Hugh Raffles is Professor of Anthropology at the New School in New York. His most recent book is The Book of Uncomformities: Speculations on Lost Time (Pantheon).

Features
A giant amethyst geode from Uruguay, installed in the Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

Jewel identity – what can we glean from gems and minerals in museums?

In museums, minerals are both everyday matter and also objects of scientific interest – but they carry more intangible meanings too

18 Nov 2021

Current Issue

April 2024

View this issue

Most popular

  • Recent

Podcast

Masterpiece [Re]discovery 2022. Photo: Ben Fisher Photography, courtesy of Masterpiece London

The Masterpiece podcast: episode three

This episode explores an ancient funeral stele, Marie Antoinette’s breast bowl, and how digital technologies are helping to preserve Egyptian heritage sites

Art news daily

Former Uffizi director Eike Schmidt runs for mayor of Florence

The week in art news – Marlborough Gallery to close after nearly 80 years

Nicholas Cullinan appointed director of the British Museum

Latest Comment

Why are fathers so absent from art history?

Museums should do more to cater for autistic people

Richard Serra, man of steel (1938–2024)