Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Jeff Koons & Ron Driscoll Make Balloon Dogs & More Fun Balloon Animals + Victor Nunes's Shows Off His Fun Doodles + FOOD: Spicy Shrimp Creole Dip




ART
Balloon Dog & More!

Jeff Koons' balloon dogs are bringing record breaking prices at auction.

Jeff Koons’s Balloon Dog has been lauded as one of the most beloved of all contemporary sculptural forms, having graced the rooftop of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Venice’s Grand Canal, and Versailles Palace outside Paris. This past auction season, the artist’s monumental Balloon Dog (Orange) — a timeless and universal monument to the joys of childhood—came to New York's Christie's Auction House as a leading highlight of their Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale. Having sold for $58.4 million, this Jeff Koons sculpture is now the most expensive artwork by a living artist ever to have been sold at auction.

He has done other balloon sculptures also, rabbit, snake, flowers, Venus....
We thought it would be fun to show a real master of inventive balloon sculptures, the artworks of Ron Driscoll.

These are made from real balloons!

Enjoy!







To see 365 balloon works by Ron Driscoll, click on video below
All designs are copyright Ron Driscoll© 2013.




Monkeys!




ART
Doodles with
Found Objects
Another artist using unusual media is Victor Nunes. He makes his pictures using everyday objects and food.
All images below are copyright Victor Nunes © 2013.




















FOOD
Spicy Creole
Shrimp Dip



Ingredients:

4 large eggs
2 pounds small, raw peeled Louisiana shrimp
1 jar (16 oz) of Zatarains Creole mustard (may substitute: spicy brown mustard)
1 jar (5.25 oz) of Zatarains prepared horseradish (may substitute: any prepared horseradish)
1 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup yellow onions, diced small
1 cup green bell pepper, diced small
1 cup celery, diced small
Salt and pepper to taste
Louisiana hot sauce to taste
Directions:


In a large pot of cold water filled to the half way point, add the eggs.  Turn the burners to high and bring the water to a boil and immediately turn off the heat.  Cover the pot and let sit for 12 minutes.  Remove the hard-boiled eggs from the water (keep the water in the pot) and rinse under cold water.  Peel the eggs and dice.  Place the diced eggs in a bowl, cover and refrigerate.
In the same pot of water on high heat, bring it to a boil.  Add the raw shrimp.  Bring the water back to a boil and cook for approximately 5 minutes.  Remove one of the larger shrimp and test for doneness.  If done, turn off the heat.  Immediately remove the pot and strain the shrimp into a colander.  Rinse with cold water to stop the carryover cooking and then place in the refrigerator to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, add the mustard, horseradish, oil and lemon juice.  Stir to combine.  Add the diced vegetables and stir.  Add the boiled eggs and stir to distribute evenly throughout the mixture.  Add salt, pepper and hot sauce to your taste.
Add the shrimp and stir to distribute the shrimp evenly throughout the mixture.  Cover and refrigerate until chilled (or overnight).
TO SERVE: Fill a bowl with the dip and place it on a tray surrounded with crackers (Ritz).  Serve with your choice of adult beverage!
You can double or triple all the ingredients to make more. This dish is even better if made ahead, the flavors meld and the dish will keep for a week. Re: the horseradish - use pure prepared horseradish only not creamy horsey sauce. 



Until Later, 
Jack

ARTSnFOOD, is an online publication dedicated to "The Pursuit of Happiness through the Arts and Food." ™ All rights reserved for all content. Concept, Original Art, Original Text & "Original or Assigned Photography" are © Copyright 2014 Jack A. Atkinson under all International intellectual property and copyright laws. All photographs were taken and/or used with permission. Artworks © individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

The Goldfinch, a Painting by Carel Fabritius Steals the Show from Girl With a Pearl Earring, by Vermeer + FOOD: A No Sugar Oatmeal Cookie

Carel Fabritius (1622-1654)
The Goldfinch, 1654 Oil on panel
13 ¼ x 9 in. (33.5 x 22.8 cm)
(Image courtesy of The Frick Museum Press Department
and the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis in the Hague)

ART
The Goldfinch

Painting by Carel Fabritius
Oil on Panel (1654)
& The Inspiration for the novel
The Goldfinch

The Frick Collection was the final American venue of a global tour of paintings from the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis in The Hague, the Netherlands. While the prestigious Dutch museum underwent an extensive two-year renovation, it lent its masterpieces which have not traveled in nearly thirty years. 

