Not enough holidays…..

As there will be no travel abroad this year, I am aiming to entertain you with the odd excursion. I apparently started writing this in April and it is now the end of June. Apologies – enjoy the bits I have managed to do!

The Samurai exhibition at the British Museum

This was a very impressive whizz through the history of society in Japan, where the samurai codes applied for hundreds of years and not only in military matters. I warn you that I saw this a little while ago so I can’t remember all the details.

Armour!
More armour.
Samurai in full military flight
Helmet making a point.
Fabric at the back of a kimono.
No theatre mask with kimono behind.
One of the best chicken pictures I have ever seen.
Military banners. The sort that stream across the screen in films like Rashomon.
Nasty looking arrow heads.
This is a full sized screen which accounts for the odd angle of the photo. It shows a ship in a storm.
This is a female Samurai warrior. There weren’t very many of them but they did exist. Her story is on the paper behind her.
I can’t for the life of me remember what or who this picture is showing. However, it is worth a look.

The Holburne Museum, Bath.

Museum buildings.

This was built as a hotel at the end of the 18C, right next to the Sydney Gardens. These were pleasure gardens, built in an effort to emulate Vauxhall and Ranelagh in London. Concerts and other entertainments were held here and people would come for supper and romantic intrigues. The building became a museum in 1892, following the bequest of the massive and eclectic collection of Sir William Holburne to the people of Bath. At the time of my visit, there was a Zandra Rhodes exhibition. It is interesting that her clothes made in the late 60s and early 70s using Indian fabric, looked really outré at the time but much more mainstream now.

There are other glorious things in the main museum collection, including jewellery, china and paintings.

Netsuke
Malachite pot. I presume the number 56 is a label for another object in the same case.
Iznik tile.
Another Iznik tile.
Reliquary with the most phenomenal gold work.

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