Historical paintings by English artist Frank Owen Salisbury (1874-1962). One of a lady who merely looks historical but she fits right in. All of these from the website of ArtUK.

Marchioness of Winchester (1902-1995). A full portrait of Babsy the Marchioness of Winchester in full robes with the Paulet coat of arms in the background. 1956. English. Oil on canvas. Frank Owen Salisbury, painter (1874-1962). Winchester City Council’s Topographical Art Collection. © estate of Frank O. Salisbury. Fair use license. via https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/marchione-of-winchester-19021995-24025/view_as/grid/search/keyword:frank-owen-salisbury/page/2

The Trial of Queen Catherine of Aragon (study for a mural at the Houses of Parliament). 1909. English. Oil on canvas. Frank Owen Salisbury, painter (1874-1962). Collections of the Northampton Museums and Art Gallery. © estate of Frank O. Salisbury. Fair use license. via http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-trial-of-queen-catherine-of-aragon-49982
The Roof of the Great Hall, Westminster, 1397. The king, Richard II, together with his master carpenter, Hugh Herland, inspect the work of construction on the roof of Westminster Hall in 1397. 1924. English. Oil on canvas. Frank Owen Salisbury, painter (1874-1962). Parliamentary Art Collection. © estate of Frank O. Salisbury. Fair use license. http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-roof-of-the-great-hall-westminster-1397-214168

Study for The Roof of the Great Hall Westminster, 1397. Before 1924. English. Oil on canvas. Frank Owen Salisbury, painter (1874-1962). Parliamentary Art Collection. © estate of Frank O. Salisbury. Fair use license. http://www.artuk.org/artworks/study-for-the-roof-of-the-great-hall-westminster-1397-214167

Out and about with Czech painter Václav Brožík who worked in the Academic style. Living from 1851 to 1901, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague.

Mistr Jan Hus před Kostnickým koncilem (Master Jan Hus before the Constance Council.) 1883. Czech. Oil on canvas. Václav Brožík, painter (1851-1901). Collections of the Old Town Hall, Brožík Hall, Prague. In the public domain in the United States because the artist died over 100 years ago. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vaclav_Brozik_-_Hus.jpg

Zvolení Jiříka z Poděbrad za krále českého. (Election of Jiřík of Poděbrady as King of Bohemia.) 1898. Czech. Oil on canvas. Václav Brožík, painter (1851-1901). Collections of the Old Town Hall, Brožík Hall, Prague. In the public domain in the United States because the artist died over 100 years ago. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vaclav_Brozik_-_Volba.jpg

Polyxena z Lobkovic, ochraňuje ve svém domě královské místodržící Slavatu a Martinice, svržené z oken královského hradu v Praze roku 1618 (Polyxena of Lobkowitz safeguarding the royal officials Slavata and Martinic, thrown out of windows of the royal castle in Prague in 1618.) Undated, by 1901. Czech. Oil on canvas. Václav Brožík, painter (1851-1901). Image source: dorotheum.com. In the public domain in the United States because the artist died over 100 years ago. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brozik_Vaclav_017.jpg
Tu felix Austria nube (engagement of Louis Jagiellon to Maria Habsburg). 1896. Czech. Václav Brožík, painter (1851-1901). Collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Belvedere Museum, Vienna. In the public domain in the United States because the painter died over 100 years ago. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:V%C3%A1clav_Bro%C5%BE%C3%ADk_-Tu_felix_Austria_nube–2768a-b-_Kunsthistorisches_Museum.jpg

Landscapes by Armenian painter Martiros Saryan (Sarian) who lived from 1880 to 1972. Born in  Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

Mountains. 1923. Soviet/Armenian. Oil on canvas. Martiros Saryan (Sarian), painter (1880-1972). Signed on the lower left.  © estate of the artist. Collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. via https://www.wikiart.org/en/martiros-sarian/mountais-1923
Gazelles. 1926. Soviet/Armenian. Oil on canvas. Martiros Saryan (Sarian), painter (1880-1972). Signed on the lower right.  © estate of the artist. Collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. via https://mirrorspectator.com/2018/09/06/martiros-sarians-gazelles-to-go-on-display-in-armenia-for-first-time/

