis Winter Collection.

Like this item printed, there are other cuts made by Lewis Winter in the collection that depict animals doing out of the ordinary activities. In this case, it’s a cat riding a bicycle. This was printed with blue rubber base ink using our Washington hand press.

[vintage-ukraine]

Trapesty from Zhytomyr, XIX century

[lionofchaeronea]

Women Watching Stars, Ōta Chōu, 1936

[niteshade925]

April 20, Beijing, China, National Museum of China/中国国家博物馆 (Part 1 - Dehua white porcelain exhibition/德化白瓷展):

Aaand finally, the National Museum of China/中国国家博物馆! I was lucky enough to see the famed Dehua white porcelain exhibition/德化白瓷展 here. Some of you may recognize some of these pieces already, since pictures and shorts of them have been circulating online way before I went on this trip, but there are many many other pieces too. The pieces I post here are only a small portion of the entire exhibition, so if you ever get a chance to see the exhibition elsewhere in person, don't hesitate. This stuff is amazing.

First up is one of the two that has been gaining popularity online, the piece named 神话 or "Legend".

The first time I saw a porcelain piece like this, I thought that the clothing part was made with paper? But no, the light fabric of the clothing, the hair, it's all porcelain. Keep in mind when looking through these pictures: every part of every piece is porcelain.

This piece is the other one that was becoming popular, the piece named simply 纸, or "Paper". If you don't look up close and see the glossy surface, you can't tell it's actually porcelain. I cannot for the life of me imagine the kind of magic that was used to turn clay into this

Anyway, this is a good point to introduce Dehua porcelain a little bit. Dehua porcelain is a regional specialty of Dehua/德化, which is located in Fujian province, and is known for its expressiveness and white color. For this reason it's also known in the West as "Blanc de Chine" (French: "white of China"), and this should be the reason why this exhibition is named 中国白, which basically means the same thing. The history of Dehua porcelain goes back to Song dynasty (960 - 1279), and it is still being produced today. Many of the pieces I'm posting here are modern pieces.

But Dehua white porcelain can be colored too (I imagine the color must be painted on later, because the white comes from the clay itself), and when it is colored, it looks like it came right out of a painting

This piece is especially amazing to me. Look at the texture, look at those details. Zoom in and you will find that there are actually a bunch of porcelain ants on this porcelain tree stump. Porcelain ants. I never expected to use porcelain as an adjective when describing ants. Wtf. It's like a manifestation of a scene from an older animated movie.

Peanuts are called 花生 in Chinese, which literally means "flower grow", and because it also has a long shelf life, it symbolizes longevity and a happy marriage. Also a fun fact: because Watson of Sherlock Holmes is usually phoenetically translated as 华生 (huá shēng) in Chinese and sounds similar to 花生 (huā shēng), you will find that many in the Chinese SH fandom refers to Watson as "peanut".

This piece is titled 春色满园, or "garden filled with spring scenery". This is also a common 4-character word used to describe gardens in spring. I'm guessing the figure depicted here is one of the flower gods. It is one of my personal favorites because of its superb depiction of movement, it's as if the flower god will really fly away on clouds at any moment

More depictions of traditional Chinese deities, specifically Chang'e/嫦娥, the moon goddess. That moon rabbit is too cute.

Depictions of what I'm assuming is the Four Heavenly Kings/四大天王, based on the items they are holding. The Four Heavenly Kings are Buddhist deities.

Look at her clothing! That porcelain is so thin it's almost see-through! Also is it depicting Li Qingzhao/李清照, the famous female poet from Song dynasty? She does have a famous ci poem that's about paddling a boat in a lake full of lotuses while drunk

The piece titled 锦绣前程, or "future as vibrant and prosperous as silk brocade". This is also a common 4-character word used in well wishing. The figure in this piece is holding a xiuqiu/绣球, a ball made of silk, which was usually seen as a token of love

Somewhat more modern-themed pieces:

Among the hundreds of amazing pieces, this one caught my attention for its unique texture. When everyone else was trying to turn the clay into these thin sheets representing fabric or paper or flower petals, this artist took the noodle approach. Not many visitors seemed to like it, but I think it's pretty cool

Piece titled 运势如虹, or "fortune like the rainbow", also a 4-character word used in well wishing. Traditionally horses symbolize vitality and success, hence why many people use the words 马到成功 ("horse's arrival brings success") and 龙马精神 ("vitality of dragons and horses") in well wishes during Year of the Horse

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Dehua white porcelain exhibition!

[hana-loves-bumblebees]

English: barn owl - uninspired and unimaginative, 3/10

Czech: sova pálená, literally singed, burnt owl (because of the markings on its head) - creative, unique, 8/10

Slovak: plamienka driemavá - the sleepy little flamey (not kidding) - somebody looked at the owl and went “aww eepy flame babey :))))” and I think that’s amazing, also it sounds super cute, 11/10

[subbalakshmisastry]

National Crafts Museum New Delhi राष्ट्रीय शिल्प संग्रहालय National Hand...

[imitationcrabs]

Jade figure of crab in the collection of the National Museum of Asian art

[ancientsstudies]

The most beautiful is to see the joy in your eyes.

ig credit: danielapardor.

[barbucomedie]

Statue of "The Creator" from Xochicalco, Mexico dated between 650 - 900 on display at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, Mexico

Photographs taken by myself 2024

[casualcarpetshark]

it's science

can't argue with the facts

[gemsofgreece]

Newly exhibited photos from the project Ένδυμα Ψυχής - Raiment of the Soul,  collaboration of photographer Vangelis Kyris and Bulgarian embroidery artist Anatoli Georgiev who present Greek traditional costumes, which are exhibits of the National Historical Museum of Greece. The exhibition is currently hosted in the Acropolis Museum, until March.

Attire of King Otto of Greece, 19th century.

Dress from Nisyros island, 19th century.

Dress from Zakynthos (Zante) island, 18th century.

Attire of Dimitris Mavromichalis, aide-de-camp of King Otto.

Attire of Stavros Tournikiotis, 19th century.

Urban dress of Old Athens, 18th century.

Dress from Zagori, 19th century.

Urban attire, 19th century.

See more photos of the project  x, x, x and x. 

[life-imitates-art-far-more]

Eastman Johnson (1824-1906) "Gathering Lilies" (1865) Oil on board Located in the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, United States

[lionofchaeronea]

Night, the Church at Røros. Sketch for Night 1904, Harald Sohlberg, 1903

[a-book-of-creatures]

Current mood: Bronze Age sleeping faience hippopotamus (Byblos)

[just-another-nerd-blog]

What's up MASHblr I went to the National Museum of American History last week and they had the signpost on display and I was sooo normal about it I swear