At The Frick exhibition (Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals: Masterpieces of Dutch Painting from the Mauritshuis, which ended this past week) the star of the show was intended to be Vermeer's most famous painting, GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, but another painting in an adjacent gallery stole the show! Among a wall of Dutch Paintings, a delicate and previously much less significant painting hung, painted by the artist Carel Fabritius and titled: The Goldfinch. 

The reason for this interest? A recently released novel, published by Little Brown, titled THE GOLDFINCH, has become an overnight literary sensation. The plot of the book is based on this exact painting by Carel Fabritius (The Goldfinch). To the delight of New Yorkers the book's featured painting happened to be hanging in an exhibition at The Frick Museum on 5th Avenue in NYC, from October 2013 through mid-January 2014. People lined up around the block daily to see The Goldfinch and they also gave The Girl with a Pearl Earring a glance too, since that was a popular novel by author Tracy Chevalier.




ABOUT THE PAINTING:
THE GOLDFINCH

Fabritius uses a minimum of quick strokes to portray the house pet’s downy body. Such expert manipulation of paint to suggest form and texture may have been assimilated from Rembrandt, with whom he studied. Whatever the panel’s initial purpose — possibly a component of a birdcage or a cover for an encased painting — the little bird chained to his feed box is a masterpiece of trompe l’oeil illusionism. Vermeer — like Fabritius, a resident of Delft — was highly influenced by the artist’s pristine lighting and composed tranquility. 


Click on the link above, for The Frick's accoustiguide commentary on The Goldfinch. Use the back arrow to return to this issue of ARTSnFOOD.
(SOURCE: The FRICK Collection, NYC)

ABOUT THE NOVEL:
"THE GOLDFINCH"

The Painting becomes the inspiration for a novel:
"The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt



(Story Line) 

Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love - and his talisman, the painting, places him at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle. The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettably vivid characters and thrilling suspense, it is a beautiful, addictive triumph - a sweeping story of loss and obsession, of survival and self-invention, of the deepest mysteries of love, identity and fate.

(SOURCE: Little Brown Book Group, publishers of The Goldfinch - Fiction - 784 pages)

ART
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer(Image coutesy of The Frick Museum Press Department
and the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis in the Hague)

Girl with a Pearl Earring

At the Frick Museum in New York City, a recent exhibition of fifteen paintings included the beloved Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665) by Johannes Vermeer. This exhibition continues the Frick’s tradition of presenting masterpieces from acclaimed museums not easily accessible to the New York public.

Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665) by Johannes Vermeer

The girl’s features may have been inspired by a live model, but her identity is unknown. Many subjects have been suggested, including the artist’s eldest daughter, but none of these proposals has been widely embraced. The painting belongs to a distinctly Dutch subcategory of portraiture known as the tronie. Tronies depict idealized faces or exaggerated expressions and often feature exotic trappings, like the turban and enormous earring worn by the girl.

Pearls appear in eight paintings by Vermeer, including the Frick’s Mistress and Maid. As no real pearl of this size has been documented, Vermeer’s model likely wore a glass drop varnished to look like a true pearl. The piece may also be the product of Vermeer’s imagination.

Girl with a Pearl Earring was the sole work on view in the Frick's Oval Room, with the other paintings shown together in the East Gallery. To accompany the exhibition, three works by Vermeer in the Frick permanent collection, Officer and Laughing Girl  (c. 1657), Girl Interrupted at Her Music (c. 1658–59), and Mistress and Maid (c.1666–67), were grouped together in the West Gallery, where they could be viewed along with complementary Frick Collection paintings by the represented artists.



Click on the link above, for The Frick's accoustiguide commentary on Girl with a Pearl Earring. Use the back arrow to return to this issue of ARTSnFOOD. 
(SOURCE: The FRICK Collection, NYC)

Detail of Girl with a Pearl Earring
during varnish removal and before retouching.




