Sitting with an object

Museum collection stores are wonderful places, not always open to the public. Like the attic or cupboard at home they are sometimes full of things which shouldn’t be there.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about collection storage in museums. Most museums only display a small percentage of the collection, the rest is in the stores. As well as being full of things which should be somewhere else they are also full of wonderful objects which appear without any context or information. The information is available on the collection management system (or database) but in the stores the objects appear without their labels. I like to think this allows us to consider them without knowledge or stories; we are drawn to interesting looking items or things which are beautiful.

I spent a happy couple of hours at the V&A’s new collection store. I arrived at Stratford by train and wound my way along a circuitous route to the store. I loved the views into the racks of shelving, I pondered the juxtaposition of objects, were they grouped by size or type or the curator’s whim? In the stores where I have worked things are stored pragmatically – is there a space? Or shall we put similar materials together, or vulnerable items in positions that are more secure and heavier items lower down.

I also ordered some objects. This fantastic service means you can choose from the V&A collections and select what you would like to see close up. I selected two netsuke and a sampler. The netsuke were items which I am familiar with having written a university dissertation about the way that the meaning of objects changes depending on its context and history. It was lovely to hold them and wonder about the journey they made starting as objects to hang on a cord with Japanese coins, to items made for tourists to Japan. The sampler was made in 1596 and unlike some is a glorious jumble of images and motifs. I think it’s unfinished which makes me feel better about the state of my many craft projects.