Ornamental Gallery

Sea holly (Eryngium sp.)

Sea holly (Eryngium sp.) flower heads. Each blue blob is an individual flower. This perennial herb belongs to the family Umbelliferae, which includes 200 species. It is indigenous to southern Europe. Sea holly is usually grown ornamentally for its metallic, spiny foliage and blue thistle-like flowers

© LAWRENCE LAWRY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Okimono, Japan

This carved object, depicting an egg and two rats, was made in Japan in the mid 1800s. It is known as an okimono, which means object for display in Japanese. These purely decorative items were carved by skilled craftsmen using various materials. This okimono is made from ivory. Elephant ivory (tusk) has been prized by humans for many centuries because of its remarkable carving properties. However, its use has come at a huge cost; the trade in ivory continues to place the world's elephant populations in danger

© RIC, photographer A.G. Tindle

Atlas compass, 16th century

Atlas compass in a 1544 copy of the Agnese Atlas. Several copies of this atlas were produced between 1536 and 1564, in Venice, by the Italian mapmaker Battista Agnese. This compass rose is found on the inside back cover, and is labelled with 32 compass directions. Although it was a nautical atlas, it is unlikely to have been more than an ornamental atlas for reference. The compass at centre was added some time later. This edition of the atlas was dedicated to Hieronymus Ruffault, Abbot of St Vaast, Arras, France. The atlas is known to have been in Germany, Italy, and New York, USA, during its 400-year-plus history, eventually reaching the US Library of Congress in 1943

© LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, GEOGRAPHY AND MAP DIVISION/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY