Button Box

2008

35cm x 13cm x 16cm

 

 

Description

Wooden camera box lined with mirrors, three felt balls studded with buttons and pins

 

Themes, Comments and Storylines

Visual illusions, magic of mirrors, reflections, a glimpse of eternity, playfulness

 

Mirrors were often found in the Wunderkammer’s boxes and devices, dazzling the eye and evoking notions of eternity as well as magic.

 

“The oscillating presence of two sides (real/illusory, physical/metaphorical, outside/inside, below/above, visible/invisible, true/false) made the mirror a potent instrument both for science and for divination.”

 

Stafford, Barbara Maria and Terpak, Frank (2001), Devices of Wonder: from the World in a Box to Images on a Screen, Ghetty Research Institute, Los Angeles

 

“The earliest memory I have is visiting my great-grandmother when she was ill, although I did not know that she was ill. Whenever I went to visit her I always played with a huge collection of buttons that she had, all different shapes, sizes and colours that were kept in a large orange tube. I would be playing with the buttons on a dark coloured chest of drawers in the front room of the house facing the window.”

 BBC Radio 4 Memory Experience 2006

 

Mother-of-pearl buttons can also be found in Straps, Pearls and Pins, translucent buttons in the Lightbox, leather buttons in Attachments, metal buttons in Journeyman and military buttons in Ne m'oubliez pas. When Mirabilia Domestica is shown as an exhibition, visitors are offered buttons as a souvenir.

Visitors to the website are welcome to apply for a button  by e-mailing solveigh@mirabilia-domestica.co.uk - Terms and Conditions apply.