This miniature 1st-century Roman from the collection of the Getty Museum features round eye sockets and a wide, grinning mouth with large upper teeth. It was known to the Romans as larva convivalis, meaning banquet ghost. It was once made to (between courses of a meal) jump and dance and was a reminder of the brevity of human life and necessity of profiting from the short remaining time. In total, ten similar skeletons are known, one in silver, one in wood, and the remaining examples in bronze. The unanatomical rendering of the bones, a feature shared by all the skeletons, reveals that artists' lack of scientific accuracy. It was perhaps more important that the bony specters were lively and so the fluid fluid dancing movements of their mobile joints were emphasized. (ROM01 - h. 10 cm.)

Our glass coasters are popular. New sets are now available from the artists Hokusai, Monet, Kandinsky and Mondrian, and of course Hieronymus Bosch should not be missing. Also available: glass coasters from the successful Dubout cats. And after a long time, the Van Gogh and Magritte sets are fortunately back in stock! (Ø 10 cm., set of 4 in metal holder, gift boxed with brochure) 

-Klimt: Stoclet Frieze, the Tree of Life (1905). The symbolic tree of life is part of the decorative mosaic design in the dining room frieze of the 'Palais Stoclet' in Brussels.  -  Botticelli:  the Birth of Venus (approx. 1486). The story has it that Botticelli was in love with Simonetta, Nobleman Marco Vespucci’s wife, his entire life. It is her that Venus was based on. She died ten years before Botticelli who, at his own request, was buried at her feet in the church of Ognissanti.  -  Escher: Sky and Water (1938). After 1936, Eschers realistic style and subject matter changed profoundly, when he drew the first of his famous ‘impossible realities’. Fascinated by the majolica tiling in the Alhambra, he became obsessed by the ideas that form the basis of the regular division of the plane, such as the crystallographic principles of shifting, glide- reflection and rotation.  -  Beardsley: "Lady in long dress". At the age of seven Beardsley was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which many see as a possible explanation for his unbridled urge to express himself. Without any education in arts he developed his passionate style of drawing, averse to the social and political equalization, and not being socially engaged as many of his contemporaries.  (SDA46 Klimt - h. 28 cm. / Ø 12 cm., SDA47 Botticelli - h. 23.5 cm. / Ø 10 cm., SDA48 Escher - h. 27 cm. / Ø 10 cm., SDA49 Beardsley -  h. 25.5 cm. / Ø 10 cm.)

The gruesome hell is depicted on the right panel of the Haywain triptych. Under a bridge, over which the cursed souls meet their fate, a soul is eaten by a fish-like creature. The snake curling around the legs refers to sinful lust.

Hiëronymus, Jeroen for short, Bosch (ca. 1450 – 1516) was born during the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, in the Duchy of Brabant. Bosch places visionary images in a hostile world full of mysticism, with the conviction that the human being , due to its own stupidity and sinfulness has become prey to the devil himself. (JB32 - h. 7 cm.)

On clogs with blue and white dotted design, dog Lot and cat Mina, named after the grandparents of Jacky Zegers. For Jacky, these figures represent self-evident love. Available together as a set or separately. (JZ61 dog Lot - h. 20,5 cm., JZ60 cat Mina - h. 19 cm.)

The skies over London were overcast. A few raindrops started to fall over Kensington. Ten minutes later, they had turned into an absolute downpour. Seeing Georges, Margaret and their dog Dickens at the last minute, the driver of the black cab tried to brake, but one of his wheels went into an enormous pothole full of water and soaked them. “Where to, then?” asked the cabbie. (FO85089 – h. 14 cm.)