During conservation treatment in 1994, one of three highlights on the pearl’s surface was revealed to be a flake of loosened paint. With the speck removed, the pearl appears again as Vermeer intended. A subtle highlight on the girl’s lip, made by Vermeer but over-painted during past treatment, was also uncovered. Finally, it was discovered that Vermeer applied a translucent green paint over dark under-paint to create the background. The pigments have discolored over time, making the setting appear completely black

In the FRICK East Gallery:

In addition to Girl with a Pearl Earring the carefully chosen paintings from the Mauritshuis included portraits, landscapes, genre scenes, and still-lifes and demonstrated the themes that stirred artists’ and collectors’ imaginations during the Dutch Golden Age. Those on exhibition included: The Goldfinch (1654) by Carel Fabritius, Rembrandt’s Simeon’s Song of Praise (1631), Rembrandt’s
“Tronie” of a Man with a Feathered Beret (c.1635), Rembrandt’s Susanna (1636), and Rembrandt’s Portrait of an Elderly Man (1667); Frans Hals’s pendant portrait Jacob Olycan (1596–1638) and Frans Hals’s Aletta Hanemans (1606–1653), both Frans Hals painted in 1625; Pieter Claesz’s Vanitas Still Life (1630); Nicholas Maes’s Old Lacemaker (c.1655); Gerard ter Borch’s Woman Writing a Letter (c.1655); Jan Steen’s Girl Eating Oysters (c.1658–60) and Jan Steen’s “As the Old Sing, So Pipe the Young” (c.1665); Jacob van Ruisdael’s View of Haarlem with Bleaching Grounds (c.1670–75); and Adriaen Coorte’s Still Life with Five Apricots (1704).

The Frick Collection, New York
This exhibition
was accompanied by a catalogue
available through the Frick Gift Shop.
http://www.frick.org/shop
(SOURCE:Informaton, Photos and some text courtesy of The FRICK Collection, NYC -Press Office) - SEE MORE AT http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/mauritshuis/670#sthash.OCBZhypY.dpuf)

(Editor's Note) 

At this exhibition, I stood for most of an hour in front of Girl with a Pearl Earring trying to absorb my first face to face viewing of this painting. I am so familiar with the painting in reproduction and I wondered what the differences were between the original and so many of the reproductions. What did the reproductions portray improperly? 

My thoughts mainly focused on the flesh tones of this original. In most reproductions of Girl with a Pearl Earring the flesh tones are rosy and youthful but on this, the original painting, her flesh tones are white and chalky with the green under-painting very much shining through. 

The girl in Girl with a Pearl Earring was indeed very "alive" in this original, with her intense glaring eyes looking directly into every viewers eyes, no matter where they were in the large oval room. 

The dense solid black background of the painting was very noticeable to me, in person. In many ways Vermeer uses a trick, similar to black velvet paintings, where the black background makes all colors pop and more vibrant. Indeed the gold and blue colors of the cloth and coat are very intense next to this solid black.
Finally, I very begrudgingly said good bye to Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. I may never see her again, in person. It was a similar experience to saying farewell to a good friend who is leaving to live in a far-away land. Anyway, an hour is probably too long to look at any one painting, no matter how rare, so I moved on and absorbed the greatness of the rest of the exhibition, including Fabritius's exotic The Goldfinch
- Jack A. Atkinson

The Frick Collection
1 East 70th Street
New York, NY 10021
Museum Hours
Tuesday through Saturday
10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Sunday
11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Closed
Mondays and holidays

FOOD
No Sugar, Oatmeal Cookie
For the person with a sweet tooth and on a weight loss regiment, here is a sweet treat designed to not throw you completely off track.

Ingredients
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup apple sauce
2 cups oats 
1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions
- Mix all ingredients well
- Spoon the mixture (as 1/2 inch balls) onto a greased cookie sheet, allowing for the cookies to spread
- Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes

Enjoy!

Until Later, 
Jack

ARTSnFOOD, is an online publication dedicated to "The Pursuit of Happiness through the Arts and Food." ™ All rights reserved for all content. Concept, Original Art, Original Text & "Original or Assigned Photography" are © Copyright 2014 Jack A. Atkinson under all International intellectual property and copyright laws. All photographs were taken and/or used with permission. Artworks © individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

The Beauty of India's Historic Visual Arts and Jewelry are Reproduced at The Met Museum Shop in NYC. + Shrimp Scampi

One brass object in the Met Museum’s Collection of Indian Art is this graceful parrot, delicately perched on one leg from the late 18th century. It may have been used as a finial.

ART
SHOPPING
India's Art
Embodies
A Rich Culture
India's Fabulous Past is Partially Represented in America Through the Many Great Indian Masterpieces of Art and Jewelry in the Permanent Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.


In this issue we take you on a tour of great and precious pieces of Indian jewelry and art, via reproductions available, in various forms, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Gift Shop. (These pieces can be purchased at the Met Museum Shop, 1000 5th Ave. @ 82nd St., NYC 10028 or online at http://store.metmuseum.org/search?q=Mughal or by phone at (800) 468-7386.)




Mughal King of Elephants Plate
Within the Museum’s collection is a beautifully illustrated album leaf, meticulously painted in opaque watercolor and gold on paper, depicting a magnificent elephant ridden by a mahout. A Persian inscription identifies the image as a “picture of ‘Alam-guman Gajraj (the arrogant one of the earth, king of elephants) whose value is one lakh rupees,” or one hundred thousand rupees. The majestic plate is based on the original painting.
Glass. For decorative use only. 8 1/2''L x 12 1/2''W. Item# 80-010892
Price:
$50.00
Member Price:
$45.00
Mughal Elephant Plate
In the Museum’s collection is a sumptuously illustrated album leaf (sixteenth–seventeenth century) by Khem Karan (Indian, 1556–1605) in ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper. The glass plate is based on this striking image of a richly dressed prince riding an elephant outfitted with decorative trappings.
Glass. For decorative use only. 4''L x 6''W. Item# 80-010899
Price:
$20.00
Member Price:
$18.00

Mughal Elephant Mugs
In the Museum’s collection is a sumptuously illustrated album leaf (16th–17th century) by artist Khem Karan in ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper. These porcelain mugs are based on this striking image of a richly dressed prince riding an elephant outfitted with decorative trappings.
Includes 2 mugs. Porcelain, with decal application. Gift boxed. Dishwasher and microwave safe. 12 oz. each. 4'' diam. x 3 1/4''H each. Item# 80-010978
Price:
$40.00
Member Price:
$36.00

Mughal Buti Print Jacket
The repeating buti (small floral discs or circles) on this jacket are typical of those seen on splendid Mughal-period textiles in the Museum’s collection. Royal support for court painters, architects, weavers, and goldsmiths led to the development of a distinctive and unified Mughal style, which was characterized in the decorative arts by a wealth of floral motifs, rich colors, and fine workmanship.
Available in small, medium, and large. Mandarin collar, button closure, boxy silhouette, hits at hip, 3''L side slits, long sleeves. Cotton. Quilted contrast-pattern lining. Imported. Hand wash.
Size Chart:  
Small (4–6) Item # 80-007981 
Medium (8–10) Item # 80-007982 
Large (12–14) Item # 80-007983
Price:
$160.00
Member Price:
$144.00


Mughal Peacock Watch
The Mughal Peacock Watch was inspired by a superbly painted portrait of the future emperor Shah Jahan and his son from the period of Jahangir in the Museum’s collection. The sumptuousness of court life is conveyed in the detailed depiction of the jewels they are admiring, the gilded furniture, the textiles, and, most spectacularly, the large bolster with its designs of figures and plants. The composition is further enhanced by the splendid border containing flowering plants and birds, including partridges, cranes, and the peacocks seen on this watch.
18K gold overlay case, with a stainless steel back. Matte finish. Leather band. Quartz movement. Band: adjusts from 6 1/2''L to 7 3/4"L; Case: 1 1/4''W. Water resistant case. Item# 80-003143
Price:
$95.00
Member Price:
$85.50

Mughal Elephant Correspondence Cards
In the Museum’s collection is a sumptuously illustrated album leaf (sixteenth–seventeenth century) by Khem Karan (Indian, 1556–1605) in ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper. It displays an image of a regally dressed prince riding an elephant, which has been adapted for our cards. The cards are based on this striking image of a richly dressed prince riding an elephant outfitted with decorative trappings.
25 gold-embossed white correspondence cards and 25 white envelopes per box. 6 1/4'' x 4 7/8''. Item# 80-010997
Price:
$24.95
Member Price:
$22.45


