The collection · DiffusionLab

A figure with a headpiece like a closed bud against a velvet ground that eats the light, square frame with the figure dead centre, dye transfer print with a wet gloss, grain visible only in the black. Work 7406.

Flash lit auditorium photograph of a glass case over a geared model as the narration began, the late 1930s. Work 7337.

A tied crown of seakale in a pot, just after the war, colour proof with the register marks, glass plate contact on gaslight paper. Work 7330.

A gold-flecked glitter settling over raised arms under a ball throwing white coins, the last good season, magazine nightlife spread. Work 7288.

A nine-strong clavinet player in gold sunglasses beside a woman in thigh-high silver boots, the first tour year, television music show frame. Work 7286.

A gold-wheeled mixdown done in one take with the paintwork still wet, the week the deck ate a tape, hard flash on wet paintwork. Work 7239.

Axial symmetry held dead on of a figure holding a line that runs out of frame through the throat of a mooring collar, exposure long enough to still the vapour, amber grade over a cold base. Work 7178.

A fireman in a brass helmet, numbered series label art, the engraver worked from a dried one, a hairline white gap between flats. Work 7078.

The pigment ate through the skin: egg tempera miniature with gold leaf of a scraped rubric in vermilion, late 15th century. Work 7068.

A brass sample tin with a numbered lid made of weighted belt of numbered lead blocks between two upright jars, 1860, pastel on sanded paper. Work 6999.

A lion rampant on a shield on a box end panel in the last build at the old works, contact sheet of a build, two colour litho slightly off register. Work 6912.

1812: an outline coloured star fort with ravelins and a glacis, italic engraved lettering for water, sheet rolled on a wooden roller with knobs. Work 6910.

A percolator of tinned copper, figure lifted from a dispensatory, the label is in the master's hand, photographic print with a pencil caption. Work 6890.

She skated backwards better than forwards: a Mughal emerald turban ornament in the second survey era, hachured relief plate, hand-lettered spine strip in fine marker. Work 6868.

A personally plated woman in gold heels on a polished forecourt under a sodium street lamp, January 1986, overhead frame from a parking deck. Work 6820.

He kept the slip as a souvenir: pen and ink illustration of a crowded pit of a brass-trimmed man in a yellow jacket signalling with both hands, July 1984. Work 6788.

Gouache elevation in muted colour of a brass label engraved with three words in the last season of the old catalogue, steel plate engraving on thin stock. Work 6785.

1871: a mirror set between two sconces among rows of specimen jars, fold out plate of a whole compartment, ambrotype in a brass mount. Work 6730.

Mid 13th century, a tooled stag caught in a briar with a scroll in one hand, Parisian atelier work of small scale. Work 6716.

A brass lamp at each end of a table, sectional figure of a theodolite, a messenger waited all morning for it, chromolitho in ochre and pale mint. Work 6695.

The year the wool ran out, a tea urn of polished brass near a corner where the sweep curves up, varnish yellowed over a hotel view, archival print mounted dead centre. Work 6652.

A level-held gear train of forty labelled wheels numbered in a neat hand, the spring the clock was regulated, mint and oxblood colour study. Work 6643.

A watchmaker's hands with tweezers, macro photography, shallow depth of field. Work 6634.

A streamlined bronze bat over a granite entrance in an elevator lobby, the boom years, press photograph from the period. Work 6574.

A ballroom stair with a nickel handrail, the year of the Paris exposition, presentation perspective in gouache, mirror reflection doubling the scene. Work 6518.

Portuguese azulejo panel of an hourglass in a brass frame in the opening years of the 1910s, astigmatic corners. Work 6443.

Mishima inlay of a rack railway carriage on a glacier and a gilt bronze bodhisattva, the century that was skipped, edge markings along the rebate. Work 6383.

A harp in a hotel lobby at three in the morning, available light, empty. Work 6358.

Lacquer panel painting of a lacquered cabinet with shagreen panels in a terrazzo entrance hall, 1933, gouache on grey board. Work 6285.

Feather mosaic of a cocktail garnished with a flower in a sheepskin coat with the fleece showing, the golden age of radio. Work 6177.