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Nicolaes Visscher I (1618-1679) was a Dutch cartographer, engraver and publisher, the son of famed Dutch Golden Age draughtsman Claes Janszoon Visscher. He produced various double hemisphere maps, often working alongside his son, Nicolaes Visscher II, who continued the family tradition after his death.
Pangu is a deity and mythical being in Chinese mythology. He is often depicted as a primitive and hairy giant with a horned head and covered in furs. In some versions, he is the first living being in the universe, and created everything from the formless chaos that predated existence. Within this chaos, a cosmic egg coalesced for about 18,000 years, with the opposed principles of Yin and Yang perfectly balanced within.<br/><br/> Pangu emerged from the egg, and began creating the world by cutting Yin and Yang with his giant axe, with the clear Yang becoming the sky while the earth was formed from the murky Yin. He stood between them and pushed up the sky to keep them separated for 18,000 years, until he eventually died. His breath became the wind and clouds; his voice became the thunder; his left eye the sun while his right eye became the moon; his head turned into the mountains and extremes of the world; his blood turned into rivers; his muscles became fertile land; his facial hair turned into the stars and Milky Way; his fur became the forests; his bones and marrow became the minerals and diamonds of the world; and the flea in his fur became the wild animals of the world.<br/><br/> Pangu is still worshipped at some shrines in contemporary China, usually alongside Taoist symbols. His most important shrine is perhaps the Pangu King Temple in Guangdong Province.
Walter Crane (15 August 1845 – 14 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children’s book creator of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of English children's illustrated literature would exhibit in its developmental stages in the latter 19th century.<br/><br/> Crane's work featured some of the more colourful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterize many nursery rhymes and children's stories for decades to come. He was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles and other decorative arts. Crane is also remembered for his creation of a number of iconic images associated with the international Socialist movement.
Surrounded by the Holy Mosque, al-Masjid al-Haram, stands the cubic Kaaba. Shortly after they arrive in Mecca, pilgrims first walk around the Kaaba seven times and then walk back and forth between two hills, al-Safa and al-Marwa. They carry out a large number of rituals in the following days in both Mecca and its environs. On the 10th day of the month of Dhu al-Hijja, they begin the great feast of Eid al-Adha to commemorate Abraham’s willingness to serve God by sacrificing his son. Ritual sacrifices of sheep and goats are made on this occasion throughout the Islamic world. In conclusion, pilgrims drink or are sprinkled with water from the Zamzam Well in the courtyard of the holy mosque.<br/><br/> This print shows an idealized and schematic picture of the Holy Mosque in the center of Mecca. Prints like this one have been popular decorations in private homes as well as offices and coffee houses during the past century.
The Jalayirids were a Mongol dynasty which ruled over Iraq and western Persia after the breakup of the Mongol Khanate of Persia (or Ilkhanate) in the 1330s.<br/><br/> The Jalayirid sultanate lasted about fifty years, until disrupted by Tamerlane's conquests and the revolts of the 'Black Sheep Turks' or Qara Qoyunlu Turkmen.<br/><br/> After Tamerlane's death in 1405, there was a brief attempt to re-establish the sultanate in southern Iraq and Khuzistan. The Jalayirids were finally eliminated by Kara Koyunlu in 1432.
Samurai is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class.<br/><br/> The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as Bushidō. While they numbered less than ten percent of Japan's population, samurai teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in martial arts such as Kendō, meaning the way of the sword.
Z̲akhīrah-i Khwārazm Shāhī, 'The treasure of Khwārazm Shāh', by Ismā’īl ibn al-Hasan. Copy of an earlier Persian work Composed not earlier than 1110 and dedicated to Qutb al-Dīn Muhammad Anūshtakīn Khwārazm Shah, who died in 1127.
The Jalayirids were a Mongol dynasty which ruled over Iraq and western Persia after the breakup of the Mongol Khanate of Persia (or Ilkhanate) in the 1330s.<br/><br/> The Jalayirid sultanate lasted about fifty years, until disrupted by Tamerlane's conquests and the revolts of the 'Black Sheep Turks' or Qara Qoyunlu Turkmen.<br/><br/> After Tamerlane's death in 1405, there was a brief attempt to re-establish the sultanate in southern Iraq and Khuzistan. The Jalayirids were finally eliminated by Kara Koyunlu in 1432.
