What lovely vases these are, wouldn't you agree? These priceless Qing Dynasty artifacts (i.e., dating from the 1600s, for those who aren't up on their Ancient Eastern history) are on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
Well, not
priceless exactly. They are estimated to be worth between £200,000 and £300,000. And they are only
recently back on display, having been out of the public eye for almost two years.
Because in January 2006, a poor gentleman named Nick Flynn tripped on his shoelaces.
Not a bad restoration job! The initial cleanup operation took two and a half days. Better make sure you have every little sliver, right? Then the pieces were slowly taped back together by a professional restorer, bound with a special adhesive, and given a new coat of enamel.
Along with the dramatic return debut came a shiny new display case, as seen above. It would seem the museum has found a more appropriate item to display in its completely unprotected window niche on the staircase.