Worlds in Miniature

Contemplating Miniaturisation in Global Material Culture

Edited by Jack Davy and Charlotte Dixon

ISBN: 9781787356481

Publication: July 08, 2019

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What is this?

Miniaturisation is the creation of small objects that resemble larger ones, usually, but not always, for purposes different to those of the larger original object. Worlds in Miniature brings together researchers working across various regions, time periods and disciplines to explore the subject of miniaturisation as a material culture technique. It offers original contribution to the field of miniaturisation through its broad geographical scope, interdisciplinary approach, and deep understanding of miniatures and their diverse contexts.

Beginning with an introduction by the editors, which offers one possible guide to studying and comparing miniatures, the following chapters include studies of miniature Neolithic stone circles on Exmoor, Ancient Egyptian miniature assemblages, miniaturisation under colonialism as practiced by the Makah People of Washington State, miniature surf boats from India, miniaturised contemporary tourist art of the Warao people of Venezuela, and dioramas on display in the Science Museum.

Interspersing the chapters are interviews with miniature-makers, including two miniature boat-builders at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall and a freelance architectural model-maker. Professor Susanne Küchler concludes the volume with a theoretical study summarising the current state of miniaturisation as a research discipline. The interdisciplinary nature of the volume makes it suitable reading for anthropologists, archaeologists, historians and artists, and for researchers in related fields across the social sciences.

Jack Davy is currently Senior Research Assistant at the University of East Anglia, working on an AHRC project on Native American history. He previously worked at the British Museum and Horniman Museum, and obtained a Collaborative Doctoral Award PhD in Anthropology from UCL and the British Museum in 2017.

Charlotte Dixon currently works in education at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. She previously worked at Southampton City Council Arts and Heritage and obtained a Collaborative Doctoral Award PhD in Maritime Archaeology from the University of Southampton and British Museum in 2018.

1. What Makes a Miniature?: an introduction
Jack Davy and Charlotte Dixon
2. Exmoor’s minilithic enigma
Douglas Mitcham
3. Miniaturisation in early Egypt
Grazia A. Di Pietro
4. Miniaturisation among the Makah
Jack Davy
5. Interview with Cliff Swallow and Pat Howard, boat model makers
Cliff Swallow and Pat Howard with Charlotte Dixon
6. Miniaturising boats: the case of the Indian masula surf boat
Charlotte Dixon
7. Composing Warao indigeneity and miniatures: A human-nonhuman working group
Christian Sørhaug
8. A sense of scale: the miniaturisation of boats and maritime landscapes at the Science Museum London, 1925-1963
James Lyon Fenner
9. Interview with Henry Milner, architectural model maker
Henry Milner with Jack Davy
10. Some Thoughts on the Measure of Objects
Susanne Küchler