The Jalayirids were a Mongol dynasty which ruled over Iraq and western Persia after the breakup of the Mongol Khanate of Persia (or Ilkhanate) in the 1330s.<br/><br/> The Jalayirid sultanate lasted about fifty years, until disrupted by Tamerlane's conquests and the revolts of the 'Black Sheep Turks' or Qara Qoyunlu Turkmen.<br/><br/> After Tamerlane's death in 1405, there was a brief attempt to re-establish the sultanate in southern Iraq and Khuzistan. The Jalayirids were finally eliminated by Kara Koyunlu in 1432.
This Treatise on Cats has the format of a Thai folding book (samut khoi) with 12 folios, which open from top to bottom. It was produced in the 19th century in Central Thailand.<br/><br/> Folding books were usually made from the bark of mulberry trees, whereas minerals, plant liquids and occasionally materials imported from China and Europe were used as paints.
The Jalayirids were a Mongol dynasty which ruled over Iraq and western Persia after the breakup of the Mongol Khanate of Persia (or Ilkhanate) in the 1330s.<br/><br/> The Jalayirid sultanate lasted about fifty years, until disrupted by Tamerlane's conquests and the revolts of the 'Black Sheep Turks' or Qara Qoyunlu Turkmen.<br/><br/> After Tamerlane's death in 1405, there was a brief attempt to re-establish the sultanate in southern Iraq and Khuzistan. The Jalayirids were finally eliminated by Kara Koyunlu in 1432.
Illustration by the Austrian artist Friedrich Schiff, who lived in Shanghai during the 1930s and 1940s. His images exemplify the 'anything goes' atmosphere and indulgence amidst poverty that characterised Old Shanghai and which would soon be brought to an abrupt end by Japanese invasion (1937) and Communist revolution (1949).
Zhuge Liang (CE 181-234) was Chancellor of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He is often recognised as the greatest and most accomplished strategist of his era. Often depicted wearing a robe and holding a fan made of crane feathers, Zhuge was not only an important military strategist and statesman; he was also an accomplished scholar and inventor.<br/><br/> His reputation as an intelligent and learned scholar grew even while he was living in relative seclusion, earning him the nickname Wolong (literally Crouching Dragon). Zhuge is an uncommon two-character compound family name. His name – even his surname alone – has become synonymous with intelligence and tactics in Chinese culture.
Al-Andalus (Arabic: الأندلس‎, trans. al-ʼAndalus, Spanish: Al-Ándalus, Portuguese: Al-Andalus) was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims (often given the generic name of Moors), at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries underwent constant changes due to wars with the Christian Kingdoms.<br/><br/> Following the Muslim conquest of Hispania, Al-Andalus was divided into five administrative areas roughly corresponding to Andalusia, Galicia and Portugal, Castile and León, Aragon and Catalonia, and Septimania. As a political domain or domains, it successively constituted a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, initiated by the Caliph Al-Walid I (711–750); the Emirate of Córdoba (c. 750–929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031); and the Caliphate of Córdoba's taifa (successor) kingdoms.<br/><br/> Rule under these kingdoms saw the rise in cultural exchange and cooperation between Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, al-Andalus was a beacon of learning, and the city of Córdoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres in both the Mediterranean Basin and the Islamic world.
Al-Andalus (Arabic: الأندلس‎, trans. al-ʼAndalus, Spanish: Al-Ándalus, Portuguese: Al-Andalus) was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims (often given the generic name of Moors), at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries underwent constant changes due to wars with the Christian Kingdoms.<br/><br/> Following the Muslim conquest of Hispania, Al-Andalus was divided into five administrative areas roughly corresponding to Andalusia, Galicia and Portugal, Castile and León, Aragon and Catalonia, and Septimania. As a political domain or domains, it successively constituted a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, initiated by the Caliph Al-Walid I (711–750); the Emirate of Córdoba (c. 750–929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031); and the Caliphate of Córdoba's taifa (successor) kingdoms.<br/><br/> Rule under these kingdoms saw the rise in cultural exchange and cooperation between Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, al-Andalus was a beacon of learning, and the city of Córdoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres in both the Mediterranean Basin and the Islamic world.