Give It a Rest!

One of a pair, this interesting piece is made of clear glass, with two bulbous ends intricately cut into delicate patterns and striations that prevent the object from rolling around the dining room table. The middle section is notched all the way around, belying its purpose.

And what is this object?

It’s a knife rest! Knife rests have graced dining room tables as far back as the 17th century and were commonplace through the early 20th century. Like the name suggests, diners would place their knives onto the knife rest to prevent soiling the tablecloth. At a time when table etiquette was paramount, placing a knife on a plate – or worse yet, the table itself – would have been a major faux pas. And so, the fashionable dinner tables of the middle and upper classes included knife rests to their table settings.

While earlier styles of the 1600s were fashioned from wood or even fragile porcelain, the Victorians preferred rests made from metals, glass, crystal, and horn. Both European and American models could have elaborate figures of people or animals, sometimes molded from metal or painted onto ceramic. Style, of course, depended on the taste and wealth of the host/hostess.

As the focus shifted from formal dining etiquette to a more casual style during the 2nd quarter of the 20th century, knife rests began to fade from fashion. One would be hard pressed to find a knife rest next to their plate at a dinner party today. The need for maintaining clean tablecloths has diminished thanks to advancements in washing efficiency and a more relaxed view on messes.

(This original article was published on Tiny Tuesdays at the Fall River Historical Society)

The Art of Illusion: Exploring the Paintings of Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527–1593) was an Italian painter whose work stands at the crossroads of Renaissance artistry and proto-surrealism. Born in Milan, he started his career traditionally, designing stained glass and tapestries. However, he’s best remembered today for his composite portraits—ingenious, whimsical faces composed entirely of fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books.

Arcimboldo served as a court painter to the Habsburg emperors Ferdinand I, Maximilian II, and Rudolf II in Vienna and Prague, where his bizarre yet meticulous creations delighted the elite. His famous series—“The Four Seasons” and “The Four Elements”—transform natural forms into human likenesses, blending symbolism, science, and humor.

While his work was nearly forgotten for centuries, it found new appreciation in the 20th century, particularly among Surrealists like Salvador Dalí, who admired Arcimboldo’s fantastical, dreamlike style. Today, his paintings are celebrated not only for their technical mastery but also for their bold originality, centuries ahead of their time.

The Four Seasons, Spring, 1563

The Four Seasons, Summer, 1563

The Four Seasons, Winter, 1563

The Four Elements, Air, 1566

The Four Elements, Earth, 1566

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Vintage Postcards of the Big Oak Tree in Thomasville, Georgia From the Early 1900s

The Big Oak is a large live oak (Quercus virginiana) located in Thomasville, Georgia, in the United States at the corner of Crawford Street and Monroe Street. The Big Oak is one of many historic landmarks located in Thomasville. The Big Oak was one of the earliest trees registered with the Live Oak Society. Registered by P.C. Andrews in 1936, the Big Oak was the forty-ninth live oak registered. At the time of registration, the Big Oak’s girth was 21 feet 6 inches.

The Big Oak dates back to circa 1680, which makes it one of the oldest live oaks in the country. The Thomasville live oak has been recognized several times for its long lifespan by various societies, including the International Society for Agriculture in 1987. The tree has been able to withstand human encroachment for centuries, and remains a major landmark in Thomasville today.

The property on which the tree stands was once owned by Mr. and Mrs. John Albert Chastain. The Chastain family owned this property from 1906 until the mid-1960s. The Chastains raised their family in a home under this large live oak for nearly sixty years. Mr. Chastain’s mother remembers a time when the Big Oak was standing in a pond, rather than the lot Mr. Chastain remembers.

In 1966, Mrs. Elisabeth Ireland Poe and the city of Thomasville, purchased the property and turned it into a public park. Mrs. Poe was famous in Thomasville for her ownership of Pebble Hill Plantation from 1936 until her death 1978. Mrs. Poe was dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of Thomasville and thus purchased the property along with the city. Also in 1966, a donation of a historic Victorian-style gazebo was made by Mrs. Otto Carter of Meigs, Georgia. This type of gazebo is a rare find in the present day, unless it has been re-fabricated in the Victorian Style. Estimates in 1968 by Thomasville architect Robert Jinright indicated that the cost of building such a gazebo would reach $10,000. The gazebo was restored and remains a focal point of the property today. At a 1969 Commission meeting, a proposal was made by the Thomasville Garden Club to allocate a $5,000 fund, known as the Walter Hildebrand fund, to the beautification of the property. After a unanimous decision by the Board to appropriate the funds, the Garden Center used the money to construct a lattice-work brick wall on two sides of the property. This wall is referred to by members of the community as "The Living Wall."

