I can imagine what a problem Mercer had with finding places to put his collection.  Can’t find a place?  Just put a net on your ceiling and stuff it full of interesting things.  Here, Henry could lay on his sofa below, look up and view his Etruscan pottery collection.

For some reason this collection captures my attention each time I enter Mercer’s study.  Not necessarily for the photographic interest but by my awe of Mercer and his ambition and drive to collect such a variety of artifacts from around the world.  His fascination of pottery led him to develop and create his fantastic tiles.

The image below shows the perspective that Mercer could have viewed his collection from.  I am sure there were a lot of good naps taken here in the comfort of his study.

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Mercer’s fourth desk is my least favorite.  This is my only image of this desk from my multiple visits here.  My eye has always focused on the large windows and the chest.

Mercer’s study is an intimate and very warm feeling room.  I imagine that if Henry got a little bored in his study, he could always go down to his more formal large library on the main floor of the castle.  The Library will be a future set of posts sometime in the future.

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This third desk is nestled into a small alcove in the back part of Mercer’s study.  I have not seen light reach this part of the study.  Note the strange looking object hanging from the ceiling.  It is an Arabic oil lantern.  Mercer’s collection of ancient implements and artifacts around the world is amazing.  There are very few walls in the castle that are not covered by art or artifacts.

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This desk with late morning sun shining across it is located on an adjacent wall from the desk shown on my last post.  Depending on his mood and light, Mercer would pick where he wanted to work in his study.

The image below is taken looking down the desk from the end.  At the end tucked away in a corner is a leather lounge sofa.  I imagine it was a good place for that “afternoon nap”.  Above the sofa is his collection of ancient and Early American pottery.

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