PICTURE THIS  | Daily Mail Online

by

PICTURE THIS

By Ciara Dossett For The Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

THE LIVES OF THE OBJECTS

Edited by Tristram Hunt (V&A Publishing £30, 256 pp)

THE LIVES OF THE OBJECTS edited by Tristram Hunt (V&A Publishing £30, 256 pp)

Henry Cole, the first director of the V&A, wanted the museum to be a ‘schoolroom for everyone’. 

If the V&A is the schoolroom then this is the textbook, tracing the ‘lives’ of ten of the museum’s 2.3 million objects from their conception to their display. 

It’s full of fascinating, if occasionally tragic and controversial, tales of acquisitions. 

Featured alongside these ‘prehistories’ are objects from the same collection, including this stunning porcelain flask from the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen.