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A wig-powder bellows bearing the cypher of King George III, circa 1775. A wig-powder bellows was a handheld tool used to apply powder to a wig or hair in the 18th century. It worked by pressing the bellows together to force a cloud of powder, typically made from scented starch.
ARTIFACT / Photography
This extraordinary table from the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia, is the greatest masterpiece to have been created using the “piqué” technique. It was made by Giuseppe Sarao in Naples, Italy, in circa 1730-1740 CE using tortoiseshell piqué with gold and mother-of-pearl
ARTIFACT / Photography
Bronze Drum from the Idaean Cave. In ancient Greece, the tympanon was a type of circular, shallow tambourine, beaten with the palm of the hand or a stick. This one dates from the 8th century BC and is considered the first to appear in Greek art. It is a votive bronze disc found...
ARTIFACT / Photography
This 12th-century CE sock, from Egypt, was knitted from the toe upward to the leg. Its heel was made separately at the end and attached to loops left during leg knitting. This ingenious practice allowed the heel to be replaced when it wore out without the necessity of making new socks
ARTIFACT / Photography
The Powhatan’s Mantle, at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, is made of 4 deerskins trimmed, stitched together with sinew, and decorated with 20,000 polished discs of shell depicting a standing figure flanked by 2 opposed animals. Early 17th century CE, Powhatan people, North America
ARTIFACT / Photography
