In the scholarly literature, there is an assumption that Byzantine Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos – monk Joasaph was not painted with a halo around his head in three portraits of his that appear in a manuscript of his theological writings (Par. gr. 1242). The assumed absence of the symbolic detail, which is omitted from representations of rulers very rarely, has led certain scholars to suggest a variety of theories about the reasons for such a practice. Bearing in mind the importance of presence or absence of halos in iconography, the author of this essay took on a special task to investigate the original manuscript Par. gr. 1242, preserved in the fundus of Bibliothèque nationale in Paris.

The close analysis of the miniatures showed that the halos were represented in all three portraits of Kantakouzenos, and the reason for the earlier arguments of the scholars that the halos do not exist is their partial damage, as well as their weak visibility that is the result of various techniques of execution of this particular detail in each of the portraits. In the Emperor's portrait on the f. 5v, the halo is painted brown, and the traces of the pigment can be discerned only when looked at through a converging lens. The same goes for the miniature on the f. 123v, where Kantakouzenos is represented as both ruler and monk, beneath the representation of The Holy Trinity, with halos whose circumferences are deeply engraved onto the golden foundation of the background of the representation.

During the process of analysis, the author noticed the so far overlooked form of the complex halo around Christ's head in the miniature with the representation of the Transfiguration of Christ. The author also points at two examples of iconographical parallels, the icon of Christ the Pantocrator from the National Museum in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the fresco with the torso of Christ the Ancient of Days from the tympanum above the entrance of the Church of Saint Apostles in the Patriarchate of Peć.

In the conclusion, the author stressed the importance of intitulation of the ruler in the Kantakouzenos' double portrait, which is inscribed only alongside his imperial aspect. Bearing in mind that even after his abdication and taking monastic vows his contemporaries continued to address him as Emperor, which he himself had done as well, Kantakouzenos' double portrait reflects the state of affairs, i.e., his deep influence on almost all church-political developments in Byzantium, so that the miniatures represent the direct visual reflection of the contents of the codex, the purpose of which was to celebrate, as a whole, the role of the former Emperor in Byzantine and European history of the fourteenth century.

The appearance of figurines, as one segment of production of porcelain, represented an important element in Early Modern culture. Considered within the scope of decorative arts they offer us an image of the times and the culture of living from which they emerged.

The first part of this essay represents a kind of introduction into the history of emergence, shaping and development of this kind of porcelain in Europe. Special accent here is given to evolution of the porcelain figurines, to interpretation of their aesthetics and the roles they were assigned in various aspects of Early Modern culture, i.e. during the 18^th and the 19^th centuries. The second part of the essay deals with the analysis of the objects that are classified according to certain thematic wholes in the collection of the Museum of Applied Art. The objects presented in this essay form a segment of the Museum's collection of European porcelain figures, and were created in leading European manufactures at the end of the 18^th and during the 19^th century. We tried to establish clear concrete frames of production of the porcelain figures with introduction of certain thematic wholes, which actually follow general points of references of art of the period in question, and that immediately influenced shaping and development of this kind of porcelain objects. Inspired by the mythological fables from Ovid's Metamorphoses, by music, or everyday life, or by famous personages of the Early Modern culture, the figurines from the Museum's collection have certainly had strong influence to the presentation and building of identities of their owners and commissioners.

With the first organized works on the regulation of watergangs in Vojvodina, came the construction and building of accompanying establishments such as bridges, sluices, locks, pumping stations. Although they were built as utilitarian structures, many of these objects are characterized by harmonious proportions, as well as by construction and decorative details crafted with great artifice.

The first buildings were of architecturally modest dimensions, following the shapes of standard family houses of the period. As typical industrial buildings, pumping stations included a number of other objects necessary for their successful functioning: beside machine house, there were also quarters for superintendent, machinists, guardian houses, workshops, and storehouses for wood and coal.

Pumping stations and plants represented, at the time, some of the most modern and the most specialized architectural problems and subjects for their builders, regardless of their sizes and locations, and auxiliary buildings were supposed to have architectural qualities, too. The architects were required to conceal the strictly utilitarian content, and to make an impact on existing surroundings with the aesthetic forms of their architectural projects. Their interiors were to be as functional and as practical as possible, accessible, clear and organized with utmost precision. Channels with locks, embankments, bridges and other objects, apart from draining and cultivating the once swampy ground, introduced new elements of beauty into village landscapes.

