‘A Thing of Beauty and a Source of Wonderment’: Ornaments for the Home as Cultural Status Markers

Abstract

‘A rare and exclusive edition of Collectors’ Pieces for you’, shouts the headline. ‘Each perfect miniature is meticulously crafted and painted by hand. A unique collection to grace and enhance your home and with a numbered Certificate of Authenticity.’² The advertisement, for a group of three-inch-high pottery Historic Houses, typifies the come-on for ornaments for the home by mail order: the ornaments are invariably ‘rare’ and ‘exclusive’, even if the ‘Limited Edition’ turns out to be ‘limited’ to 25 000 (there are sometimes dramatic accounts of how the mould will be broken in the presence of highly respectable independent witnesses after the limit is reached, no matter how many desperate collectors — or, variously, connoisseurs — beg for a chance to be included among the select company of owners). There is always emphasis on perfection of detail, frequently at the cost of the makers’ mental equilibrium (‘Dedication to accuracy became compulsion… compulsion became obsession’,³ pants an advertisement for a model sports car). They are always ‘miniature’ and occasionally ‘tiny’, but never small (the measurements are usually omitted, and the scale can often be judged only by a comparison with the human fingers reverently holding them).