Box with iron, steel and ore samples c. 1860 - 1870

Editor: This is "Box with iron, steel and ore samples," dating back to around 1860-1870 and attributed to Aall & Sons. It's a wooden box compartmentalized to display various metal samples and what look like guarantee labels. There’s a peculiar stillness to it, like a salesman’s forgotten pitch. What do you see in this assemblage? Curator: A Victorian treasure chest, of sorts, whispering tales of the Industrial Revolution. Look how neatly the box presents these raw materials. It's a window into a time when industry was king, when the promise of progress shimmered in every hunk of ore. I’m thinking of steam engines chugging and cities sprawling… Can you almost hear the din of the factories, feel the ground shaking under the weight of it all? Editor: Absolutely. The almost clinical presentation juxtaposed with the roughness of the materials is quite striking. It's part science, part commerce, maybe? Curator: Precisely! This is part science, showcasing the geological underpinnings of empire. But also, undoubtedly, it is pure commerce. Note those pristine labels advertising 'Aall & Sons Cast Steel, Warranted' —little billboards of Victorian enterprise. It’s quite witty in its straightforwardness, don’t you think? Editor: It is. So it's like a Victorian-era advertisement masquerading as a mineral collection. I hadn't thought of it that way. I suppose seeing these objects removed from their functional context does lend them an aesthetic quality they wouldn’t normally have. Curator: Exactly! We are so used to interacting with steel and iron, we're completely blind to where it all comes from! Consider this work then a visual time capsule - one of materiality and marketing genius all in one, and an art piece ready to stimulate our critical thinking about art. What a delight!