Mughal Carpet Ballpoint Pen
The Mughal Carpet Ballpoint Pen is adapted from a luxurious carpet in the Museum’s collection. This carpet features a floral pattern similar to Persian designs. However, the precision of the stemmed plants on the border is a mark of Indian achievement.
Ballpoint, black ink, medium point type, 1mm tip. Twist action. Brass barrel and clip with printed lacquer and silver overlay. 5 1/4''L. Gift boxed.
Refillable. Uses Schmidt P900 or standard Parker refill. Item# 80-007608
Price:
$35.00
Member Price:
$31.50


Mughal Jeweled Rosette Cuff
This Mughal Jeweled Rosette Cuff is based on the dazzling precious stone–bedecked centerpiece from a 17th-century gold bazuband (armlet) from northern India, which was later made into a brooch.
24k gold overlay, with glass pearls, glass rubies, glass crystals, green onyx, made with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS. 1 3/8''W. 7'' inner circ. Box-and-tongue closure. 
Item# 80-011437
Price:
$225.00 $90.00
Member Price:
$202.50 $81.00


Mughal Jeweled Rosette Pin
This Mughal Jeweled Rosette Pin is based on the dazzling precious stone–bedecked centerpiece from a 17th-century gold bazuband (armlet) from northern India, which was later made into a brooch.
24k gold overlay, with glass pearls, glass rubies, glass crystals, green onyx, made with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS. 2 1/2''L. Item# 80-011436
Price:
$150.00 $60.00
Member Price:
$135.00 $54.00


Mughal Fringe Necklace
The Museum’s collection houses a late Mughal galaband, or choker. Fabricated in gold with precious stones, pearls, and glass, the necklace features a fringe of leaf-shaped drops tipped with pearls and enamel. This ornate piece is the source for our exquisite necklace.
24K gold overlay, with cultured freshwater pearls, green onxy stones, and colored glass cabachons. Lobster claw closure. Adjusts from 16" to 18" with extender chain. Item# 80-011435
Price:
$195.00 $97.50
Member Price:

$175.50 $87.75



Indian Golden Berry Necklace
For over five thousand years, India’s jewelry craftsmen have drawn upon the rich sources of gold and gems throughout their land. Gold and silver, the quintessential metals of Indian jewelry, are worked in various techniques including granulation, filigree, thewa work (a fused appliqué process), and kundan (an inlay process). In the Museum’s collection is an Indian necklace (18th–19th century) in the form of a circle of uniform gold beads, each pendant attached by a tiny flower, probably representing the flower and berry of the evergreen mulsari. Our stunning necklace adapts the berry-shaped pendants of this original gold piece.
22K gold overlay. Matte finish. Toggle closure. 18''L. Item# 80-011407
Price:
$225.00
Member Price:
$202.50

Indian Golden-Bead Multi-Strand Necklace
The striking necklace is adapted from an Indian original from the eighteenth–nineteenth century in the Museum's collection featuring five graduated strings of close-strung, multi-faceted gold beads.
22K gold overlay. Matte finish. Hook and eye closure. 17 1/4''L. Item# 09-009796
Price:
$295.00
Member Price:
$265.50

Indian Bead Cluster Necklace
Gold and silver, the quintessential metals of Indian jewelry, are worked in various techniques including granulation, filigree, thewa work (a fused appliqué process) and kundan (an inlay process). In the Museum’s collection is a gold ankle bracelet, probably made in Central India, adorned with tight rows of large and small gold beads. The original would have created a lively, jangling sound as the wearer moved. The Met's designers have adapted the clustered beads of the original anklet transforming them into this lustrous Indian Bead Cluster Necklace.
22K gold overlay. Matte finish. Lobster claw closure. 18''L with a 3'' extender chain. Item# 80-011378
Price:
$150.00
Member Price:
$135.00


South Indian Pendant Necklace
The Museum’s collection includes a sumptuous necklace (17th–19th century), from Southern India, which has double rows of gold beads decorated with two small pendants and a larger, central teardrop-shaped pendant. This elegant necklace displays a variety of traditional gold-working techniques. 
22K gold overlay, hand enameled, with lapis beads. Hook and eye closure. 18 1/2''L; removable pendant: 2''L x 1 1/2''W. Item# 80-018101
Price:
$150.00
Member Price:
$135.00



