Paperweight c. 1848 - 1855

Editor: This glass paperweight, crafted by George Bacchus & Sons around 1848 to 1855, it’s like looking into another world! All those miniature shapes frozen in time and space... What strikes you most when you look at it? Curator: The contained universe. Do you see how the radial symmetry echoes cosmological diagrams, or mandalas? Editor: Oh, you’re right! It does give a sense of order and cosmos. Curator: This isn't just about decoration, is it? Consider how paperweights functioned in the mid-19th century. They literally held down paper, a symbol of information, correspondence, maybe even secrets. And within that, an entire symbolic world is preserved. The weight of importance. A desire for order perhaps, even in holding something down. What feelings do those colours elicit in you? Editor: Now that you mention it, the deep reds against the pale yellows create a sort of muted tension, which is held within that smooth dome of glass, safely... Curator: Exactly. The paperweight becomes a powerful object; a convergence point. Do you feel that continuity of human experience; this impulse to imbue the everyday object with layered meanings, even now? Editor: Definitely. It is lovely how a functional piece becomes something deeper; symbolic. Thanks, that was helpful! Curator: The pleasure was mine. Every object holds within it a silent story.