The lot on which the Big Oak stands was dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Elisabeth Ireland Poe on February 7, 1982 by the city of Thomasville. The Big Oak once received a distinguished visitor in 1958. On a hunting visit to Thomasville with colleague George M. Humphrey, Dwight Eisenhower stopped by to take a photograph of the tree on his way to the airport. The President reportedly asked his driver to stop while he took a photograph. He then exited the vehicle, stood on the porch of Mrs. Rudolph Keyton, took his photograph and returned to his car.

As of 2019, the spread of the tree is 169 feet, the height is 72 feet, and the circumference of the trunk is 27.9 feet.

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The 16th Century Optical Illusion of Florence Cathedral’s Marble Tiles on Flat Floor

This floor is entirely flat. The remarkable 16th-century optical illusion of Florence Cathedral’s marble tiles. When seen from above, the intricate geometry creates the illusion of a giant abyss that people might stumble into.

The majestic floor of the Cathedral, in geometric motifs of white, black and red marbles, was made to designs by various Florentine masters between 1500 and 1660. The total surface is near 8,200 square metres. Until the end of the 15th century, the cathedral floor was in terracotta. In May 1500, the master builder of the Opera, Simone del Pollaiolo, known as “Il Cronaca,” received directions to carry out maintenance of the ancient, worn flooring: this was the origin of the proposal to rework all of the floors in marble.

In 1504 the Consuls of the Wool Guild and the masters of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore agreed on renovating the floor, beginning from the area around the choir octagon. In the four years left to him, Cronaca (d. 1508) oversaw the large part of this first task, as well as completing the floors of some radial chapels, among which the Chapel of San Tommaso. After resuming in 1520, the works continued without interruption under Baccio d'Agnolo, completing floor after floor: in 1524, around the choir; in 1525 in the Tribune of San Zanobi; in 1526 the Tribune of the Cross and in 1528 that of Sant'Antonio. 

For these chapels, Baccio drew inspiration from the geometries of Turcoman carpets. In the grand ducal era, the design and construction of the main cathedral pavements were entirely entrusted to Baccio d'Agnolo, flanked by Francesco da Sangallo, Baccio Bandinelli and by Bandinelli’s son, Giuliano. The job of the new flooring was gigantic in costs, materials, manpower and time: the works were finally completed exactly 160 years after beginning, in 1660.

The appearance is that of an enormous unity of geometric carpets, aligned within the naves and intersecting accessory spaces. A succession of highly elaborate, kaleidoscopic wheels, of circular and hexagonal outline, generate illusionary games of perspective, scattered here and there with insertions of floor-tombs and memorials, themselves enriched with coats of arms. For their colors and textures, the masters of these works chose specific marbles: Colonnata black; Prato green; Monterantoli red; Apuan white; the brecciato marbles, with their effects of color chips; Thessaly green; African marbles, in shades of pink, yellow, grey-blue; also Impruneta granite and the so-called Misio marble, technically a granite.  The techniques used derive from those of Romanesque marble “carpets,” but the designs draw more explicitly on drawings by Baccio d'Agnolo and Sangallo.

The aim was to equal and surpass the refined tastes and splendor of Roman imperial floors, above all those of the Pantheon. The triple colors of white, green and pink also evoke the glories of republican Florence, specifically in the constructions of Giotto's bell tower and the facing of the Cathedral. Although there are references to Florentine Romanesque, this tradition is projected into the “modern” in terms of dimension and meanings: just as the floor extends over all parts of this religious centre, Florentine dominance extends over all Tuscany and the city has emerged as the capital of a modern state: a dominion ruled by a duke.

Cause of Deaths in London in 1632

During the early 17th century, several factors contributed to mortality rates in London. Many medical practitioners of the time believed that the position of planets could impact health and mental well-being. Those who fell under the influence of certain malevolent planets were believed to be “planet-stricken” and exhibited symptoms similar to aneurysms, strokes, and heart attacks.

Another significant cause of death was Consumption, known today as Tuberculosis. This bacterial infection primarily targets the lungs and had become the leading cause of death in the US by the turn of the 20th century.

Scrofula, also known as the King’s Evil, was a tubercular infection that affected the lymph glands in the throat. Despite the belief that being touched by a monarch could cure the ailment, it still resulted in approximately 30 deaths per year between 1629 and 1660.