View of Mount Ararat from Yerevan. 1923. Soviet/Armenian. Oil on canvas. Martiros Saryan (Sarian), painter (1880-1972). Signed in Cyrillic and Armenian and dated twice 1923 M./Sarian/Martiros Sarian/1923 on the lower left. Further signed in Cyrillic, inscribed with title and dated M. Sarian/1923 on the reverse.  © estate of the artist. Image © CHRISTIE’S 2022. Fair use license. via https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6321862

Birds rendered by Meissen in porcelain. 20th century, after models by J. J. Kändler (1706-1775). From a current Sotheby’s catalogue.

Pair of Meissen porcelain brightly colored parrots perched on tree stumps. German. 20th c, after the models by J. J. Kändler. Maker’s marks: crossed swords marks in underglaze-blue, incised model numbers 63X and 63, impressed numerals 91 and 71. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/design-17-20-silver-furniture-ceramics/a-pair-of-meissen-figures-of-parrots-20th-century?locale=en




Pair of Meissen porcelain golden orioles with their plumage brightly painted, each perched atop a tree stump affixed with flowers. German. 20th c, after the models by J. J. Kändler. Maker’s marks: crossed swords marks in underglaze-blue, incised model number 820, impressed numerals 1490 or 1104. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/design-17-20-silver-furniture-ceramics/a-pair-of-meissen-figures-of-golden-orioles-20th?locale=en



Pair of Meissen porcelain cockatoos, naturalistically modelled with their plumage picked out in red, perched on tree stumps applied with flower heads. German. 20th c, after the models by J. J. Kändler. Maker’s marks:  crossed swords marks in underglaze-blue, incised model number 77034 and underglaze-blue model number 77035, impressed numerals 64 and 22, impressed date codes. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/design-17-20-silver-furniture-ceramics/a-pair-of-meissen-figures-of-cockatoos-20th?locale=en

Animal design claret jugs. A fun idea.


Silver mounted “walrus” claret jug. The head realistically chased with glass eyes, plain thumbpiece and gilt interior and plain body band with chased front and rear flippers. Victorian. 1882. Made in London by Alexander Crichton. Maker’s marks: fully marked at the base of the neck and on the body band. Part marked elsewhere. Engraved underneath the tail with the design register number. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/design-17-20-silver-furniture-ceramics/a-rare-victorian-silver-mounted-walrus-claret-jug?locale=en

Silver mounted glass “crocodile” claret jug. The glass body formed with ribs, legs, and tail, engraved with scales and mounted with textured silver feet with a realistically modeled pull-of head with open jaws and teeth, fitting of a gilt spout shaped as the tongue and ending in a hinged flap. 1884. Victorian. Made in London by Sampson Mordon and Company. Maker’s marks: Fully marked on the neck and head. Part marked on the spout. Engraved with the retailer’s signature and design registry mark. The design registry mark being repeated on the underside of the neck. © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/design-17-20-silver-furniture-ceramics/a-rare-victorian-silver-mounted-glass-crocodile?locale=en

Silver mounted “walrus” claret jug. Realistically modeled and tooled with hinged cover and glass eyes. Blown-glass body engraved with a cypher. 1881. Victorian. Made in London by Alexander Crichton. © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/style-european-silver-gold-boxes-and-ceramics/a-victorian-silver-mounted-novelty-walrus-claret
Silver-plate mounted cranberry glass novelty claret jug modeled in the form of a duck. Hinged at the head with the plated mounts realistically chased with textured feathers and feet. Victorian. Maker not given. Image © 1986-2022 Invaluable, LLC and Elstob and Elstob. Fair use license. via https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/a-victorian-silver-plate-mounted-cranberry-glass–1012-c-e8b4ecea37

“Bear” silver plate claret jug with amber glass. Victorian. Maker not given. Image © Piers Rankin Antique Silver and Sheffield Plate. Fair use license. via https://www.antiquesilverlondon.com/antique-silver-recently-sold/25-victorian-style-silver-plate-bear-claret-jug-with-amber-glass.html

Imagery from M. F. Lewis’ “Fungi Collected in Shropshire and Other Neighborhoods”. Published between 1860 and 1902 in several volumes.

