Spot the Frippet: an object of virtu.

Objects of virtu (or vertu) aren't for me: for one thing I can't be bothered with all the dusting, and for another I enjoy wide open spaces, especially when it comes to window sills.

If I am a connoisseur, then I get much more pleasure from cheese and Monteverdi than eighteenth century shepherds and shepherdesses:



(Hideous, aren't they?)

But, hey, there's no accounting for taste, and people cherish all sorts of horrible stuff, even to the extent of dusting it.


snuff box in the V&A museum, London. Photo by Vassil

What makes a thing an object of virtu? It has to be an object of fine art designed to be collected and displayed. It has to be beautiful (although this is a notoriously slippery idea, see above), rare, or otherwise appealing to a connoisseur.

They don't have to be ugly:


watch c 1800. Photo by Daderot

Sometimes being eccentric is enough::


vase, Vienna, c 1725

But on the other hand a certain business does seem to help:


c 1875, Minton, Photo by Davidmadelena

Still, it's fun to despise other people's taste, isn't it?

Spot the Frippet: an object of virtu. Virtù is Italian. The Latin virtūs meant manliness or courage.

Personally, I can't see the connection, but there you go.