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Have you smiled today? We've been smiling in our museum store comparing different smiles in our collection. Greetings from Oliver Gargoyle, Hotai Happy Buddha, Snooky Sunshine, Smiley Nigerian Puppet. Forward your smile to someone and brighten their day! #nationalsmileday #smile #museumstore #parastone #parastone_official #smileart

Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) Escher initially pursed a career in architecture, but his passion for graphic arts soon changed his mind. He was taught the principles of graphic art by S. Jessurun De Mesquit in the Dutch town of Haarlem. He then started traveling, somewhat restlessly, throughout Southern Europe where he made sketches and studies the landscape. After 1936, his 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...

On Mondays we visit the photo booth with new products from our collection. This week we are spotlighting Rheinhold's Monkey with Skull (RHE01, RHE03), Cycladic Idols, (CYC01, CYC02) and a new scarab (EG08).    The original bronze sculpture Monkey with Skull or also known as Philosophizing Monkey attracted a great deal of attention at the Berlin Art Exhibition in 1893. It was Rheinhold's first sculpture as a professional sculptor and was an immediate commercial success. The Berlin bronze foundry H. Gladenbeck & Sohn marketed various versions of the adorable monkey. A copy even graced Nikolai Lenin's desk at the Kremlin from 1922 onwards. One...

Portrait of an Egyptian Amarna princess, 19th Dynasty, circa 1340 BC
Pharaoh Amenhotep IV ruled the New Kingdom from 1353 to 1336 BC. The remarkably long skulls could indicate a hereditary physical deformity, but could also have been caused by the binding of the infants' skulls.

Day of the Dead Celebration (Día de los Muertos) is a three-day event in Mexico (early November) and parts of the US in which people celebrate their ancestors. They wear skull masks as a tribute to death and rebirth. The art associated with this ritual originates from Aztec and early Mexican eras and is characterized by images of skeletons, skulls, and folkloric costume.