Miniature Diorama of John Gellatly Collection

Ralph Seymour, active 1920s · ca. 1924-1929

This diorama re-creates in miniature a few elements from the diverse art collection of John Gellatly, an early benefactor to the Smithsonian Institution. In 1929 Gellatly donated more than 1,600 works to support the growing national art collections in Washington, D.C., including paintings, antiquities, and Venetian glass. This velvet-covered case with folding doors was made by his personal curator and butler, Ralph Seymour, and it depicts the collector's "favorite corner" with tiny replicas of a painting by Abbott Thayer and a large wooden desk covered in specimens of glass.