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Showing posts with label antique plates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label antique plates. Show all posts

My Visit To the Philadelphia Museum of Art - Part 3

In my last two blog posts I shared some photos of my trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and showed you the outside of the museum and some antique historical china plates and other goodies. Here are a few more photos of some things that I thought were very special... 

I'm forever amazed at art, fine craftsmanship, antiquities and historical items. The spoons below are from around 1680-1710. And you thought your mom's spoons from the 70's were old!




There was a small collection of fine silver jewelry and other small objects in the American Art section (one of my favorite areas of the museum!) I thought this Boatswain's Whistle was particularly cool.





I couldn't not include a photo or two of the fabulous miniature painted eye jewelry...these are romantic tiny portraits of lovers eyes...sigh...






I didn't take many photos of the paintings in the museum. With lots of folks milling around the masters like the Van Goghs, Rembrants, Monets and Matisses, I reserved my photos for things that struck me as unusual...(I have to add though that I almost died when the 8 or 9 year old girl with her dad in front me at Sunflowers asked her dad if she could touch it!! Gah!! Seriously?! Thank goodness he said NO and thank goodness it was behind glass!)

Then I came across these guys...things that make you go...hmmm...

Hi I'm a lion. Hi I'm a leopard.









I also have a thing for really old woodwork, and doors. Reeeeeely old woodwork....like 1518 old....







Sigh...






After visiting the European Art we took a break and had a great lunch in the cafeteria (there is a restaurant too, if you want to spend $$$, or the cafeteria if you want to spend $$.) After lunch we checked out the museum gift shop (pricey at $$$) and then made our way upstairs...


Another of my very very favorite sections of the museum is the armor. Wow just wow. This mail shirt was HUGE! And of course it was from Transylvania! Gah!








My daughter's face when she discovered the armor for toddlers...what?! whoa!






I hope you enjoyed this very small peek into the enormous Philadelphia Museum of Art! This is a museum that you need to spend more than one day at. There is just so much to see and do. I hope to go back again one day soon and spend more time in the Asian Art section, which we only got a glimpse of before we left. We had strolled about three miles through the museum and had our fill after a full day of looking at the amazing art. I hope one day you can see it too. 

(Read part 1 - Visit to Philly Museum of Art)
(Read part 2 - Visit to Philly Museum of Art)


Have a great week!
love,
 Laura


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My Visit To the Philadelphia Museum of Art - Part 2

Yesterday I wrote about my visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (read Part 1 here) Today I'll share a few of the china pieces I saw at the museum that I thought were interesting. I photographed the museum labels for most of the pieces and included those below the images. 
















I didn't get a photo of the museum cards for the two eagle plates above and the items pictured below, but I wanted to include them because they're so unique.  They are all from the museum's American Art collection.












The pieces below are from the museum's European collection...





It's so amazing seeing all of these antique pieces, and realizing how old they are and the beautiful condition they are in - it's really just awesome when you think about it! 

The Martha Washington plate and the Diana plates were my favorites. 

That's it for today, but I'll continue this tomorrow with part three, where I'll share a few more images of some interesting things from the rest of my visit, so be sure to check back! 

(Read part 1 - Visit to Philly Museum of Art)
(Read part 2 - Visit to Philly Museum of Art)
(Read part 3 - Visit to Philly Museum of Art)



Have a great week!
love,
 Laura


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My Visit To the Philadelphia Museum of Art - Part 1

For New Year's Day 2017 I took my daughters to Philadelphia for the day to visit the Philadelphia Museum Of Art. Here are a few photos from our trip. (Pictured above - that's just one wing of the HUGE museum!)


It was the perfect day to visit the museum. We live about one hour away, and since it was New Year's Day, there was virtually no traffic on the turnpike and we arrived to find ample parking in Eakin's Oval, directly across the street from the museum. We paid $15 to park for the entire afternoon, which was a good deal. 



This is the Washington Monument fountain in Eakin's Oval, and it's beautiful. What's really cool about it is that the statue of George Washington - his face - was created from an impression of his actual face that was taken while he was still alive. The body was created from a Prussian General.



The base of the statue features Native Americans and native American animals, such as this moose. The detail is fantastic. This bronze and granite monument was commissioned and designed by sculptor by Rudolf Siemering.



You can see the museum's Christmas tree on display in the background. And yes, those are the Rocky steps from the movie Rocky! There is also a Rocky statue that is situated to the right of the photo above. 


Almost there! We were fortunate that it was pay what you want day - so you can give a donation at any price you want for admission. Nice! 

When walking in the front doors, its hard to explain the immensity of the Great Hall. It really is great! I should've taken a photo from just inside the front door, because the images I took really don't give you the full effect of the size - so google it! In any case, once inside there is a great staircase and at the top of it is Diana...



Diana is perched atop the stairs in the museum's Great Hall. At 14 feet 6 inches tall, she is huge! She was created in 1892-1893 as a weather vane for the tower of New York's Madison Square Garden by Augustus Saint-Gauden from copper with gold leaf. Of course everything was beautifully decorated for Christmas. 






This is not a great photo because I shot into the sun, but one of my favorite things is the mobile Ghost from Calder! Of course I am a huge Calder fan so this was probably one of the biggest highlights for me. 



Amazing Peter Paul Rubens tapestries cover the walls of the upper level of the Great Hall. On the left is the Marriage of Constantine and Fausta. The tapestries were sketched by Rubens and made by a workshop in Paris in 1625.

I have to stop here because I have jewelry to make today, but I'll continue this tomorrow with part two, where I'll share some amazing plates and dishes from the museum's collection so be sure to check back! 

(Read part 1 - Visit to Philly Museum of Art)

(Read part 2 - Visit to Philly Museum of Art)


Have a great week!
love,
 Laura


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