The Harris Museum & Art Gallery is a Grade 1 listed building and I would guess this is because of the luscious interior. I could not resist taking a picture of the Dhruva Mistry 'Her Face' in this setting. The upper Egyptian Balcony is usually closed but there are a couple of tours in January. There was one today but I missed it, bad timing.Apart from the fine art collection they also have an amazing collection of calling card cases from the times when it the the custom to leave your card when making acquaintances. There are many intricate and different styles, beautiful objects. One of the interesting pieces of information I gleaned was then if the corner of the card was turned down this would indicate you had called in person, rather than laying on your chaise lounge and sending a servant round.
The other large collection is Mrs French's Scent Bottles, over 2,700 of them. So many, that a lot of them are in pull out drawers. I wonder how many years it took for Mrs French to build up this collection and where on earth did she keep them all. When the collecting bug strikes it is difficult to resist.
Speaking of bugs here is one of the more unusually calling card cases.
1 comment:
Fascinating! The need to collect can become overwhelming - and eventually the museums benefit.
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