Plate from M. F. Lewis’s Fungi Collected in Shropshire and Other Neighborhoods. 1860-1902. In the public domain due to age. via /https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/fungi-of-shropshire
Plate from M. F. Lewis’s Fungi Collected in Shropshire and Other Neighborhoods. 1878. In the public domain due to age. via /https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/fungi-of-shropshire

Plate from M. F. Lewis’s Fungi Collected in Shropshire and Other Neighborhoods. 1860-1902. In the public domain due to age. via /https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/fungi-of-shropshire
Plate from M. F. Lewis’s Fungi Collected in Shropshire and Other Neighborhoods. 1860-1902. In the public domain due to age. via /https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/fungi-of-shropshire

Plate from M. F. Lewis’s Fungi Collected in Shropshire and Other Neighborhoods. 1860-1902. In the public domain due to age. via /https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/fungi-of-shropshire

Taken from a post from publicdomainreview.org which has more, all at the same link. The book itself is in the collections of Cornell University Library and the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

Watercolors by Peter Bass who is a watercolorist in Boston, Massachusetts. Images used by permission of the artist and taken from his Instagram account.

The bus terminal at Nubian Square in Boston.ca. 2022. American. Watercolor. Peter Bass, watercolorist. Artwork © the artist. @peter_bass_
 on Instagram. via Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci-oSDxLos6/

Sidewalk cafe in Boston’s North End. ca. 2022. American. Watercolor. Peter Bass, watercolorist. Artwork © the artist. @peter_bass_
 on Instagram. via Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CiQKc_trluB/

Walking down Massachusetts Avenue at Night. ca. 2022. American. Watercolor. Peter Bass, watercolorist. Artwork © the artist. @peter_bass_
 on Instagram. via Instagram.

Antique hand-fans. All of these from a current Sotheby’s auction catalogue. Please note that the first one which dates to the 18th century has elephant sticks and guards. To my mind that makes it all right to use here. If it bothers you please look at the other two.

Hand-fan with a painted vellum leaf depicting various scenes of agricultural labor, contained by broad decorative borders depicting flora, fauna and chinoiserie figures. Elephant ivory sticks and guards, the sticks finely pierced with foliate patterns and and creating silhouette scenes against the mother-of-pearl ground of an elegant group with a horse-drawn carriage. The pierced guards with a ground of colored foil. 1760-1770. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/hotel-lambert-une-collection-princiere-volume-v-lecrin/an-ivory-and-painted-vellum-fan-1760-1770?locale=en

Hand-fan with the vellum leaf depicting a mythological scene, possibly Diana and Actaeon. Pierced horn sticks with stylized foliate patterns. The pierced guards with a central medallion of a vase of flowers surmounted by a ribbon and a plaque containing the number “662”. Early 19th c. French. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/hotel-lambert-une-collection-princiere-volume-v-lecrin/a-horn-and-vellum-fan-french-early-19th-century?locale=en

Horn and silk hand-fan. Pierced and sequined silk leaves the horn sticks and mounts studded with silver. 19th c. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/hotel-lambert-une-collection-princiere-volume-v-lecrin/a-horn-and-silk-fan-19th-century?locale=en

Victorian centerpieces by Elkington of Birmingham. So much more fun than a plastic bowl of fruit.

Centerpiece with two entwined palms sheltering two dogs or greyhounds, modeled after Pierre-Jules Mène’s Two Whippets at Play. Villeroy and Boch plate in blue and white ceramic, above a shaped bronze base, with two entwined palms sheltering two dogs or greyhounds. Undated, 19th c. Possibly made by the British Elkington and Company. Image © 1stDibs.com, Inc. 2022. Fair use license. via https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/dining-entertaining/centerpieces/villeroy-boch-plate-elkington-co-centerpiece-after-pj-mennes-two-whippets/id-f_20456382/
Silverplate centerpiece comprised of elk and palm trees with a mirrored tableau. 19th c. English. Possibly made by Elkington. Image
© 2022 Chairish, Inc. Fair use license. via https://www.chairish.com/product/3446202/19th-century-elkington-style-silverplate-centerpiece