Kidney removal, also known as ‘Cut of the Stone,’ was another cause of death recorded in London during this period.

Dental infections were also a significant health risk during the 1600s and were listed as the fifth or sixth leading cause of death in London. This issue continued to be a concern until 1908, with fatal outcomes for 10 to 40 percent of those affected.

As medical knowledge advanced and society progressed, the management and understanding of these causes of death improved, leading to a decline in their prevalence over time.

Here’s a list of some of the more odd or confusing items, for anyone interested:

• Ague = feverish illness, often malaria
• Apoplex = stroke (the rupture or clogging of a blood vessel in the brain), paralysis resulting from a stroke – sometimes also refers to other spontaneous causes of internal bleeding like burst aneurysms
• Meagrom = migraine, severe headache – this obvious symptom could be deadly if it originated from things like a brain tumor, bleeding within the brain / stroke, concussion / TBI / swelling within the brain…
• Bloody flux, scowring, flux = dysentery / bloody diarrhea or otherwise severe diarrhea, often from diseases like cholera
• Childbed = death during or shortly after giving birth
• Chrisomes = death of unbaptized infant / death of infant less than a month old
• Colick, stone, and strangury = severe abdominal pain, bladder/kidney stones, rupture in abdomen (appendicitis, bladder rupture, etc)
• Consumption = tuberculosis
• Cut of the stone = died during/from the surgery to cut out bladder/kidney stones
• Dropsie and swelling = edema, swelling of a body part
• Falling sickness = epilepsy, seizures
• Flocks and small pox = smallpox, other diseases causing pustules over the body like cowpox and chickenpox
• French pox = syphilis
• Jaundies = jaundice, yellowing of the skin and eyes often a symptom of liver failure
• Jawfain = “jaw fallen” / lockjaw, often tetanus
• Impostume = abscess, a deep infection full of pus
• King’s Evil = scrofula, aka tuberculosis infection of the neck glands. The touch of a king was said to cure this disease.
• Lethargie = depression?
• Livergrown = unknown, some think it might have been another term for rickets or it could be from diseases which resulted in a swollen, enlarged liver – things like chronic alcoholism, hepatitis, or congestive heart failure.
• Made away themselves = suicide
• Murthered = murdered
• Over-laid = infant that died after being unintentionally smothered / parent rolled onto them while sleeping
• Starved at nurse = insufficient breast milk, or the child had a disease that caused them to “fail to thrive” / not gain weight and die even though being fed
• Palsie = palsy, paralysis or other muscle difficulties
• Piles = hemorrhoids
• Planet = aka planet-struck, any very sudden severe illness or paralysis that was thought to result from the “influence” of a planet. Like how the moon (luna) was once thought to cause insanity (creating lunatics).
• Pleurisie = swollen, inflamed pleura – the membranous tissue surrounding the lungs
• Purples = bruising, especially wide-spread – many causes
• Spotted feaver = typhus or meningitis
• Quinsie = tonsillitis / inflamed tonsils, especially when abscessed and obstructing breathing
• Rising of the lights = as an organ meat, lungs are often called “lights” because they are very light-weight organs. Nobody’s sure about what exactly “rising of the lights” was, but it may be related to severe coughing and the perception that during a cough the lungs would rise up in the chest. Perhaps croup, a respiratory disease causing a severe ‘barking’ cough.
• Suddenly = unknown sudden death
• Surfet = overeating / gluttony, vomiting from overeating. Aside from direct “death from overeating” it may have been a grouping for many types of death that often went along with being overweight – death from untreated diabetes, cushing’s disease, heart failure, etc. “Surfet” also might have been the cause-of-death given if someone over drank, passed out, and died from aspirating their own vomit.
• Teeth = dental infection leading to death
• Thrush = yeast overgrowth / yeast infection of mouth (or genitals)
• Tympany = either abdominal tumor growth, or other bloating/distension of the abdomen – especially when air or gas is caught within the abdomen or intestines, causing a hollow sound when thumped
• Tissick = cough, can also refer to the coughing and wasting away of tuberculosis

Vasa: The Epic 17th-Century Swedish Warship That Sank Into Her Maiden Voyage and Remained Intact for Over 300 Years

Vasa is a Swedish warship built between 1626 and 1628. The ship sank after sailing roughly 1,300 m (1,400 yd) into her maiden voyage on August 10, 1628. She fell into obscurity after most of her valuable bronze cannons were salvaged in the 17th century, until she was located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping area in Stockholm harbor. The ship was salvaged with a largely intact hull in 1961. She was housed in a temporary museum called Wasavarvet (“The Vasa Shipyard”) until 1988 and then moved permanently to the Vasa Museum in the Royal National City Park in Stockholm. The ship is one of Sweden’s most popular tourist attractions and has been seen by over 35 million visitors since 1961. Since her recovery, Vasa has become a widely recognized symbol of the Swedish Empire.

