Gayer-Anderson Museum, Cairo

I know that the Egypt posts are getting old at this point but I have two more sets of pics to put up.  The first is the Gayer-Anderson Museum in Cairo, a house museum considered to represent the finest example of 17th century domestic architecture in Egypt.  The house was preserved by a British major (Gayer-Anderson), who lived there between 1935 and 1942.  He bequeathed his extensive collection of art objects and decor to the government on the condition that the residence was turned into a museum.

As always, what I love about house museums is you see exactly how normal people lived their lives (although obviously these are often people known for their exceptional aesthetic taste and artistry).  Lots of good ideas here, like the simple fringe valance above two panels of printed cotton.  You could buy an Indian tapestry just like these at Urban Outfitters.

 Mashrabiya, the architectural term which describes these traditional wooden screened windows.  One has a perfect view of street but with complete privacy.  If you remember the post which visited H. H. Richardson's famous house Stonehurst, you will see his inspired use of the mashrabiya element.

An interior courtyard...

Painted wooden mottos....

rooftop patio....

Used as set in James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me....

Egyptian stained glass uses plaster to separate glass.

built into corner of stairwell....it is made of stone but could just as easily be painted wood.

outdoor living....

Favorite Minerals of the South Australian Museum, Adelaide

Imagine my glee upon seeing this piece of the Mundrabilla Meteorite as the very first thing upon entering Adelaide's South Australian Museum!  You may remember it, and Mundrabilla, from this earlier post.  A fellow nerd pointed out later that I should have put a pencil down next to it for scale----it is about the size of a large coffee table, maybe just under two meters across.  It is an iron meteorite and this piece weighs about 2500kg.  It is one of the largest and most famous meteorites in the world.

While this is kind of like a librarian sorting books by color, it is so much more aesthetically pleasing than sorting by, say, lattice structure or chemical composition.  I'm sure this display has inspired many a budding geologist.

Amorphous silica in main stairwell.  Always beautiful.

Need and Sorrow and the "Angel of Help" -- John La Farge

I grew up in North Easton, Massachusetts, a place most architects recognize as a mecca for anyone studying H. H. Richardson, F. L. Olmstead, John La Farge and other important architects and designers of the 19th century.  After the thousands of hours spent as a child in Richardson's famous Ames Free Library, maybe it is no surprise I absorbed his aesthetic as my own.  On a walk last weekend, my dad and I stopped by the Unity Church (also designed conceptualized by Richardson, designed by donor's nephew John Ames Mitchell) to see the two famous stained glass windows by John La Farge, the "Angel of Help" and "Wisdom" windows.

The 1886 "Angel of Help" window was donated by Frederick Lothrop Ames in memory of his only sister who died suddenly at age 46, Helen Angier Ames (1836-1882).  Helen is the one Eastoners have to thank for their incredible public library.  Painter, muralist (Trinity Church), and stained glass artist John La Farge used his pioneering technique of layering glass, creating an opalescent background of fused broken glass jewels which dramatically bend light (he patented his invention of opalescent glass in 1880).  Above you can see Helen's jeweled sarcophagus being carried to heaven by angels. Below, the magenta Angel of Help is emptying her pitcher into vessels of "Need" and "Sorrow" (written in pink above woman's heads).  This window is considered by many to be La Farge's masterpiece (another picture of this window can be seen at the top of La Farge's wikipedia page, linked above).

The photographs are from the Unity Church website.

Weekend Warriors

It's springtime in New England and that means lots of action among our animal brethren.  I was not four blocks into a walk last evening when I encountered what can only be described as a major "preen-fest" between two huge turkeys trying to impress a seemingly blase troop of six females.  It was like watching a poultry version of the "Walk-off" scene in Zoolander.

Turkey #1 (in the street) was so puffed up he looked massive and he dragged his striped wing feathers along the ground such that it sounded like stiff cardboard being dragged along the road.  He also seems to have created some kind of weird chest ornamentation for himself (all the better to impress the ladies!).

