Thursday Challenge—"black"

I thought I was done showing you fashions from
this year's Costume Institute show at
The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  But here's one
more:  this beautiful c. 1938 black lace dress
with a die-cut, hand-assembled white-linen corsage 
from—who else?—Coco Chanel.  

[To see more of the Thursday Challenge, go here.]

Shadow Shot Sunday

Another image from Manus x Machina, on
display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art until
mid-August.  These gorgeous gowns are
from Christian Dior, c. early 1950s
(and both great examples of the postwar 
exuberance in fashion).

[To see more Sunday shadows, go here.]

moon over Manhattan

When I came out of the Metropolitan Museum
last Friday, the moon—big and hazy— 
was rising over the city.

[To see more Skywatch pics from
around the world, go here.]

ABC Wednesday—T is for "Tiffany"

Three turn-of-the-century Tiffany lamps
on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art:
a chandelier with "blossom globes,"
a standing lamp with a peony shade, and a
table lamp with a lotus shade.  I hope that whoever
got to live with these lamps at the time
had the good grace to fully appreciate them!
(Louis Comfort Tiffany made the little 
oak and bronze table too.)

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

"Transitional Object (PsychoBarn)"

That's the title of this art installation currently
on the roof of the Met.  The artist,
Cornelia Parker, got her inspiration partly
from the house in the movie Psycho—and like
that movie-set one, this is also unfinished on two sides.

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.]

Weekend Reflections

More of the "Treasures of the Maharajas"
exhibit at the Met (all of the pieces
now belong to Sheikh Hamad Al-Thani, of
Qatar).  These are early- to mid-19th-century
ankle bracelets, which might have been
worn by a woman or a man. They're gold, with
sapphires and pearls and green glass beads—so
pretty, but you probably wouldn't want to wear them
if you were planning to sneak up on someone.

[To see more Weekend Reflections, visit James's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—F is for "food trucks"

Lined up outside on a recent night when the
Metropolitan Museum of Art was open late, these
food trucks offered everything from hot dogs
to hot soup.  But while the food may have been hot, 
the temp was not.  My daughter and niece and 
I opted instead to hike about 40 blocks 
(that's two miles) south for some yummy Italian
food—and wine—in a nice warm restaurant.

[To see more ABC Wednesday posts, go here.]

"Death Becomes Her"

That's the name of this exhibit of
mourning clothes recently on display
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume
Institute.  They had one of Queen Victoria's
 "little black dresses."  Well, actually, it isn't really
little at all—although Victoria was quite
vertically challenged, her frame and the fashion of
the day required the use of many, many yards of fabric!

[It's Shadow Shot Sunday. To see more, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

This diamond (part of an exhibit at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art that I showed you
 on Tuesday) is actually quite new—made by Cartier
 in 2013.  Its name, the Star of Golconda, alludes to a
kingdom in India from which the Koh-i-noor
and Hope diamonds came.

[To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

the maharajah's jewels

I visited the Met(ropolitan Museum of Art)
on Saturday and enjoyed an exhibit of Indian jewels.  
Believe it or not, this circa 1800 gold and ruby bracelet,
from Varanasi, was meant to be worn by a man
(and this was long before the term "metrosexual" existed).

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday and also to Our World Tuesday.]

My favorite flowers . . .

recreated in yellow and green gold, silver, pearls,
and rose-cut diamonds by Fabergé in 1896 and given
to Czarina Alexandra, the wife of Czar Nicholas II.
Lilies of the valley were her favorite flowers
too—and this piece is considered the most important
Fabergé work in the United States.  (It was
 recently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.)

[Linking back to Shadow Shot Sunday and Today's Flowers.]

ABC Wednesday—Q is for "Qu'ran"

. . . another way of spelling Koran.
This one is decorated with gold and lapis and
was made in Kashmir in the late 1700s.  It's
on display with other examples of Islamic art 
(with many beautiful and also practical 
items such as bowls, screens, and carpets)
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

Tower of Flowers

Here's a recent arrangement made by
Remco van Vliet, the in-house floral designer
for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
If you'd like to know more about how he
creates his towering floral masterpieces, you
can read this article from the Wall Street Journal.

[I'm linking back to Shadow Shot Sunday
and also Today's Flowers.]

At the Met

One of the perks of membership at the
Metropolitan Museum is that you get to preview new
exhibits for a few days before they're opened to
everyone else and get so crowded. This is
part of Interwoven Globe, which shows colorful examples
of textiles traded between East and West after new
sea routes were discovered in the 15th century.
Most of the items (like this satin chasuble made in
China for the Spanish market) are incredibly well preserved.

[It's Shadow Shot Sunday. To see more, go here.]

Shadow Shot Sunday

Now that I have a membership at the
Met(ropolitan Museum of Art), my goal
is to learn every inch of this vast place.
I do expect that to take a while—especially
since I keep getting drawn back to the same
galleries again and again. (These beautiful bowls
were made in Persia in the 12th or 13th century.)

[To see more Sunday shadows, go here.]

Shadow Shot Sunday

The current installation on the roof garden at the
Met is literally on the roof garden.  The work, by Pakistani
artist Imran Qureshi, represents his emotional response
to the senseless violence occurring in his country
—and around the world—in recent decades. 

The lush leaves worked into the blood-red
paint evoke the artist's hope for regeneration
and peace in the aftermath of manmade disasters.

[To see more Sunday shadows, go here.]

ABC Wednesday—A is for "astrolabe"

There's documentation (in Cairo) that proves this brass
astrolabe was made by a 13th-century Yemeni prince.
Don't know how its last owner got his hands on
it, but his bequest left it to the Met in 1891.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.  I've been at it
every Wednesday since this post in 2009,
and still think it's one of the best memes ever!]

The Weekend in Black and White

This Greek bronze, "The Boxer at Rest,"  was cast
sometime in the late 4th- to 2nd century B.C.
and discovered during an excavation on Rome's
Quirinal Hill in 1885; it's currently on display at the Met.
Despite his wounds (with dripping blood depicted
in copper), you can almost imagine
that he'll spring up to start the next round.

[To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Shadow Shot Sunday

This 14th-century iron, silver, and enamel reliquary
cross once sheltered a fragment of wood believed to
come from the True Cross (I'd need a very
large grain of salt . . . but so they claimed). It was a
gift to the Met from J. Pierpont Morgan—I showed
another one here on my other blog recently.

[To see more Sunday shadows, go here.]

Shadow Shot Sunday

More fun with the iPhone—and my new lenses:
This first attempt at a fisheye shot is a little
fuzzy, but I still like these shadows at the Met (and the
two women in red who don't even know they're twins).

[To see more Sunday shadows, go here.]