MAY/JUNE 2026


Guest Editor's Letter

Ulysses Grant Dietz

The Obscure Connoisseur

Part V: In which the author is awakened to the splendor
of his vintage bathrooms.                                                                    Ralph Gardner Jr.
Illustrated by Colleen Bayley Harrington

Objects

Seating Arrangements: How French conversation
seating—from settees to tête-à-têtes—balanced fashion,
etiquette, and the spectacle of wealth.
Benjamin Davidson and Pippa Biddle

Perspectives

Past Perfect: Debbie Mathews LeRoy of Debbie Mathews Antiques & Designs in Nashville offers insightful, practical guidance on weaving antiques into modern interiors.
Debbie Mathews LeRoy

Conversations

A Light Touch: A conversation with chandelier restorer and designer Régis Mathieu explores his lifelong dedication to preserving and reinventing the art of antique lighting through a family business rooted in tradition.
Urvashi Lele

Museums

A legendary collection of works on paper, a new wing at
the New York Historical, and the anniversary of the
conversion of the Nashville Post Office building
into a beloved museum.

Hidden Gems

From bawdy brothels to bridal blessings, chamber
pots reveal Europe’s tangled views on women, sexuality, marriage, and power.
Rose Camara

Exhibitions

A Revolutionary family at Andalusia, a famous collection of Navajo textiles at Peter Pap, Frida Kahlo’s image-making at the Tate, and a Schiaparelli retrospective at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Culture

Born to Be Queen: How Bridgerton’s Queen Charlotte remixes history and hearsay for a modern audience.
Sharon Kong-Perring and Sarah Stafford Turner

Travel

For the Birds: The Sanderling Resort hosts its first-ever
Feather & Form weekend of curated, waterfowl focused events in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, where ducks, decoys, and coastal tradition take flight.
Christine Hildebrand

Style

A Wearable Scrapbook: A long-overlooked Indiana fashion tradition has seen a recent revival, drawing a younger generation into the richly woven world of antiques.
Urvashi Lele

Auctions

Ruby Tuesday: Aglow with history and fire, these twentieth-century ruby jewels—fresh from recent auctions—capture bold design, rarity, and the enduring allure of one of the world’s most coveted gemstones.

Wordplay

“Jug” by Elizabeth Burns
Poetry editor Sean Nevins
The Art of Everyday Things by Will Nediger
Edited by Rick Sharp
Illustrated by Mazzy Beyer

Mitch's Musings

Renaissance Replica: Sent unexpectedly by a friend, a
cobalt-blue footed cup holds a backstory steeped in
Italian Renaissance history.

Image
Cover: Cascade jugs, design attributed to Daniel Greatbatch (1781–1864), manufactured by the United States Pottery Company, Bennington, Vermont, 1852–1858, pictured in front of the 1884 Blue Niagara by George Inness (1825–1894) in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The jugs are in a private collection; photograph by Ezra Shales.


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Features



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Silver is Dead: Long Live Silver

Silver still seduces—its art, craft, and stories exposing
power, identity, and desire in every gleaming surface.
Ulysses Grant Dietz

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Art Within Reach

From ancient kylix to plastic jug, household vessels embody generosity, memory, and the changing meanings of abundance.
Ezra Shales

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Everything is Sculpture

Isamu Noguchi saw art not as something separate from life, but embedded in the playgrounds, gardens, and spaces people move through every day.
Thomas Connors

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Elizabeth Hubbart’s Gold Thimble

Inside the world of a female merchant in early Boston.
John Stuart Gordon

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“The Self-Cleaning Woman”

Through her visionary Self-Cleaning House, Frances Gabe embraced technology to empower women at home.
Grace Converse and Margaret Hanson

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In All Its Greatness

Monticello’s Great Clock reveals how Jefferson used timekeeping, sound, and design to regulate labor and extend control over enslaved Black lives.
Mya Rose Bailey

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Art, Craft, and Stories

The Newark Museum of Art’s quilt collection shows how everyday textiles embody design, cultural memory, and evolving definitions of American art.
Amy Simon Hopwood