## museum-object For the sake of the uninitiated, I will briefly unpack what is meant here by a museum-object. Object is a slippery term, at the best of times, with a considerably varied history, that, for the sake of brevity I won’t go into here. For the time being at least, it’s important to establish the general field of reference. The museum holds vast and heterogeneous collections of objects; as we can see in this study this can include renaissance masterpieces, and everything in-between, to the photographs that were made to document them. As I can attest, it is hard enough for the inhabitants keeping abreast of the shifting derivations of nomenclature, the various categories applied to these pampered individuals. As I have learned it takes time to acclimatise and become accustomed to the ways of the object, the myriad rituals, and precisions of the institution. Terminology is always subject to revision. For instance, with the recent acceleration of the V&A’s programme of exhibitions, loans and displays, the vocabulary has expanded to include new object types such as ‘props’ to designate non-accessioned, disposable items purchased or produced for a specific exhibition, display or tour; there are those objects and artworks borrowed from external lenders (loaned-in), usually for exhibition or display, and a further category designated as ‘remakes,’ that, because of the deleterious processes of wear and tear, might be replaced during the period of exhibition. It’s not unusual for an exhibition to include around 30% props. With all of this in mind, in this study, I deploy the term _museum-object_ as a short-hand, a general category, denoting an object/artwork that falls under the institutional [[duty of care]].