The Gilt Tray
Mirror glass in a resin frame, gold finish.
On permanent loan to your dressing table.
$39Everything on it counts twice.
A gold frame, a lot of opinions, and a mirror in the middle. Put three bottles on it and you appear to own six. Nobody has ever complained about this.
Leave your email and we’ll tell you when it is back.
The double
Two things on the tray. Four on show.
Anything you stand on the glass turns up again underneath, upside down and very well behaved. In a gallery this would be an installation. On a dressing table it just looks like more perfume than you own.
Come closer
It looks carved. It is resin with a gold finish, and we would sooner tell you now than have you find out with a fingernail. The mirror in the middle is real glass.
Look for
The corners. A shell, some flowers, then a few more flowers. Restraint was not in the commission.
The handles. One at each end, scrolled like the top of a violin.
The beading. A line of tiny beads, all the way round the mirror. You will notice it around the tenth morning.
It gets used
Please touch the exhibit.
Most things in a gallery would rather you didn’t. This one is happier with a cup on it. Set it down, pick it up, and watch the other cup leave with it.
Opening hours
- 7 am
- The cup goes on. Two cups, apparently.
- 9 am
- Perfume, then the other perfume.
- 6 pm
- Earrings off. They’ve done enough.
- 11 pm
- Candle out. Closed until morning.
Other rooms it has been seen in
- MantelOne candle does the work of two.
- Coffee tableThe remote, briefly dignified.
- SideboardTwo glasses look like a party.
Notes from the curator
- Odd numbers. Three things look arranged. Four look like storage.
- Short at the front. One tall thing at the back, so nothing hides its own reflection.
- Leave some glass bare. An empty patch of mirror is the best thing on it.
- Find it some light. Near a window or a lamp, if you can. The gold likes it and the mirror passes it on.
Conservation notes
- The gold
- A soft, dry cloth. No scourers and no polish: it is a finish, so treat it like one.
- The mirror
- A little glass cleaner on the cloth, not on the tray.
- Spills
- Wipe them up when they happen. Perfume is no friend to most finishes.
- The edge
- Mirror glass is still glass. Keep it well back from the edge of things.
The curators ask that you use it anyway.
Exit through the gift shop
Every good show ends in one. This one stocks a single object.
- For the friend with a lot of perfume and nowhere to stand it.
- For a dressing table that already has the vase, the candle and the opinions.
- For yourself. Curators call this an acquisition.
Give it with one small thing on it. It will look like two.
The object file
- Object
- The Gilt Tray
- Type
- Rectangular tray
- Frame
- Resin with a gold finish
- Centre
- Mirror glass
- Date
- Contemporary
- Provenance
- None yet. That part is up to you.
- Credit line
- On permanent loan to your dressing table
- Acquisition
- $39
Before you buy
- Shipping
- Free on every US order
- Returns
- Within 14 days of delivery. Under $50 we refund you and you keep it.
- If it’s damaged
- We send a replacement or refund you, whichever you prefer.