Wonder of the Age: Master Painters of India, 1100-1900
By John Guy and Jorrit Britschgi
Traditionally, Indian paintings have been classified according to regional styles or dynastic periods, with an emphasis on subject matter and narrative content. This fascinating publication counters the long-held view of the anonymity of Indian art, emphasizing the combined tools of connoisseurship and inscription evidence to reveal the identities of individual artists and their oeuvres through an analysis of style. Enchanting color illustrations highlight over one hundred works spanning eight centuries.
The introduction outlines the origins of early Indian painting in the first millennium, which set the scene for the development of the art of the book. The chapters that follow examine manuscript painting as it developed from palm leaf to paper; the Sultanate and North Indian Hindu tradition; the Mughal school under the patronage of emperors Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan; the renaissance of the Hindu courts from 1650 to 1730; the later styles of the Punjab Hill and Rajasthani courts; Company School painting; and the coming of photography. Each chapter features a summary of the period and biographical essays of specific artists followed by a selection of their works. The eminent artists chosen are among the greatest in the history of Indian painting. Each could lay claim to the honorific bestowed by emperors on their favorite painters: Nadirai-i-zaman, "the wonder of the age."
224 pages, 155 full-color illustrations. 9 1/4'' x 10 1/2''. Hardcover; clothbound, with jacket. Item# 80-012412
Price:
$45.00
Member Price:
$40.50

Dancing Celestial Sculpture
In the Museum’s collection is an early twelfth-century Indian dancing celestial figure that is crisply carved in sandstone. The sculptor has twisted the figure into an extraordinary pose that captures the essence of her dance. Her swaying jewelry emphasizes her movement and contrasts pleasingly with her rounded body. Images of dancing semi-divine attendants often appear on the outer walls of Hindu temples, placed near the figures of gods to honor the deity. This Dancing Celestial is based on the original figure.
Cast resin. Hand patinated. 22''H x 5 1/2''W x 10''D including base. Item# 80-010965
Price:
$395.00
Member Price:
$355.50

Figure of a Parrot Sculpture
Skilled metalworkers in India have for centuries created courtly objects of distinction in a variety of styles, materials, and techniques. One such brass object in the Museum’s collection is in the shape of a graceful parrot (Indian, late 18th century), delicately perched on one leg, which may have been used as a finial. This delightful parrot figure, crafted of hand-patinated bonded bronze, is based on the original brass parrot.
Bonded bronze. Hand patinated. 9''H x 11''L x 3''W including base. Item# 80-010982 (Temporarily Backordered)
Price:
$375.00
Member Price:
$337.50

Mughal Medallion Necklace
The exquisite necklace is based on an eighteenth–nineteenth century jadanagam (hair ornament), probably from Madras. The original, made of gold inset with precious stones, consists of 12 graduated discs ending with a bead-and-tassel pendant.
22K matte gold overlay, hand enameled, with glass cabochons. Lobster claw closure. Adjusts from 15'' to 18''L with extender chain. 
Item# 80-011409
Price:
$245.00 $98.00
Member Price:   
$220.50 $88.20


Source: http://store.metmuseum.org/search?q=Mughal


FOOD


Shrimp Scampi 
Served over Linguine

Ingredients
3/4 pound linguine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 lemon, zest grated
2 lemons: squeeze out the lemon juice 
1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions
-Cook linguine in a large pot of boiling salted water for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.
- In a 12-inch pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. 
- Add the garlic. 
- Sauté for 1 minute. 
- Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and sauté until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. 
- Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. 
- Toss to combine.

Drain the cooked linguine and put a mound on each plate. Immediately spoon over the shrimp and sauce.
Serve.
(Source: From Atkinson Family Cookbook)

Until Later
Jack
ARTSnFOOD, is an online publication dedicated to "The Pursuit of Happiness through the Arts and Food." ™ All rights reserved for all content. Concept, Original Art, Original Text & "Original or Assigned Photography" are © Copyright 2014 Jack A. Atkinson under all International intellectual property and copyright laws. All photographs were taken and/or used with permission. Artworks © individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.