Brooch - Forget-me-nots Russia 1860s gold, turquoises Hermitage, Saint Petersburg "Now, if myth is precisely a sequence of simulacra that help to recognize simulacra, it is naive to pretend to interpret myth, when it is myth itself that is already interpreting us. It acts on us like the wooden image of Taurian Artemis: Orestes stole it from the shrine. He traveled a long way holding it tightly in his hands, and all the while he felt madness hanging over his head. Then one day, he thought he would try to live by himself and hid the statue in a thicket of reeds, not far from the Eurotas River. There the image lay for years. One day two young Spartans of royal blood, Astrabacus and Alopecus, discovered it accidentally when they entered the thicket. Upright, wreathed in branches, the statue stared at them. The two Spartans were driven mad, because they had no idea what they were seeing. This is the power of the simulacrum, which cures only those who know it. For others it is sickness. Thus the myth: The power that arouses terror is also the only one that can cure it, as happened with Orestes. But only if it is recognized for what it is." – Roberto Calasso, from his essay The Terror of Fables collected in The Forty-nine Steps (originally published in 1991 in Milan, translated by John Shepley and published by University of Minnesota Press, 2001) Bust - Faustina the Younger as Venus Roman Empire 2nd century AD (and later embellishments) enamel, gold, silver, emeralds, rubies, sapphire Hermitage, Saint Petersburg Cameo - Woman in Cloak Germany ca. 1560 gold, silver, garnet Hermitage, Saint Petersburg Table-ornament - Peacocks China ca. 1740-60 silver, copper, enamel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg Beauty-spot Box Russia ca. 1750 gold, lapis lazuli Hermitage, Saint Petersburg Earrings - Lion-heads Greece 4th century BC gold Hermitage, Saint Petersburg Pin - Coiled Snake Russia - August Wilhelm Holmstrem ca. 1860 enameled gold, diamonds Hermitage, Saint Petersburg Braclet - Twisted Belt Northern Europe ca. 1850 enameled gold, silver, diamonds Hermitage, Saint Petersburg Statuette - Rearing Horse Germany - Jacob Fröhlich ca. 1575-1600 silver Hermitage, Saint Petersburg Pendant - Caravel Italy ca. 1575-1600 gold, rubies, emeralds, pearls Hermitage, Saint Petersburg Brooch - Dragonfly Russia ca. 1910-15 gold, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, chrysolites, pearls Hermitage, Saint Petersburg Brooch - Heraldic Griffin Russia ca. 1908-17 gold, diamonds, spinel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg Medallion Russia 1730s gold, enamel, diamonds Hermitage, Saint Petersburg Badge of the Order of St Andrew the First-Called Russia ca. 1800 gold, silver, enamel, rubies, diamonds Hermitage, Saint Petersburg Pendant - Double-headed Eagle Russia ca. 1750 enameled gold, rubies Hermitage, Saint Petersburg Signet-ring - Aphrodite and Eros Greece 4th century BC gold Hermitage, Saint Petersburg