Then there’s this thing
A thing I found looking for ancient Persian metalwork: behold the Luck of Edenhall. Do follow the link and see it in color.
It was made in Syria or Egypt around 1350, and the leather case in France or England not long afterwards. The leather case is undoubtedly how it manage to survive all this time in tact. How it got from there to here is unclear; Eden Hall was in Cumberland, a county to the far North. It’s first mentioned by name in 1677 in the will of Sir Philip Musgrave.
It is a wonderful example of luxury Islamic glass, but by the time it found its way to England, it was blamed on the fairies. Naturally.
The (probably 18th C.) story goes that a yokel interrupted a fairy drinking party. The fairies ran off, leaving the cup behind. A pissed off and drunken fairy shouted over his shoulder: “If this cup should break or fall/ Farewell the Luck of Edenhall!”
A luck is a class of objects from the North of England that have a legendary significance to the fortunes of a family. Lost, broken, stolen or sold would ruin the luck of a family. It stayed in the Musgrave family until they loaned it to the V&A in 1926; Eden Hall was demolished in 1934.
You decide!
Posted: January 21st, 2021 under art.
Comments: 10
Comments
Comment from durnedyankee
Time: January 22, 2021, 12:01 am
The Venetians brought that to England along with a fleet of Venetian built Templar galleys, a half ton of Grana Padano, a lifetime supply of Venetian blinds, and plans for a city to be built in a swamp which the English subsequently allowed the French to capture at Agincourt (1415) when Robert de Bournonville overran the baggage train.
It was kept in the Bournonville family for generations until it was later used to build New Orleans.
That worked out badly for the 93rd Regiment of Foot (1815) though, in the war where some insurrectionist from Canada burned Washington.
Okay, I totally made up the part about the Grana Padano.
Speaking of glassware – Remember when James Bond smashed all that irreplaceable Venetian glassware in Moonraker? Good thing this wasn’t in THAT museum, eh?
Actually Bond has messed Venice up a couple of times.
Plus the ‘curse’ doesn’t say the cup had to be in/at Edenhall, just that it must not be broken or dropped (cut to the comedy scene of a Victoria and Albert Museum curator dropping it in 1934, looking around to see who noticed, and then nipping off to a glass shop to buy the vase you see in the picture).
Comment from durnedyankee
Time: January 22, 2021, 12:25 am
Oh, forgot to add, the curator who dropped the cup was a direct male descendant of Major General Sir Edward Pakenham.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Pakenham
Comment from Deborah HH
Time: January 22, 2021, 1:29 pm
Very pretty. Though I like the leather case as much as the glass. But I like stories about fairies (are there fairies at the bottom of the Badger House garden?). And pixies. I’ve seen a Bic pixie, from the corner of my eye; they are so quick. Bic pixies are the ones who steal your pens.
Comment from durnedyankee
Time: January 22, 2021, 3:01 pm
@Deborah HH
How about the ones that tie knots in your ropes or extension cords while your working with them, or the ones that hook that slightly extended loop of cord/rope over the toe of your shoe as you’re walking from point A to point B.
Or the ones that steal that thing that “I just put down a second ago right there! Right there!”
Comment from Deborah HH
Time: January 22, 2021, 3:48 pm
@durnedyankee—I think those are gremlins. The Bic Pixie is a *petty thief, but gremlins are far more troublesome, because they make you doubt—and question—yourself. I KNOW the pixies have taken my pens.
*petty thief. Given that the number of Bic Pens manufactured since 1950 is over 100 Billion—petty is inadequate. We should be knee-deep in Bic Pens, all over the world. But we are not becauce the Bic Pixies have carried them underground and built vast, glittering cities (the Bic Crystal is their favorite).
Comment from durnedyankee
Time: January 22, 2021, 4:24 pm
Pic pen caps – once saw a chewed, recovered from a dump, blue Bic pen cap used to make a wall size silhouette of Fred Astaire – all shades of blue.
Perhaps they’re using my many missing half pairs of socks as sleeping bags or throw rugs.
Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: January 22, 2021, 5:04 pm
“ … the number of Bic Pens manufactured since 1950 is over 100 Billion…
Hence the word “ ubiquitous ?
Seriously, I do believe in the Bic Pixies. I honestly don’t believe that I have ever retained possession of a Bic pen for more that three or four hours.
Oh and I loves me some Venetian glass….
Comment from durnedyankee
Time: January 22, 2021, 6:37 pm
Venetian glasses.
Do they help you read better than the ones I have on?
Comment from weasel again
Time: January 22, 2021, 7:10 pm
I had an aunt who saw fairies in her garden. Barking, she was. The joke is, she’s been a top-level secretary at the FBI for decades – back when secretaries typed every document for the guyz and basically knew EVERYthing.
Comment from Teej
Time: January 23, 2021, 2:39 am
Makes me wonder, though— who dropped the Luck of USA
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