The pumping station in Plavna, as one of the most representative examples of hydrotechnic buildings from the beginning of the 20^th century, is veritable rarity from the aspect of the protection of industrial heritage, owing to high level of preservation of its building complex and machines. With obvious elements of Secession combined with traditional building techniques, and with its original pumps, engines and reservoirs, this pumping station is true witnesses of the time in which it was created. Bearing in mind that the narrow definition of industrial heritage, with reference to machine systems and architectural structures, had been expanded, the future challenge will be to explore all the key elements that should be taken into account in the evaluation of industrial heritage.

The author analyzes the structure, the execution techniques and the decorative motifs of this extraordinary, with us still unknown art, in the effort to present it to the professional and general audience, taking as examples two Burmese Betel Boxes, kun it (private property), crafted from bamboo and lacquer, thit si. These boxes are cylindrical in shape, with deep lids that cover their interiors: the bodies of the boxes and two trays in which the ingredients for betel are to be kept. The custom of chewing betel belongs to religious and court ceremonies, to social life and art. The bases of the boxes are made of woven bamboo strips, covered with layers of black lacquer, and the decorative motifs are executed in yun technique – which understands engraving of decorative pattern and rubbing of paint into the engravings on the surface. Red Box (the first half of 20^th century, Myanmar, Bagan) is decorated with motive of kunan kanbyat, i.e., the signs of Burmese Zodiac, yathi yok and „eight planets“, gyo shitlon, in black, and with the motive of “chilli seeds”, ngayoksi, in yellow. Box with a Scene of King at Court, nandwin (1920- 50, Bagan, workshop with tiger trademark), is executed in five colours: engraving in black lacquer with the traditional sequence of colours – red, green, yellow and orange. The box contains the inscriptions with names of patrons of the village pagoda and with their good wishes.

Typical of times and places of their production, the refinement of these boxes serves as an example of the quality of workshops from which they emerged. The motifs full of symbolic meanings, according to canon, although often accompanied by routinely executed drawings, are indisputably characterized by the refined sense of artistic qualities. Bearing in mind the quality of the boxes intended for everyday use, one could imagine the beauty of the best works of Burmese lacquerware with which it undoubtedly stands equal to other, more acknowledged and better-known countries that claim this art as their heritage.

The time period between two world wars is characterized by modernist architecture, which developed under strong influence of European academic centres and growing absence of ornaments. The end of World War II brought new social and political contexts, and new economic circumstances. With the first five-year plan period (1947–1952) also came the architecture of modest materials and forms. In addition, the change in social and political contexts at the beginning of 1950s introduced activities, emergence and development of individual architectural studios. Some of them developed their own architectural expressions and revived relationship between architecture and sculpture in fresh, contemporary way, and created examples that represent the epoch. Here, one remembers the projects realized by studio established by architect Mihajlo Mitrović – apartment buildings in Zahumska Street No. 23 and Gospodar Jovanova Street No. 25. This architecture is inseparable from the sculptures created by Ana Bešlic and Ratko Stojadinović. A completely different approach can be found in examples appearing in Novi Beograd. Numerous requests for mass and quick apartment building added to intensive development of industrial, prefabricated, systems. One of the representative examples is the "meander" building in Block 21 in Novi Beograd. In this essay we analyze the motive of meander, and we relate it to the works done by artist Julije Knifer who favoured meander as the leitmotif of his creations. The sculptural elements of industrial modernism are: the emphasized horizontal lines, basic geometric forms, small number of floors architectural cubes. “Industrial modernism”, as it is referred to in the professional literature, became increasingly present with gradual development of the pre-fabricated systems, as well as with the growth of building industry. Only at the end of the 1960s, there emerged examples of architecture that featured different sensibility. In the sources, it was called “sculptural modernism” abundant with details – and it announced different approaches to forms opposed to the, until then dominant, "industrial modernism". The Genex building in Belgrade, has a larger number of elements as in brutalist architecture, as well as recognizable influences of important examples of international modern architecture. Parts of the Tower of Genex were painted by painter Lazar Vujaklija.

