Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Curious Objects”
Henry VII commissioned thirty of these richly embroidered vestments called “copes,” for the English clergy, helping to lay the foundation for that special blend of religion, power, and material prestige that would mark the reign of his son, the notorious Henry VIII.
Kay Collier, owner of Kathryn Hastings and Company, talks to host Ben Miller about her business and her collection of antique stamps.
All about Gilded Age silver, with Curious Objects and the Gilded Gentleman.
For nearly two hundred years, from his death in 1823, New York potter Thomas Commeraw was out of sight. In the digital age it finally became possible to positively identify him: as a prosperous free Black craftsman with a manufactory in Corlears Hook.
A few weeks back, Curious Objects host Benjamin Miller participated in a panel discussion at the Winter Show alongside collector Jeremy Simien (former guest of the podcast) and Morgan Library and Museum curator Jesse Erickson…
From Shakers to Conquistadors
In the second and final part of Curious Objects’ exploration of Shakerism, host Benjamin Miller interrogates the myths that have arisen around this movement in the 150-odd years since its heyday…
In this final installment of the trilogy we consider Bélizaire’s legacy and that of his portrait. Does the debonair boy of 1837 have an afterlife ahead of him?
Last week we took a close look at Bélizaire the person, and his tortured life-path through antebellum Louisiana society. This week we examine the painting that is the reason anyone knows Bélizaire’s name in the first place, and follow the twists and turns by which it traveled from the studio of Jacques Amans in 1837 to the collection of Jeremy Simien today.
This is Bélizaire, and at some point around the turn of the twentieth century—for reasons unknown—his portrait was covered up…