Bridgette Ashton’s Artificialia: Fake Minerals & Fancy Plinths is our current display in the Spotlight Gallery. A fascinating counterpoint to the Mineral Gallery, this ‘cabinet of curiosities’ reflects on mineral collecting from the viewpoint of the spectacular rather than the scientific.
Bridgette Ashton is a multidisciplinary artist based in Cornwall working in sculpture, ceramics, print and publications. Making objects, models, depictions and proposals, her work draws on the concept of Artificialia, which refers to “items wrought by man”— a classification related to kunstkammer or wunderkammer, i.e. cabinets of curiosity, of the 1600s.
The term “cabinet” originally described a room rather than a piece of furniture. Wunderkammer literally translates as wonder-room.
Ashton is fascinated by Philip Rashleigh’s renowned mineral collection, which was formed between the 1760s and his death in 1811. The Mineral Gallery at Royal Cornwall Museum has its origins in Rashleigh’s incredible collection, and the recent transformation of the gallery displays the specimens in immersive and engaging new ways.
Rashleigh’s primary interest was scientific, with a special emphasis on Cornish minerals. His unsurpassed examples of these minerals were meticulously detailed in his illustrated book, Specimens of British Minerals Selected from the Cabinet of Philip Rashleigh, a copy of which is housed in The Courtney Library here at the museum.
The design of the Artificialia cabinets alludes to the windows of the Egyptian House in Penzance, where mineral dealer John Lavin ran his shop and museum in the 19th century. Lavin supplied ‘show’ specimens to important collections, using the bottom floor as a museum and a shop, which he filled with his large collection of specimens.
Although “generally and deservedly respected” (according to Lavin’s obituary notice), mineral collector Sir Arthur Russell suggested that, “in common with some other dealers… Lavin was not above passing off a certain number of faked specimens”—an observation which became a driving force behind Ashton’s playful interpretation in Artificialia.
We highly recommend exploring this exhibition alongside the accompanying digital presentation, which invites you to hold the objects in your hand (via your phone). To find out more, go to www.artificialia.digital
