Event 3 - Workshop
An Exercise with Artefacts
This is a variation of a protocol for analyzing artefacts, used at the Winterthur Museum/University of Delaware Program in Early American Culture. It was first developed by E. McClung Fleming (see his Artifact study: a proposed model, Winterthur Portfolio 9 (1974, 153-73), and has been expanded here by Alison Nördstrom, a cultural historian and current Director of the New Hampshire Humanities Council.
During the session at the National Maritime Museum, we may consider what additional questions might usefully be asked of an object. Likewise, we will think about how we differentiate the information that can be obtained through direct examination of the object from that attained from other sources. Consider too what cultural biases and ideologies are demonstrated by the structure of this exercise itself. Is reading a useful metaphor for describing your interaction with the artefacts?
1. Five Basic Properties of an Artefact (Description)
History
- Where was it made?
- When was it made?
- By whom was it made?
- For whom was it made?
- Why was it made?
- What, if any, changes in ownership, condition, and function have occurred over time?
- Where was it found? How did it get there?
Material
- What is it made of?
Construction
- What techniques were used to make it?
- Is it made well?
- How are its parts organized to bring about its function?
Design
- What is its physical structure? What is its shape?
- What is its size and weight?
- What is its style? Is it ornamented? How?
- What, if anything, does it represent or resemble?
- Does it have writing on it?
Function
- For what use was it originally intended?
- How has it been used over time?
- What marks of its use are evident?
2. Four Operations to be Performed on the Five Properties (Analysis)
Identification
- What is it?
- Do you base identification on its function, its material, or its subject?
- Is it genuine, i.e., is it what it purports to be in date, provenance, authorship, material, and construction?
- If it is not authentic, why was it made to appear as something else?
Evaluation
- Rank its aesthetic qualities; consider the appropriateness of material and texture, the skill and taste of its crafting, the effectiveness of its overall design in terms of proportion and balance and the expressiveness of form, style and ornament. If the piece is from a culture or time period which it does not currently inhabit, you will have to consider the standards of each place and time where it has existed.
- Compare it to several other objects within the same “What is it?” category. Consider size, cost, rarity, and temporal primacy.
Cultural Analysis
- What are the human behaviours associated with this object in the culture(s) where it has been used?
- How is the object “a vehicle for delight?” (Identify its non-functional or “unnecessary” aspects.)
- How do its materials, construction, design, the signs and symbols that it bears, or the subject it represents convey status, ideas, values, feelings and meaning?
- How might you situate this object with others in a way that would lead to new information (e.g., with objects from the same culture, geographical area or time period; with objects by the same maker; with objects which share a particular set of physical, aesthetic or symbolic characteristics.)
Interpretation
- Who makes up the audience for this object now? How do they use it?
- Which aspects of the object can be related to the ideas and values of its viewers/users?
- How do its users express the significance of this object?
