Objects of Affection
With its slim walls and aluminum-trimmed windows, the exterior of the Maridon Museum in Butler, Pennsylvania,
takes you back to the 1950s when the building housed a car dealership.
Behind the modern, glass facade, you’ll discover artifacts that take you
back more than 4,000 years.
The Maridon Museum houses a vast and diverse collection of art works
that once belonged to Butler native Mary Hulton Phillips. She began
collecting in the late 1960s with a philosophy that bespoke her
easygoing attitude — buy what you like. Over the years she amassed
thousands of pieces of Chinese and Japanese art as well as Meissen
China. In 2004, Phillips moved her collection to the Maridon, to share
her love for the objects with the public.
Begin a tour by watching a 45-minute video about Phillips’ collection,
and then make your way through four galleries where knowledgeable and
enthusiastic docents offer background and answer questions. The first
gallery exhibits large jade and ivory sculptures and, like many pieces
in the museum, a rosewood carving of a laughing, reclining Budai
reflects Phillips’ bemusement with many of the objects in her
collection. Phillips also liked objects that reveal humanity, so you’ll
see carved representations of emperors standing beside those of
“ordinary” people and tiny two-inch figures of Japanese characters at
work and play.
The Scholar’s Table, a display of ink blocks, ink stones and brush pots —
some dating to 960 A.D. — affords insight into the meticulous work of
scroll painters. And the color and sweeping lines of the figurines in
Phillips’ Meissen porcelain collection, the first porcelain produced in
the western world, will dazzle collectors and casual visitors alike
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