Countdown - 1 more sleep!

word #can't remember:

lütfen: lewt-fen (please)

Yesterday was chore day: laundry, hand washing, packing, unpacking, repacking, going through paperwork, going through medication and toiletries, emailing, re-emailing, chucking out, retrieving, a bit more packing, hair cut, nails done.....

Which means that I can spend my last day in London for awhile pretty much as I please.

So I went to my new favourite place for breakfast - Macaron in Clapham Common.  Then I tubed to South Kensington and the wonderful V&A Museum to take a look at Byzantine, and Ottoman and Turkish items.

I was struck by the sophistication of Byzantine artisitic and cultural talent, as they wroked with gold, as well as precious and semi-precious stones, jasper, enamel, ivory... an opulent expression. 

Christianity was prominent at this time

After the Roman Empire came that of the Ottoman, and that produced a new flowering of talent.  Islamic art was inspired by calligraphy, geometry, plants, weaving and embroidery.  Human figures started to appear and pottery was revered.

And artistic exchange with Europe in the medieval years is evident with iteme such as the shape of this ewer (e.g., spout and handle) particularly with the dragon portrayed on the spout..

Carpets in particular became extremely well known and traded throughout Europe and the Middle East.  There are those that are designed for worship, with the form pointing towards mecca

But there are carpets that are designed with other shapes and patterns. Perhaps one of the most valuable caarpets in the world is this one.  It is enormous and absolutely gorgeous, with a silk weft and 12 colours.  Not exactly practical for a small London flat, many of which are probably the square footage of this carpet itself!