This month, Ben learns how two women painters made their way during a time when the art world was still male-dominated
Curious Objects: A Dalva Brothers Wonder Cabinet Turns Heads at Christie’s
Some 250 of the choicest items from the firm’s inventory are being offered at Christie’s this October, and Dalva Brother’s principal David Dalva III, along with Christie’s specialist Jody Wilkie, talk with Ben about the crème de la crème: a secretary-cabinet resplendent with Florentine pietra dura figurative panels and gleaming ormolu mounts, possibly handled by noted marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre.
Curious Objects: A Fireback from Hell—Ironworks and Industrial Labor in the Antebellum South, with Torren Gatson
Scholar Torren Gatson, guest editor for the current edition of the Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts, comes on the pod to talk about an iron fireback produced at the Vesuvius Furnace in North Carolina.
Curious Objects: A Journey to the Center of the Earth, with Robert McCracken Peck
Drexel University’s Robert McCracken Peck comes on the podcast to talk about the “hollow earth” theory and a globe in this episode of Curious Objects.
Curious Objects: An Armchair’s Astonishing Provenance, with Tiffany Momon
This month, Ben speaks with Tiffany Momon, visiting assistant professor at Sewanee in Tennessee, where she assists with the Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation, and founder of the Black Craftspeople Digital Archive
Curious Objects: The Life and Labor of Enslaved Potter Dave Drake, With Ethan Lasser
In this episode of the podcast, Ethan Lasser tells the story of Dave Drake, an enslaved potter at work in Edgefield County.
Curious Objects: Thirty-five Saxon Suits of Armor, with Chassica Kirchhoff
This month, Ben speaks with Chassica Kirchhoff, assistant curator of European sculpture and decorative arts at the Detroit Institute of Arts, about a suite of metal suits from the 1500s
Curious Objects: The Mystery of the Michelangelo Bust
This month, Ben and Michael speak with Jennifer Tonkovich, curator of drawings and prints at the Morgan Library and Museum.
Curious Objects: Afterlife in Alabaster–A Canopic Jar from Charles Ede
This month on Curious Objects… a 2,500-year-old Imseti-headed canopic jar.
Curious Objects:Winter Show and Tell–Three young dealers and the antiques they love
Special guests James Boening, Ria Murray, and Taylor Thistlethwaite, joined podcast hosts Ben and Michael at the Park Avenue Armory for a live discussion of six fascinating objects