Paperweight c. 1845 - 1860

Curator: Here we have "Paperweight," created circa 1845-1860 by the Clichy Glasshouse in France. The materials used are glass and paper. Editor: It's captivating! That saturated blue glass and the kaleidoscopic effect create a sense of contained magic, almost like a bottled cosmos. Curator: The paperweight tradition, though seemingly innocuous, is rooted in a fascinating period of industrial innovation and a burgeoning middle class with an appetite for decorative objects. Clichy, in particular, became known for its millefiori technique, those "thousand flowers" encased within the glass. Editor: Millefiori is perfect for this little cosmos. I'm thinking about the history of floral symbolism - in the Victorian era these floral designs could serve as complex secret messages between sender and recipient, offering affection, mourning, love or any other hidden meaning. Are any symbols leaping out at you? Curator: While deciphering the specific flower language might be difficult without deeper research, the gesture of enclosing miniature representations within a protective, transparent shell certainly speaks to a desire to preserve and memorialize beauty. Furthermore, these kinds of objects became increasingly important in women’s lives, giving women greater command over their personal spaces. Editor: That’s fascinating - women making decisions about how to organize the spaces they spend time in, or curate the images and artwork displayed. Curator: Exactly. And, in that sense, it challenges the more common narrative that women are always merely objects to be seen; with this glass paperweight they gain a bit of creative and domestic control. Editor: Thinking about domesticity helps ground it a bit. Without that context, it almost feels futuristic - like something out of science fiction. The combination of meticulous craftsmanship and an almost psychedelic arrangement hints at the technological sublime, something humans keep aiming towards even today. Curator: A technological sublime that, in some ways, collapses histories of craft, labor, and gender. It’s quite stunning to think how an object made during the Industrial Revolution continues to spark such diverse conversations today. Editor: It's an object lesson, then, in how art always speaks to the present moment, no matter its origin.