@melucene.bsky.social
medievalist-archaeologist, landscape, nature, memory and materiality in Armenia and the Silk Road world Arthur H Dadian and Ara Otztemel Assoc Prof in Armenian Art and Architecture at Tufts; southern transplant and frito-pie-enjoyer.
TIL about the 16th c German goldsmith Wenzel Jamnitzer's statues of Daphne made from coral and I am metamorphosed for it
I'm so excited to be participating in the very first year of the NAASR Armenian studies summer program! Spread the word!! naasr.org/pages/summer...
she was so breathtaking
Saddling up with the Five Best Friends* of Hildegaard of Bingen
(BnF MS Arsenale 212 f 11v)
*or, portentous allegories of the ages of human civilization, whichever
charging my sense of the sacred eros of objects to write about relics by shopping 1990s Fashion Fillies on ebay
the purple one with the turquoise hooves i actually owned, i hope shes thriving somewhere
im not making a profound point here, but this also describes Texas
15th c eagle lectern with bat-shaped reinforcement, Aachen cathedral
(overwhelmed bat voice) not even supposed to be in today, just keeping it together
the whole thing is gorgeous 🐟🐠🐟
that image has pretty clearly been retouched by a later artist, which adds to its uncannyness, but its still amazing !
paging through the splendid digitization of the early 12th c
Vita et miracula s. Quintini-- struck of course by the ecological sensibility of the body feeding the fish
(Ms. Basilique Saint-Quentin 1 f. 67r)
today has been a deep dive into the 19th c genre of ornamental grammars, woooo
Racinet, Dolmetsch
The University of Toronto copy of Owen Jones' Grammar of Ornament has a stain from a leaf pressed in it--- who can identify the leaf? amazing
dreaming of springtime and blossoms (and jackalfriends) today; Kalila wa Dimna, Bodleian Pococke 400 f64b
its not everyday that one types 'read up on nunsploitation as a genre' into a peer review
archive photo: dawn entrance to piazza san marco at high tide, 2011
I want this tawny sky and to be paddling in this turtle pool
The gazalle makes friends, Kalila wa Dimna, 16th c
MetMuseum 1981.373.61
found in the files today--Chiangmai elephants, 2017
kid in the middle ages seeing a dead body dug up:
the metal macpherson motto on this ex libris in Bede's Vita Cuthberti... also, youre not the boss of me i touch the cat
!!!!!!!!
look war is bad and plunder is also bad but if i was a marauding Pisan in the 12th c i would not be able to leave this chonkster behind, no court in the land etc etc
chomp
(Xigoupan, tomb M2, 4-3rd c BC)
Caspar David Friedrich 1824// Guillermo del Toro 2025
one has not really read The Nature of the Gothic until one has read it typeset by William Morris
!!! Due to snow this great talk today is now on zoom!
mesaas.columbia.edu/events/forgi...
Ara Harutyunyan working on the now-dispersed Banvori Ardzan (Worker Statue)- which still gives its name to an intersection and bus stop, confusing young dumb archaeologists trying to catch a bus to Vayots Dzor back in the day...