After the Second World War there appeared evident changes and new trends in the development of industrial production that aimed at bringing it closer to the contemporary creative practices in our country. Slow and hard introduction of industrial design into industrial facilities was characteristic of this period. Among the workers engaged in the factory production, there was a strong feeling of resistance to introduction of industrial artists in the very process of making of objects, and one almost could not talk about structural changes and establishing of special departments for design. Industrial design, as notion and practice in the newly established socialist Yugoslavia, was introduced immediately after the Second World War, although all the way to the middle of the 1960's there were misunderstandings and ignorance concerning the real function and importance of the concept of design and designers – industrial artists. During this period, industrial production of the, then, Socialist People's Republic of Yugoslavia was oriented more towards participation in industrial fairs and festivals that contributed in a specific way, after the Second World War, apart from their commercial character, to articulation of the propagandistic proclamation, by the State, of the social role of urbanism, architecture and design. This was all about ideological concept, rooted in discourses on the culture of living, art, architecture and industrial design. The primary problem of the Yugoslav to-date industrialization, modernization and, especially, urbanism was the problem of habitation, but also of the contemporary furnishings of interiors. This problem was tackled by the above-mentioned paradigmatic didactic exhibitions organized during the second half of the 1950's in Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Zrenjanin. According to museological typology, the exhibition Art in Industry, held in Museum of Applied Art in Belgrade in 1961, was the first exhibition of contemporary industrial design in Yugoslavia of that age. The guiding concept, which unfortunately was not realized in the whole, featured only those successfully designed serial products that were realized in the process of production. The Museum took the task of organization of the exhibition, taking into account the achievements of the contemporary industrial production, selecting the products that could withstand even more strict professional and museological criteria, in order to appear as exhibits at this exhibition.

The object of the present research is the opus of architect Mustafa Musić which developed apart from his architectural designs, which comprises the design of „art objects“ and specific pieces of furniture. In the first part of the essay, titled “Architect as Designer of Furniture – from an Autonomous to the Socially Engaged Creator”, the authors explain the idea of design of utility objects through the concept of “Total Work of Art” and give a survey of the genesis of this idea since the Secession movement, at the beginning of the 20^th century, until today. Ina review of radical architectural and design breaking forth, especially characteristic for the Italian art scene during the 1960s and the1970s, and in a review of Hans Hollein “Alles ist architectur”, from 1968, the authors introduced into this essay an aspect of criticism from which they proceeded to the analysis of the opus of this architect. In the second part of the essay, titled “The Opus of Architect Mustafa Musić in the Realm of Design of Art Objects and Specific Pieces of Furniture”, the authors follow the course of maturation of postmodernist thought in the works of the architect, based on the analysis of installation “Table (of Player, Archer, Thinker)” from 1982. In this research, the authors singled out the analogous positions in international, radical, practice in furniture design, that are presumed to be critical and professional models for Musić, the architect. In addition, in this part of the essay, the authors analyzed also the period of cultural isolation from 1990 to 2000 and Musić's creations from this period. Researched are the models and the concepts of utility objects designed for nightclub “XL” 1995/97, and table “Amoeba” from 2000.

With the advent of industry, crafts began to be regarded as outdated form of production, although the nostalgia for their vanished values emerged occasionally. However, recently the interest in craft practice has been reviving, particularly with regard to possible links with art and design, and it is followed by the multiplication of its practical and theoretical interpretation. Liberated from the clients’ demands and from the commitment that products should be immediately usable, modern craftsman is, by his status, closer to the artist, and by the opportunity to reach for the cutting-edge technology – to the designer. The new “craft ideal” provides a shelter to the creativity from the standardization of scientific and technical system and it contributes o the social cohesion through a different organization of the work process.

Emerging as a consequence of industrial production organized on the largest scale, and thus in the age of effective prohibitions, glamour appears as an offence, that is through spending, as well as through mass consumption, which is characteristic of industrial societies. The proportions of production and consumption, introduced by industrial revolution, and the consequent changes in social conditions, turned glamour into the largest spectacle ever accessible to human societies. That is the spectacle of the consumer culture, the saint of the modern age. Icons of glamour represent the gods revered by the modern man.

Glamour has quickly and easily moved from cinema to various lines of industry of life styles, and crucial for its mass popularization was the importance of costume designed for the Hollywood melodramas. Costume has become one of the basic features of both aesthetics and semantics. When we take into consideration that the purpose of clothing is, in the first place, the spectacularization of identities, a question arises: what is the content which this stylistic language treats and communicates? We discover that in the very heart of this aesthetic concept rests Georges Bataille's notion of eroticism as eternal longing to establish the lost totality or continuity, an attempt to overcome the gap between the rational and the irrational in man. This is why the fundamental signifying focus of glamour is composed of problems of sexuality and death. With channelling social hysteria into a stylistic excess, glamour appears in the form of aesthetic and moral misdemeanour. Glamour allows one to, in transposing the forbidden contents into the visual, into the language of clothing, step out from mediocre, moderate, appropriate or functional, and into the unattainable, into the everlasting...

In the process of spectacularization, the biological sexuality and mortality become entirely neutralized. Glamour managed to overcome the eternal problems of man by completely divorcing beauty and appeal, but also death, from the corporeal and the social givens. One has, through integrating oneself into the spectacle, at last realized the unity with the world, but the price of this success is exorbitant. One can free oneself from the loneliness and death only when turned into an image.