.Silvered bronze centerpiece with standing figures of a young hunter, a friar and a fish monger with a spaniel and game at their feet, mounted with plaques with 1859 and 1941 inscriptions. The inscriptions reading: “Presented to William Johnson Esq. as a token of respect & esteem by the workpeople in the employ of Messrs Richard Johnson & Brother, Manchester, January 28, 1859”, and “Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers, Alias Wire Workers of the City of London, Presented by Arthur Laurence Johnson M.A., Grandson of William Johnson, both Wire Workers, with his Daughter Eleanor Morton Johnson, a Freeman of the Company, to commemorate his Mastership 1941-42.” The company founded by the Johnsons supplied galvanized armored wire for the first transatlantic telegraph cable in 1857. Original glass bowl. 1859. English. Made by Elkington, Mason and Company. Image
© 2022 Chairish, Inc. Fair use license. via https://www.chairish.com/product/4367653/antique-victorian-elkington-mason-co-silvered-bronze-centerpiece

Parcel-gilt silver centerpiece, the base supported on winged dolphin head feet and wide border decorated with panels of bacchic putti centered by female masks. Fitted with two removable kidney-shaped porcelain bowls with gilt scroll borders. The ends of the base with twin-tailed figures of Neptune supporting detachable shell-form dishes above their heads and flanked by rearing mer-horses. The central support decorated with flowerheads and lotus leaves and flanked by two joyous putti under an openwork basket pierced with panels of cherries spaced by beaded tendrils and hung with swags of chains, the central basket with a removable cut-glass bowl and the shell-form dishes with removable glass liners. 1866. British. Design attributed to Auguste Adolphe Willms. Elkington and Company, maker. Image © 2021 Sothebys. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2010/19th-century-furniture-sculpture-ceramics-silver-and-works-of-art-n08627/lot.45.html

Images of Byzantine and Old Russian Ornaments that were collected and drawn by Prince Gagarin of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Prince Gagarin was a Major General in the Russian army but he was an artist, too. Stieglitz. 1887. Taken from a post on cmhnir.ortox.ru. All beautiful.






Russian religious ornament, drawing that is part of a collection that belonged to and was presumably drawn by Prince Gagarin of Saint Petersburg, Russia that was assembled in the 1880s. via  http://cmhnir.ortox.ru/muzeon/view/id/1185749





Detail taken from a 12th century Greek manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, drawing that is part of a collection that belonged to and was presumably drawn by Prince Gagarin of Saint Petersburg, Russia that was assembled in the 1880s.. via  http://cmhnir.ortox.ru/muzeon/view/id/1185749





Detail taken from a 12th century Greek manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, drawing that is part of a collection that belonged to and was presumably drawn by Prince Gagarin of Saint Petersburg, Russia that was assembled in the 1880s.. via  http://cmhnir.ortox.ru/muzeon/view/id/1185749





Detail taken from a 12th century manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. drawing that is part of a collection that belonged to and was presumably drawn by Prince Gagarin of Saint Petersburg, Russia that was assembled in the 1880s.. via  http://cmhnir.ortox.ru/muzeon/view/id/1185749










Detail of the facade of the Church of Saint Mark in Venice. drawing that is part of a collection that belonged to and was presumably drawn by Prince Gagarin of Saint Petersburg, Russia that was assembled in the 1880s.. via  http://cmhnir.ortox.ru/muzeon/view/id/1185749










Detail of  Saint Mark’s in Venice. drawing that is part of a collection that belonged to and was presumably drawn by Prince Gagarin of Saint Petersburg, Russia that was assembled in the 1880s.. via  http://cmhnir.ortox.ru/muzeon/view/id/1185749





Marble ornaments from the Church of Saint Mark in Venice, Italy. Drawing that is part of a collection that belonged to and was presumably drawn by Prince Gagarin of Saint Petersburg, Russia that was assembled in the 1880s.  via http://cmhnir.ortox.ru/muzeon/view/id/1185749.