In 1883, Edward Strahan (the pseudonym of Earl Shinn), one of the keenest observers of the emerging American fashion for collecting during the period known as the Gilded Age, published an important book on the collection of the wealthy magnate William H. Vanderbilt. Among various art objects, Strahan noted a small “ivory hexagonal casket,” simply referring to as a work of “Italian taste of the Giotto period” but without any additional details. This small ivory artifact was situated in the “Japanese parlor” (Fig. 9.1.) of Vanderbilt's house on Fifth Avenue in New York, which was home to one of the most important American collections of the period. Interestingly, Strahan did not disapprove of this casket's position, even though it was apparently out of sync with both the historical period of the cabinet and, more importantly, the geographical setting. He considered this to be entirely coherent, insofar as the room in question had a special identity. In the progression of rooms making up the Vanderbilt mansion, opulently depicted in the book's numerous images, this particular room served as a sort of chamber of curiosities. In fact, the words “curiosity” or “curiosities” appear repeatedly in this part of his description: