Gothic boxwood miniatures are very small religious wood sculptures produced during the 15th and 16th centuries, mostly in today's Low Countries. They were formed from intricate layers of reliefs often rendered at nearly microscopic levels, with around 150 examples extant today. The majority are spherical beads known as prayer nuts, statuettes, skulls, or coffins; some 20 are in the form of polyptychs including triptych and diptych altarpieces, tabernacles, and monstrances. Typically imagery includes scenes from the Crucifixion of Jesus and extensive vistas of Heaven and Hell. Each miniature required exceptional craftsmanship and may have taken decades to complete. Important collections are in the Art Gallery of Ontario, the British Museum, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_boxwood_miniature

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1615:

The Wignacourt Aqueduct in Malta was inaugurated and was used to carry water to Valletta for about 300 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wignacourt_Aqueduct

1914:

Mexican Revolution: The United States detained a German steamer carrying materiel for the Mexican federal government. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypiranga_incident

1934:

The "Surgeon's Photograph", purportedly showing the Loch Ness Monster (later revealed to be a hoax), was published in the Daily Mail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness_Monster

1970:

In response to a dispute over wheat production quotas, the Principality of Hutt River proclaimed its secession from Western Australia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Hutt_River

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

hector: 1. (transitive) To dominate or intimidate in a blustering way; to bully, to domineer. 2. (intransitive) To behave like a hector or bully; to bluster, to swagger; to bully. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hector

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The word "resurrection" has for many people the connotation of dead bodies leaving their graves or other fanciful images. But resurrection means the victory of the New state of things, the New Being born out of the death of the Old. Resurrection is not an event that might happen in some remote future, but it is the power of the New Being to create life out of death, here and now, today and tomorrow. Where there is a New Being, there is resurrection, namely, the creation into eternity out of every moment of time. The Old Being has the mark of disintegration and death. The New Being puts a new mark over the old one. Out of disintegration and death something is born of eternal significance. That which is immersed in dissolution emerges in a New Creation. Resurrection happens now, or it does not happen at all. It happens in us and around us, in soul and history, in nature and universe. Reconciliation, reunion, resurrection — this is the New Creation, the New Being, the New state of things.   --Paul Tillich https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Tillich