For the curious

photo Gésbi/Le style et la matière

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious - 

the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.

Albert. Einstein

Last weekend I visited the cathedral and museum of Sens. The museum holds many items of great artistry and beauty - and  this case of curiosties. An assortment très comme-il-faut of its kind:
a mutant lamb, an ostrich egg, an elaborate embroidery, 2 still born skeletons, an intricate lock, coral, coco fesses (sea coconut has a more colorful name in French = fanny coconut), a tribal headress,
birds of many colors -
in short, wonders of man and nature.

I'd saved the above quote sometime back.
I thought I'd place it  here, even if a cabinet de curiosités has a trophy case side
and our gaze on it somewhat voyeuristic.
What we find mysterious may differ through time, but it's a needed emotion.
Even when things get a little weird.


New post at St Tyl: Wooly Desks

Wooly desks

source lainesdespyrenees

Are you ready for a little etymology today? 

So many words and expressions relate to fabrics and weaving if you scratch the surface a little.

In French, bure refers to a rough, resistant cloth of heavy weave that is associated with hooded monks, watchful shepherds, and scruffy peasants from the Middle Ages. The name for the cloth derives from burel, a heathery quality of brown, black or ecru wool.

source Orpostal

This cloth was also used to cover tables. Henri Havard described the wool rugs that protected tables from ink and lessened the noise of clattering coins for money changers. 

source planetefacility

In the 14th century, this wooly rug became known as a bureau. 
By the 15th century, it was not only the rug but the piece of furniture - be it bench, table or chest -  together with the rug that was known as a bureau. The meaning, as we all know, went on to include a room for work at a bureau/desk and further, an administrative organization, i.e., bureau de poste, bureau de style,  bureau of investigation....

Basilique St Denis with Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite

photo: Gésbi: Le style et la matière

The location of the Basilique St Denis to the north of Paris is not the most inviting place. I hadn't been since my first year in France so long ago!

But, once in the door, the guide was fascinating and the artifacts are rich, so there was much to appreciate despite the creeping cold through my not-so-thin soles in this lovely month of March. 

photo: Gésbi: Le style et la matière

To see the royal sepulchers, it is the place to go.

photo: Gésbi: Le style et la matière

Was it just that day, or is it a place more solemn than sacred? Even that feeling was reduced by sassy little putti who preened and taunted. Oh, the vanity of men - and when those men are kings and queens -

photo: Gésbi: Le style et la matière

- very earthly all the same.

photo: Gésbi: Le style et la matière

A replica of the faudesteuil Dagobert is under the crucifix. (I've written about it before here.) What is this throne, ancestor of the fauteuil and kin to the Roman curule doing here behind the altar?
Dagobert reigned for ten years from 603-639.  He was the first king buried in the basilica and is considered the founder of the St Denis Abbey. In th 13th century, before Saint Louis ordered the first 16 recombant figures to inaugurate the royal necropolis, a colorful tomb of exceptional dimensions was already concecrated to Dagobert. The original throne was part of the cathedral's treasure and is today in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Napoleon was seated on it for the distribution of the very first legions d'honneur.

photo: Gésbi: Le style et la matière

Then, behold, a message :

photo: Gésbi: Le style et la matière

For anyone who exerces his capacity to reflect, the appearances of beauty become representations 

of an invisible harmony.

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite

photo: Gésbi: Le style et la matière

Patterns.

photo: Gésbi: Le style et la matière

Amen.

For some closer looks at the statuary in a previous post and further links, click!