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Nov 27, 2024 27 tweets 8 min read Read on X
Beautiful things from the past 🧵

1. Gold ring from the 1700s adorned with stars and the inscription "Many are thee stars I see yet in my eye no star like thee". Gold posy ring with inscription to the inner face and maker's mark. Ornamented on outside of the hoop with 16 stars in relief. British Museum, 17thC-18thC.
2. An elegant 2,000-year-old Roman shoe found in a well at Saalburg, a fort that once protected the boundary between the Roman Empire and the Germanic territories. Image
3. Musical Knives

Dating to the early 1500s, these knives from Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum have musical scores engraved on their blades.

Each knife matched a vocal range (soprano, tenor, etc.), letting banquet guests sing together before or after meals. Image
4. The bookwheel

A stunning 300-year-old library tool that enabled a researcher to have seven books open at once.

Comedian Mark Normand dubbed it "the original too many tabs open." Image
5. A replica of Newton's second reflecting telescope which was presented to the Royal Society in 1672. Image
6. A love letter from 1913 that opens up to form an art gallery.

On January 10, 1913, American illustrator Alfred Joseph Frueh wrote to his wife Giuliette Fanciulli, using the letter as a small "map" to guide her through an art gallery she was about to visit. Image
7. Roman ring with the inscription "Anima Dulcis Vivas Mecum" (May you live with me sweet soul), 4th century AD. Image
8. A stunning antique Adam and Eve apple with an inscription that translates to "I am your half". Image
Image
9. A 16th Century ring that transforms into an astronomical sphere. Image
10. A masterpiece of optical illusion

This mind-bending gate leads to the grounds of the Theresian Academy, a private boarding and day school founded in 1746 by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. Image
11. This plate from 1661, decorated with the inscription "You and I are Earth," was found in a London Sewer.

After surviving harsh times, it ended up in a Wellcome Collection called "Dirt: The Filthy Reality of Everyday Life."

After all, everything belongs to the Earth. Image
12. A french medieval songbook

The Chansonnier de Jean de Montchenu is a heart-shaped hymnbook commissioned by French noble Bishop Jean de Montchenu between 1460 and 1477.

It features love songs in French and Italian by 15th-century composers. Image
13. The robot bar designed by Fratelli Borghesani Mobili Image
14. Ombra della sera (Italian for "Shadow of the Evening") is an over 2,000-year-old Etruscan bronze statue from the town of Velathri, now known as Volterra, Italy.

Archaeologists estimate that it dates back to the third century BC. Image
15. The insane flexibility of this 15th century armor

16. A stunning silver locket from the 1600s with Cupid and the inscription "No heart more true than mine to you." Image
17. An incredible gold purse from the Ottoman Empire with its original coins still inside

18. An original victorian doll house from the 1880s Image
19. Ancient Egyptian amethyst pendant in the shape of a cat, approximately 664-30 BC. Image
20. An automatic candle snuffer

A clever 19th-century device designed to sit atop a burning candle and automatically cut off its oxygen supply after a set period.

21. Renaissance ''ring with castle'', in gold, diamonds and enamel, late 16th century. Image
22. Amethyst grapes with jade leaves.

China, Qing dynasty, 19th century. Image
23. This Italian carved mahogany writing desk that belonged to King Carlo Alberto

24. A magnificent axe with heart-shaped holes in the blade. Japan, 14th century. Image
25. Buried treasure, including nearly 200 Roman coins, found in a terra-cotta pot in Tuscany, Italy.
Thanks for reading till the end! If you enjoyed this short journey through time please share the first post 👇
One more: a 2,000-year-old 20-sided rock crystal die from ancient Rome. Image

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More from @JamesLucasIT

Apr 17
Spring is here - an art thread🧵

1. Primavera by Sandro Botticelli (1470-80s) Image
2. Springtime by Pierre Auguste Cot (1873)

This piece depicts a young couple locked in an embrace on a swing amid a forest or garden.

The two seems lost in each other, described by an art expert as "drunken with first love". Image
3. Spring by Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1573) Image
Read 15 tweets
Apr 16
Historical figures when they were young 🧵

1. Five-year-old Albert Einstein, 1884 Image
2. A 19-year-old Teddy Roosevelt, 1877

The future president is pictured here as a Harvard freshman, dressed in his rowing gear.

In college, he was an avid wrestler and boxer — hobbies he carried into his presidency, often sparring with younger White House security staff. Image
3. John F. Kennedy at the age of 10 Image
Read 22 tweets
Apr 15
The genius of Leonardo Da Vinci, born 573 years ago on April 15, 1452 - a thread 🧵

1. This is his map of Imola, with a modern Google Earth image of the city shown below. Image
2. Château de La Rochefoucauld's staircase

This remarkable spiral staircase was built in 1520 by Anne de La Rochefoucauld.

Its design was based on Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings, which were gifted to her by the King of France. Image
3. The Vitruvian Man illustrates his vision of perfect human proportions.

It is based on principles outlined by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius.

According to art historian Carmen Bambach, it is "justly ranked among the all-time iconic images of Western civilization". Image
Read 22 tweets
Apr 15
This thread will put a smile on your face 🧵

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar alongside his longtime coach John Wooden (1969) and 38 years later. Image
2. This uncle tries to keep his nephew with Down syndrome from getting too close to the royal guard, and then...

3. Matthias Steiner lost his wife in a car accident, after promising her he would compete in the 2008 Olympics.

Honoring her memory, he pushed through grief, trained harder than ever, and won the Gold by lifting more than he had ever lifted before.

Read 21 tweets
Apr 13
Beautiful things from the past 🧵

1. A 16th century ring that unfolds into an astronomical sphere Image
2. The bookwheel

A magnificent 300-year-old library tool that enabled a researcher to have seven books open at once.

Comedian Mark Normand called it "the original version of having too many tabs open." Image
3. Gold ring covered in stars with the inscription "many are the stars i see yet in my eye no star like thee."

British Museum, 17thC-18thC. Image
Read 20 tweets
Apr 12
The art of making stone look translucent 🧵

1. The Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino Image
2. The Veiled Virgin

This Carrara marble bust, depicting a veiled Virgin Mary, was carved in Rome by Italian sculptor Giovanni Strazza in the early 1850s.

The veil gives the illusion of being translucent, yet it is carved entirely from marble. Image
3. The Veiled Lady, 1860

Once again, we can't see through stone — yet Raffaele Monti’s brilliant manipulation of light and polish makes us believe we can...

Zoom in for a better look. Image
Read 15 tweets

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