Search
Type (1)
- (-) Blog Post (356)
Viewing 121 - 130 of 356 results
Weapon Wednesday: The Indian Katar, a Necessary Dress Accessory
In South Asia during the 16th to early 20th centuries all fashionable young men when visiting their ladies would want to dress at their best. This would include one very necessary dress acessory: the katar. This uniquely South Asian dagger is thought to have developed in the very southern part of
ROM ‘Minoan’ Goddess Hangout: battling with technology!
I’ve just finished a Google+ Hangout talking about the ROM ‘Minoan’ goddess with a colleague and expert in ancient ivory and gold statues, Dr. Kenneth Lapatin. It was Ken’s research and publications about the suspect Minoan ivory figurines in several museum collections that first prompted
Weapon Wednesday: The Nugent Marathon Corinthian Helmet
The Corinthian helmet type is one of the most immediately recognisable types of helmet, romantically associated with the great heroes of Ancient Greece, even by the Ancient Greeks themselves who rapidly moved to helmet types with better visibility, but still depicted their heroes in these helmets.
Lava Medals
A while back, I stopped in to the Earth Sciences Dept to look at some meteorites which needed to be photographed. While I was there, I noticed some very odd looking medallions sitting in a box on the counter. These were not the smooth precious metal medallions we see on a fairly regular basis. They
Butterflies
Spring. You can smell it in the air, or so they say. Spring still feels like such a long way away. To celebrate the vernal equinox, I felt that it would be appropriate to talk about butterflies, and specifically, the butterflies we see here in Ontario. This spring, the ROM will publish the fifth
The ROM ‘Minoan’ Goddess: the Suspect Sisters (and brothers)
Here I continue the story of an icon of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) collection: the ivory and gold female figurine–ROM 931.21.1. For further information see the ‘ Minoan’ Ivory Goddess Research Project. The ROM Goddess is just one of the ‘Minoan’ figurines in several museums sometimes
The ROM ‘Minoan’ Goddess: The Minoan Relations
Here I continue the story of an icon of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) collection: the ivory and gold female figurine–ROM 931.21.1. For further information see the ‘Minoan’ Ivory Goddess Research Project. After looking at the best known of the dubious ‘Minoan’ figurines (which may be
Weapon Wednesday: Preparing for ROM Revealed
As part of the ROM's celebration of being open for 100 years, we will be having a massive behind-the-scenes open-house called ROM Revealed on the 3 rd and 4 th of May. Thousands of visitors will have the opportunity to see our storage rooms where we keep the objects not on display. There are a
Rare Chinese Chicken Cup Auctioned for $36 million
One of the world’s rare Chinese Chicken Cups fetched a record $36 million (USD) at an auction on Tuesday by Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, making it one of the most expensive Chinese cultural relics ever auctioned. The Cup auctioned is part of a set of original Chenghua Chicken Cups which survive
Chinese Hat Spheres
Laws for hat insignia worn by the Manchu in China, date back to 1636. Numbering less than a quarter of a million, the Manchu conquered the Chinese empire, establishing the Qing dynasty by 1644. To assert authority over the Han Chinese population, the Manchu felt very strongly about having an easily