conversation piece

Definitions

1. 1

   An unusual item, such as a painting, or a tabletop knick-knack which encourages comment…

   An unusual item, such as a painting, or a tabletop knick-knack which encourages comment from visitors, and so helps to break the ice.

   • I don't think much of the sculpture in their front yard, but I guess it makes a good conversation piece.
2. 2

   A painting of a group of people engaged in conversation or some other activity, popular…

   A painting of a group of people engaged in conversation or some other activity, popular in the 18th century.

   • Hogarth's enlargement of painting's scope was based on the conversation piece, which was to prove one of the most flexible and adaptable of genres. The idea of an informal group was not in itself new, nor the invention of Hogarth alone.
   • The painting is a conversation piece without conversation and rightly regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Paul Mellon Collection at Yale.

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