Category: Museum Visit
ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for World Turtle Day: an unusual tortoise portrait from 18th Century England, and its connection to Ottoman Turkey
ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for Penguin Awareness Day: Japanese penguins?

Haori with Penguins and Icebreaker ShipsJapan, mid-Shōwa period, 1957-58silk plain weave, stencil-printed warp and weft[photos by author] Penguins (Spheniscidae) are found almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere, with only the Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus) skirting the other side of the equator. They definitely aren’t native to anywhere near Japan! I saw…
ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for International Land Snail Day: Snail gathering ritual on an ancient Moche vessel

“The figures on this Moche vessel hold gathering sticks that collect snails depicted in sculpture relief. The snail gathering ritual is taking place on a mountain suggested by the serpentine lines that arc across the top and front of the vessel. The snails absorbed mescaline-based chemicals while feeding on San…
ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY: Turtle Umblical Amulets

Here are two 19th-century turtle-shaped umbilical cord amulets from the Penn Museum‘s rotating display. The first one I saw on display this past weekend; the second one is from a visit back in 2019. I thought it looked different than what I remembered! 😉 1. Turtle-shaped umbilical cord amulet, Assiniboine…
ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for World Honeybee Day from the Majolica Mania exhibition
ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY: Owl Supernatural Decapitator!

Here’s another piece from the Ancient Americas gallery at the Reading Public Museum…“Owl Supernatural Decapitor” needs to be someone’s new goth metal band name In Moche art, birds of prey are sometimes depicted as Supernatural Decapitators who sever the heads of sacrificial victims. This Decapitator Owl has a face with…