The ship was built on the orders of the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus as part of the military expansion he initiated in a war with Poland-Lithuania (1621–1629). She was constructed at the navy yard in Stockholm under a contract with private entrepreneurs in 1626–1627 and armed primarily with bronze cannons cast in Stockholm specifically for the ship. Richly decorated as a symbol of the king’s ambitions for Sweden and himself, upon completion she was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. However, Vasa was dangerously unstable, with too much weight in the upper structure of the hull. Despite this lack of stability, she was ordered to sea and foundered only a few minutes after encountering a wind stronger than a breeze.

The order to sail was the result of a combination of factors. The king, who was leading the army in Poland at the time of her maiden voyage, was impatient to see her take up her station as flagship of the reserve squadron at Älvsnabben in the Stockholm Archipelago. At the same time the king’s subordinates lacked the political courage to openly discuss the ship’s problems or to have the maiden voyage postponed. An inquiry was organized by the Swedish Privy Council to find those responsible for the disaster, but in the end no one was punished.

During the 1961 recovery, thousands of artifacts and the remains of at least 15 people were found in and around Vasa’s hull by marine archaeologists. Among the many items found were clothing, weapons, cannons, tools, coins, cutlery, food, drink and six of the ten sails. The artifacts and the ship herself have provided scholars with invaluable insights into details of naval warfare, shipbuilding techniques and everyday life in early 17th-century Sweden. Today Vasa is the world’s best-preserved 17th century ship, and the most visited museum in Scandinavia. The wreck of Vasa continually undergoes monitoring and further research on how to preserve her.

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Galileo Galilei’s First Drawings of the Moon After Seeing It Through the Telescope in 1609

Galileo produced this extremely famous set of six watercolors of the Moon in its various phases “from life,” as he observed the Earth’s satellite through a telescope in the autumn of 1609. They represent the first realistic depiction of the Moon in history.

Until Galileo’s observations, the Moon was widely believed to be a smooth, perfect sphere, as Aristotle had posited. Galileo’s drawings, which showed a rugged, uneven surface with craters and mountains, challenged this orthodox view and contributed to the downfall of the Aristotelian cosmology.

His drawings of the Moon are remarkably accurate, given the limitations of his telescope. He observed the Moon over several nights in December 1609 and January 1610, and his drawings accurately depict the changes in the Moon’s appearance over this period.

Here are Galileo’s own words after observing the surface of the moon:

“Let me speak first of the surface of the Moon, which is turned towards us. For the sake of being understood more easily, I distinguish two parts in it, which I call respectively the brighter and the darker. The brighter part seems to surround and pervade the whole hemisphere; but the darker part, like a sort of cloud, discolors the Moon's surface and makes it appear covered with spots. These spots have never been observed by anyone before me; and from my observations of them, often repeated, I have been led to that opinion which I have expressed, namely, that I feel sure that the surface of the Moon is not perfectly smooth, free from inequalities and exactly spherical, as a large school of philosophers considers with regard to the Moon and the other heavenly bodies, but that, on the contrary, it is full of inequalities, uneven, full of hollows and protuberances, just like the surface of the Earth itself, which is varied everywhere by lofty mountains and deep valleys.”

He goes on to discuss his observations of the Milky Way:

“The next object which I have observed is the essence or substance of the Milky Way. By the aid of a telescope, anyone may behold this in a manner which so distinctly appeals to the senses that all the disputes which have tormented philosophers through so many ages are exploded at once by the irrefragable evidence of our eyes, and we are freed from wordy disputes upon this subject, for the Galaxy is nothing else but a mass of innumerable stars planted together in clusters. Upon whatever part of it you direct the telescope straightway a vast crowd of stars presents itself to view; many of them are tolerably large and extremely bright, but the number of small ones is quite beyond determination.”

Italian nobles were intrigued by the refined telescope, but the Catholic Church was less than pleased by the knowledge that came with it. Among these unfortunate realizations was that the Earth revolved around the Sun. The Galileo affair of the 17th century was a pivotal moment in Catholic Church history, setting the scene for both clashes and collaborations between science and religion. Galileo was both a heretic and a scientific legend. His drawings of the Moon, and other observations of the solar system, expanded the boundaries of human knowledge.