China Injection Mold

Some cool china molds produce images:

NYC – Metropolitan Museum of Art: Armor of Emperor Ferdinand I

Image by wallyg
Armor of Emperor Ferdinand I, dated 1549
Kunz Lochner (German (Nuremberg), ca. 1510-1567), armorer
German (Nuremberg)
Etched steel; H. overall (as mounted): 67 in. (170.2 cm) Wt. 52.9lb. (24kg)

The ownership of this armor by Ferdinand I (1503-1564) is suggested by the heraldic emblems on the toe caps: the imperial double-headed eagle surmounted by a royal crown, which signifies Ferdinand’s status as king of the Romans and designated successor to his brother, Emperor Charles V. The image of the Virgin and Child on the breastplate was also used by Charles V on his armors. The backplate is decorated with crossed staves and firesteels, the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece, of which Ferdinand was a member. Kunz Lochner, Nuremberg’s most celebrated armorer of the period, made several armors for both Ferdinand and his son Archduke Maximilian (15271576), including two matching armors produced about 1546 that are similar to the one seen here.

The helmet was not originally made for the Museum’s armor but has been associated with it since at least the early nineteenth century.

Purchase, George D. Pratt Gift and Rogers Fund, 1933 (33.164ax)

**
The collection of armor, edged weapons, and firearms in The Metropolitan Museum of Art ranks with those of the other great armories of the world, in Vienna, Madrid, Dresden, and Paris. It consists of approximately 15,000 objects that range in date from about 400 B.C. to the nineteenth century. Though Western Europe and Japan are the regions most strongly represented–the collection of more than five thousand pieces of Japanese armor and weapons is the finest outside Japan–the geographical range of the collection is extraordinary, with examples from the Near East, the Middle East, India, Central Asia, China, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and North America. The Arms and Armor Galleries were renovated and reinstalled in 1991 to display to better effect the outstanding collection of armor and weapons of sculptural and ornamental beauty from around the world.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s permanent collection contains more than two million works of art from around the world. It opened its doors on February 20, 1872, housed in a building located at 681 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Under their guidance of John Taylor Johnston and George Palmer Putnam, the Met’s holdings, initially consisting of a Roman stone sarcophagus and 174 mostly European paintings, quickly outgrew the available space. In 1873, occasioned by the Met’s purchase of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriot antiquities, the museum decamped from Fifth Avenue and took up residence at the Douglas Mansion on West 14th Street. However, these new accommodations were temporary; after negotiations with the city of New York, the Met acquired land on the east side of Central Park, where it built its permanent home, a red-brick Gothic Revival stone "mausoleum" designed by American architects Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mold. As of 2006, the Met measures almost a quarter mile long and occupies more than two million square feet, more than 20 times the size of the original 1880 building.

In 2007, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was ranked #17 on the AIA 150 America’s Favorite Architecture list.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1967. The interior was designated in 1977.

National Historic Register #86003556

NYC – Metropolitan Museum of Art – Astor Court – Cold Spring Pavilion

Image by wallyg
Historically, the finest scholars’ gardens of China were in Suzhou (soochow), a serene city inland from Shanghai. The design of the Astor Court is based on a courtyard in the Garden of the Master of the Fishing Nets (Wangshi Yuan) in Suzhou. Like its model, this court has three typical garden structures: a covered walkway, a small reception hall, and a half-pavilion along the west wall. Cold Spring Pavilion, identified by a tile plaque set in the wall, takes its name from the nearby pool. The exuberant upsweep of the roof corners is characteristic of Chinese architecture in the south.

Gray terracotta was a popular building material in Chinese gardens. In this court, the bricks are arranged in alternating sets of four; the large suqare floor tiles the doorframes, the low balustrades, and the trim along the tops of the walls are all low-fired unglazed ceramic specially produced for the Astor Court at an eighteenth-century imperial kiln near Suzhou. The granite slabs and the wood elements were also crafted in China ccording to traditional techniques. The components were installed by a team of twenty-seven Chinese engineers and craftsmen who worked at the Museum from January through May 1980.

The Ming’s Scholar’s retreat, a garden court and reception hall, was the concept of Brooke Russell Astor and became a reality because of her steadfast and generous support.

**
The Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s permanent collection contains more than two million works of art from around the world. It opened its doors on February 20, 1872, housed in a building located at 681 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Under their guidance of John Taylor Johnston and George Palmer Putnam, the Met’s holdings, initially consisting of a Roman stone sarcophagus and 174 mostly European paintings, quickly outgrew the available space. In 1873, occasioned by the Met’s purchase of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriot antiquities, the museum decamped from Fifth Avenue and took up residence at the Douglas Mansion on West 14th Street. However, these new accommodations were temporary; after negotiations with the city of New York, the Met acquired land on the east side of Central Park, where it built its permanent home, a red-brick Gothic Revival stone "mausoleum" designed by American architects Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mold. As of 2006, the Met measures almost a quarter mile long and occupies more than two million square feet, more than 20 times the size of the original 1880 building.

In 2007, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was ranked #17 on the AIA 150 America’s Favorite Architecture list.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1967. The interior was designated in 1977.

National Historic Register #86003556

Aquilaria malaccensis Lam.

Image by Ahmad Fuad Morad
RIUM, WP Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Aquilaria malaccensis Lam. Thymelaeaceae. CN: [Malay and regional vernacular names – Gaharu, Karas, Depu, Depu kapas, Kelembak, Halim, Alim, Kareh, Kekaras, Kepang, Mengkaras, Tabak, Tangkaras, Tengkaras, Tuikaras, Sigsigi, Calambac, Ching karas, Galoop, Laroo], Agarwood, Aloeswood, Eaglewood, Indian aloewood, Lign-aloes, Malayan eaglewoodtree, Agallochum, Agalocha, Oudh, Agila wood. Distribution – Indian Subcontinent (Bhutan, India – Assam, West Bengal), Indo-China (Myanmar, Thailand), Malesia (Indonesia – Kalimantan, Sumatra; Malaysia; Philippines; Singapore, Brunei); elsewhere cultivated. Tree up to ca 36 m tall. Leaf simple, alternate; inflorescence terminal, 5-petaled flower; fruit capsule splitting into two parts. Habitat – lowland and hill forest up to ca 750 m. A. malaccensis is the major source of agarwood, a resinous heartwood, used for perfume and incense. The resin is produced by the tree in response to infection by a parasitic ascomycetous mould, Phaeoacremonium parasitica, a dematiaceous (dark-walled) fungus. Cultivated trees are deliberately injured and inoculated with the fungal inoculum to induce the formation of resin to isolate the invading pathogen. Traditionally used by Malays for preparation post-natal tonic, resin extract for treating swellings and tumor. Plant classified vulnerable and regulated by CITES due to the depletion of wild trees from indiscriminate cutting for agarwood. Its distribution pattern is likely to have reduced significantly.

Synonym(s):
Agallochum malaccense (Lam.) Kuntze
Aloexylum agallochum Lour.
Aquilaria agallocha Roxb.
Aquilaria agallocha Roxb. ex DC.
Aquilaria agallochum (Lour.) Roxb. ex Finl.
Aquilaria moluccensis Oken
Aquilaria ovata Cav.
Aquilaria secundaria Rumph. ex DC.
Aquilariella malaccensis (Lam.) Tiegh.