Mean while on a nearby lawn Turkey #2 appears to have most of the gals in his harem.  Only one is near T1 and I think that is just because she got accidentally separated on the wrong side of the fence.  The old "divide-and-conquer" strategy no doubt.

 Turkey 2

 back to Turkey 1

"Don't go back to that moldy pile of pin feathers!  What does he have that I don't?  Look at this chest!"

Keep in mind this is going on in the street of a city of 90,000 people, possibly even in front of children (should any be lucky enough to actually be outside playing).  After twenty minutes I got restless and continued on to a small pond in nearby Boston.

As I arrived ten minutes later it was clear that another major avian rivalry was underway.  A white swan was on a rampage, terrorizing, intimidating, and pursuing a flock of Canada geese who apparently also felt a desire to swim/nest/congregate in this particular pond.  I needn't tell you how un-swanlike this behavior was....in fact, this swan was swimming after individual geese so quickly it was like watching the galleys going "ramming speed" in Ben Hur.

look at that wake!

At this point my camera battery died so I did not get the shots of the swan literally running across the top of the water with wings spread as wide as they could go, his neck fully extended, and making loud (and again, very un-swanlike) guttural noises.  I eventually had to depart even though the action showed no sign of abating.  I left content in the knowledge that there is actually a creature is the world that can intimidate a Canada goose.

Finally, on a different subject, here is my newly cleaned and reglazed window I bought on Craig's List from a contractor who was demolishing a house in my town.  Look at that glazing job!  Uncle Joe, you taught me well......

Trinity Church, Copley Plaza, Boston

I recently ducked into Trinity Church to take a look at the Edward Burne-Jones stained glass windows that were commissioned from Morris & Co. in 1882.  Trinity Church is a Boston landmark, the building that established Henry Hobson Richardson as one of the leading architects of his day.  Indeed, the style of this building, characterized by polychromatic rough stone, heavy arches, towers, and clay roof became known as Richardsonian Romanesque and was a uniquely American architectural style.

The late afternoon sun was shining directly on the main altar setting all the gold paint aglow.  Murals covering over 21,000 square feet (about 2,000 m²) of the interior were painted by John La Farge, an artist and worker of stained glass whose reputation was also established as a result of this commission.

Four Burne-Jones windows were installed, three of which (showing scenes from the Nativity) were very high up and hard to photograph.  Here's one....

The most beautiful window depicts "David's Charge to Solomon" and is on the first floor.  The window is on the east wall so it would be better viewed in the morning.

So lovely....

Le Farge's murals....the truth shall make you free....

Some Very Elegant Stained Glass

love the lavender

victorian pot house?

easy pattern to trace/reproduce

All of these antique windows (and many more) are for sale at Age of Elegance, a store run by David and Julie Vezmar in Mill Valley, California.  I wonder if they know anything about the "Case of the Missing Burne-Jones Windows"?   I'll ask them.

Some other stained glass posts:

Climate Change and Stained Glass Windows
More Stained Glass...
William Morris Stained Glass

You're being watched! Ochre Court

Right next to Vinland was Ochre Court, the heart of Salve Regina University, where the Sisters of Mercy set up shop after receiving the palace as a gift in 1947.  It was donated by the son of the original owner Ogden Geolet, the Donald Trump of his day.  Such a palace isn't really my style (I'll take that homely shingle mansion down the street) and it was a bit overwhelming even deciding what to photograph.  However, one thing I really did like was the little faces watching you wherever you went (and the craft that went into making them).  Here are a few.....

Handles on front glass (modern) entrance doors.  I think these must have been repurposed from some other part of house.  Sandra Oh's mermaid sister?

lots of eyes on ceiling.....

no apparent use of electrical tape?

she looks sad.

A minature version of the Sala del Collegio in the Doge Palace in Venice.  The fish painted on the coffered ceiling match ironwork in rest of house....all part of the seaside cottage theme.

angry-looking fish...

Neptune?

Not watching, apparently dead....

Queen Victoria?  What are you doing here?

Lastly, a pretty window....love the simplicity of design and sophistication of colors.