York Museums Trust Blog

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This is a domino-sized piece of soapstone engraved in reverse with the words “Julius Alexander’s salve for irritations”.

It is one of only 60 such stamps world-wide. Cosmetic branding was as important to the Romans as it is to us today. This stamp ensured that people knew they were getting ‘ the real McCoy ‘ and not some forgery.

It was found on the Mount by the Dickinsons – a farmer and his nephew who worked land on which the Mount School now stands. They worked very closely with local archaeologist Peter Wenham in collecting and plotting Roman objects from their land.

Their collection of artefacts now forms part of the archaeological collections at the Yorkshire Museum.

Information by – Andrew Morrison

YORYM 2006.2878

This is one of the corner towers of the York Abbey walls this morning. It’s normally the entrance to a riverside walk by Museum Gardens.

Icons are considered to be the Gospel in paint and Russians sometimes speak of an icon having been “written” because the same pisat’, писать word means to write and paint.

Icons are prepared today in the same meticulous fashion which has passed down through the centuries. They are painted in egg tempera on wood.

Our icon can be dated to the mid 1650s thanks to the back slats which prevent the panel warping as it dries out over time.

Info by Caroline

I’ve had my head buried in the History of York development site for the last month or so, trying to get enough material on there to justify going public.

I’ve learned all sorts of interesting stuff in the process, but my favourite nugget of info so far has to be this: Viking Male Grooming

This is a good example of a typically “tourist” Italian leaf, mounted up on fine, imported Eastern (most likely Chinese) sticks. Visitors to the Bay of Naples – many of them on the Grand Tour – would buy these and take them home, in much the same way as tourists to Spain sometimes bring home those rather naff little fans made of plastic and nylon lace!

It is a carved ivory fan, with a fine skin leaf painted with three trompe l’oeil views from around the Bay of Naples, with two leaves of handwritten script placed between. On one, beneath the caption “Aria”, are words from the opera Orpheus and Euridice. The other leaf gives the name and address of the painter, Sign. Nicola Lanezno, and is dated Naples, 1779. The reverse of the leaf shows Vesuvius erupting.

info by Josie   (BA293)

One of the great things about working in a museum is the variety of the things we get up to. I think all the different things we do are all the more enjoyable because we don’t have to do one task all the time. It doesn’t seem long since we excitedly acquired the Cawood sword and in November I went to Germany to pick up a twice life-size stone head from a loan. We’ve been doing some work in the galleries to put objects on display that have previously been in storage, and that can be quite delicate, carefully handling objects with gloves and so on. What made me think of the variety, though, was the distinctly different job of constructing shelving in the off site stores yesterday! From careful, close work to moving around large chunks of metal and more bolt tightening than you could imagine… but, do you know, I think it’s the variety and complete changes of scene in the job that attracted a lot of us in the first place.

This late Viking style sword has just been given to the Yorkshire Museum. It was found in the River Ouse at Cawood is one of the most significant swords ever found in North Yorkshire. Its design is a mixture of late Anglo-Scandinavian (Viking) and early medieval features and this gives it an exciting and interesting place in the development of sword design.

On either side of the blade there is an inscription made up of capital letters. They most likely represent initial letters of a number of Latin words that would make up a saying of some importance to the owner.

The sword was allocated to the Yorkshire Museum through the Government’s ‘Acceptance in Lieu’ programme whereby items considered to be national treasures are gifted to museums to offset some inheritance tax that would otherwise be due from the owner. This is the first such allocation that has ever been made to the Yorkshire Museum.

Described in the big book of swords as of “outstanding importance”. It is probably made by the same hand or ‘workshop’ as a near identical sword in the Oslo Museum which is dated to A.D. 1100.

We will be working with the Cawood Castle Garth local history group to discover more about the sword and its discovery.

Info. by – Andrew Morrison

YORYM : 2007.3086

This view of Kikham Abbey gateway by John Sell Cotman was painted in between the 17th and 20th July 1805 whilst he was staying at Brandsby Hall, near York.

Cotman is considered to be one of the finest watercolourists of the nineteenth century, and this work dates from a period of his greatest creativity.

The picture was presented to York Art Gallery by the National Art Collections Fund in 1955, as part of the Cook bequest.

Look out for an exhibition John Sell Cotman and his Contemporaries in the Little Gallery starting in February at York Art Gallery.

Alastair Smith

YORAG R1702