Vitrine

A catalogue of objects, plate by plate.

22 objects, 5 collections

Plates

The whole catalogue

Vase with scroll handles — Glass

Vase with winged handles — Glass

Rock crystal ewer — Hardstone

Ewer — Silver

Vase — Ceramics

Vase — Ceramics

Small writing desk — Cabinetwork

Mechanical table — Cabinetwork

Wall clock — Clockwork

Collections

01Glass and HardstoneThings made by working a material while it is hot, or by cutting one that never was. The two sit together here because both are read the same way in the hand: against the light, for what the wall of the vessel does to it.5 objects
02SilverRaised, cast and gilded work, dated by the marks struck into it rather than by style. A catalogue of silver is largely a catalogue of hallmarks, so the dates here are the assay dates where one exists.5 objects
03CeramicsClay bodies from stoneware to hard-paste porcelain. What separates them is firing temperature, and what that buys is the wall thickness a form can get away with.4 objects
04CabinetworkVeneered case furniture, most of it built around something that moves: a sliding top, a rising stand, a drawer released by a catch. The marquetry is the part that survives photography; the mechanism is the reason the piece exists.4 objects
05ClockworkMovements and the cases built to carry them. Filed apart from cabinetwork because the case here is subordinate — the object is dated by its movement, and the case can be, and often was, replaced.4 objects