MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

Bugger! You have it right away Maz. It's an old slaughterman's boning knife used on large carcasses.
You should be punished! Set the next one?

[Marilyn]

I am bent over, waiting to be punished Master
I don't have anything to present just now, but will put my thinking cap on. A heavy cold has had me laid low for 3 days, and tomorrow we have our two hour drive ( each way) for my 6 week post op appointment for my spinal surgery.

[Stanley]

Good luck with that Maz. Don't worry, I shall find something......

[Stanley]

Good luck with that Maz. Don't worry, I shall find something......

Try this.... All right it's a set of mill stones for grinding grain but what type are they?

[Big Kev]

Are they French? They look to be made from bits and pieces.

[Stanley]

You're almost there Kev and yes they are French and made of small pieces as the original rock couldn't be found in bigger pieces. Now, what is the name for them?

[Tizer]

I agree with Kev and guess that they would be described as compound millstones but I suspect you're looking for a fancier name than that! Is it the name for the type of rock or for the place of origin? I suppose they could be small pieces because they were recycled from a building wall.

[Big Kev]

You're almost there Kev and yes they are French and made of small pieces as the original rock couldn't be found in bigger pieces. Now, what is the name for them?

I had to look it up, are they Bhur?

[Stanley]

That's right Kev. I've always seen them referred to as French Burrs. They were popular because the stone was so hard it only wore very slowly and so they didn't need dressing for far longer than English stones made in one piece.
Next one?

[plaques]

A little bit more upmarket but still in stone. What is it called and by who?

[Stanley]

I shall keep quiet...... Created in 1498/99.

[Wendyf]

I disagree with Stanley's dates and would put it almost 400 years later to the late 1800's.

[Stanley]

Mine was repaired about then......

[plaques]

Wendy is right with the date and I suspect she knows the answer.

[Tizer]

It's the EU holding the body of UK after it succumbed to Brexit.

[Wendyf]

Please, please can we have a couple of topics safe from politics?

[Stanley]

I agree. Tiz! You naughty boy!
I'm beginning to think the answer contains the words 'copy of' or 'after'......

[Big Kev]

I think I know where Stanley was coming from with his 1498/99 dates, it looks a bit like Pietà.

Is it a copy of an earlier piece or is it an original?

[Tizer]

Please, please can we have a couple of topics safe from politics?

Sorry if you took it the wrong way Wendy, it was meant to be funny, not political. If we don't joke about Brexit we'll let it defeat us.

[Wendyf]

Please, please can we have a couple of topics safe from politics?

Sorry if you took it the wrong way Wendy, it was meant to be funny, not political. If we don't joke about Brexit we'll let it defeat us.

I didn't take it the wrong way, knew it was meant to be funny.

[plaques]

Ger Im told Wendy. As we all know who live on a higher plane. Its a French child.

[Wendyf]

I don't know who did it Plaques but I know it's a long way from Madonnas and Michelangelo! Looks like Victorian sentimentality to me and not good enough for Rodin. Noted that it's a young child and nets are involved so a drowning?

[PanBiker]

I know but I googled it so saying nowt.

[plaques]

Wendy I think that's good enough. Actually I've seen the Rodin sculpture 'The Kiss' Impressed but I think this has far more detail. After the Storm, by Sarah Bernhardt. both actress and artist, a very talented lady. Bernhardt
Après la tempête (After the Storm) depicts a Breton peasant woman cradling the body of her grandson who had been caught in a fisherman’s nets. Sarah Bernhardt had seen this woman on the seashore and was moved by her story, which ended tragically with the death of the child. But in Bernhardt’s sculpture the child's right hand grips the woman’s garment, perhaps suggesting the possibility of a more hopeful ending.

[Stanley]

I was wrong I thought it was Pieta by Michelangelo.....