Tommy Dreiling of Brooklyn weights in on the Brooklyn Museum.

Hi

I have a love – hate relationship with the Brooklyn Museum.

I live within walking distance and it is really a treasure trove of a museum but the labeling of objects, when there is any, is so filled with errors it has become a distraction for me.

It’s been a while since I checked the open storage area where the two Steuben pieces are. The thing that really bothers me is that one of the vases is dated “late 19th century” I guess they never noticed a founding date of 1903. As it is a Gold Aurene with very strong iridescences it’s not even an early piece, I would date it to post 1920. What is really unfortunate is this is not an isolated case. The glass in the American Art open storage area is full of blatant errors. And that’s what I recognize off the top of my head, if you were able to bring in your reference books, cause they don’t seem to have any, there’s no telling how much could be found mislabeled.

Thanks
Tommy

Helaine Fendelman of NYC reports Barry Harwood is the decorative arts curator

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