Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Rare Objects from the Hermitage

Brooch - Forget-me-nots
Russia
1860s
gold, turquoises
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

"Now, if myth is precisely a sequence of simulacra that help to recognize simulacra, it is naive to pretend to interpret myth, when it is myth itself that is already interpreting us. It acts on us like the wooden image of Taurian Artemis: Orestes stole it from the shrine. He traveled a long way holding it tightly in his hands, and all the while he felt madness hanging over his head. Then one day, he thought he would try to live by himself and hid the statue in a thicket of reeds, not far from the Eurotas River. There the image lay for years.  One day two young Spartans of royal blood, Astrabacus and Alopecus, discovered it accidentally when they entered the thicket. Upright, wreathed in branches, the statue stared at them. The two Spartans were driven mad, because they had no idea what they were seeing. This is the power of the simulacrum, which cures only those who know it. For others it is sickness. Thus the myth: The power that arouses terror is also the only one that can cure it, as happened with Orestes. But only if it is recognized for what it is."

 Roberto Calasso, from his essay The Terror of Fables collected in The Forty-nine Steps (originally published in 1991 in Milan, translated by John Shepley and published by University of Minnesota Press, 2001)

Bust - Faustina the Younger as Venus
Roman Empire
2nd century AD (and later embellishments)
enamel, gold, silver, emeralds, rubies, sapphire
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Cameo - Woman in Cloak
Germany
ca. 1560
gold, silver, garnet
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Table-ornament - Peacocks
China
ca. 1740-60
silver, copper, enamel
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Beauty-spot Box
Russia
ca. 1750
gold, lapis lazuli
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Earrings - Lion-heads
Greece
4th century BC
gold
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Pin - Coiled Snake
Russia - August Wilhelm Holmstrem
ca. 1860
enameled gold, diamonds
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Braclet - Twisted Belt 
Northern Europe
ca. 1850
enameled gold, silver, diamonds
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Statuette - Rearing Horse
Germany - Jacob Fröhlich
ca. 1575-1600
silver
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Pendant - Caravel
Italy
ca. 1575-1600
gold, rubies, emeralds, pearls
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Brooch - Dragonfly
Russia
ca. 1910-15
gold, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, chrysolites, pearls
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
 
Brooch - Heraldic Griffin
Russia
ca. 1908-17
gold, diamonds, spinel
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Medallion
Russia
1730s
gold, enamel, diamonds
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Badge of the Order of St Andrew the First-Called
Russia
ca. 1800
gold, silver, enamel, rubies, diamonds
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Pendant - Double-headed Eagle
Russia
ca. 1750
enameled gold, rubies
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Signet-ring - Aphrodite and Eros
Greece
4th century BC
gold
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg