Mineral
Desk and Bookcase, ca. 1750
Carving attributed to
Henry Hardcastle
New York, New York
Mahogany with white pine

Most early cabinet
collectors placed
geological specimens
in the category of naturalia because
they were made naturally in the
Earth. They prized rare or beautiful
metals like copper carbonate. But
some materials found underground
or in the ocean defi ed categorization.
Fossils for instance, were no longer
animals but could not be called minerals
either. Similarly, coral stumped
early philosophers because it was both
animal and vegetable. In the mineral
cabinet on view in this gallery, artist
Martha Glowacki altered the “brain
coral” with pigment. Does this
alteration turn a piece of naturalia
into artifi cialia?