Today is #AskACurator day!

We've had lots of questions through, and our curators are here to satisfy your curiosity about all things art, historic furniture and architectural fabrics.

Let's get started 🖌️

🙋 What are the boxes in the middle of the UK House of Commons that the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition lean on? ❓

These are the despatch boxes, where frontbenchers stand to speak in the Commons Chamber. When the UK House of Commons was bombed in the Second World War, the original despatch boxes were destroyed, so Sir Giles Gilbert Scott designed a new pair for the rebuilt Chamber.

They were a gift from New Zealand, modelled on the despatch boxes in Australian Parliament. The boxes are made from puriri wood, native to New Zealand, and embellished with elaborate copper alloy fittings and handles. Similar despatch boxes can be found in the @ukhouseoflords.

🙋🏾‍♂️ What are some of the most interesting techniques you use for preserving and restoring artworks? ❓

As part of ongoing conservation of tables and desks in the Historic Furniture & Decorative Arts Collection, the team have been restoring the decorative leather tooling on tabletops. The patterns are based on A.W.N. Pugin’s original design.

These patterns are embossed into the leather using a bespoke tooling wheel, using the same technique as nineteenth century craftsmen, and then gilded.

🙋🏽‍♀️ What are your favourite works in the collections? ❓

Emily: One of my favourite items in the collection is this silver letter rack, designed by A.W.N. Pugin and made by John Hardman & Co in Birmingham c.1850. Pugin believed that decorative elements of objects should also be functional - even the screws are in the shape of flowers!

Grace: I have always loved the Armada paintings in the Prince’s Chamber. They are so epic, but most of all I love the sea monsters you can find amongst the waves.

These paintings were finally finished in 2010, completing a decorative scheme which was started in 1850!

Sophie: I love this architectural model of the Commons Chamber.

Thought to be made by John Leslie Thorp of Thorp Modelmakers, it looks unsuspecting from the outside, but opens to reveal an amazing level of detail considering the scale. It even comes with a set of miniature MPs!