pages are cabinets

Here are some images I've collected of instances where the page functions as a cabinet or container for a collection:










This method of presentation seems obvious at first, but there are interesting patterns at work here:
1. The objects are removed from context and placed in a neutral plane parallel to and doubling the page. The space is flat or very shallow.
2. The objects are scaled to fit within the page. Relative sizes are maintained within the collection.
3. They are organized by physical characteristics such as size, shape, or color.
4. Text, which can't exist within the same "reality" as the image, is given its own space (as in the case of the butterfly collection), made to fit (rosettes & scissors), or exists on another plane (fake flowers). I would argue that the last tactic, where text actually overlaps with the image, is possible only because the flower image is a photograph. With a graphic image, overlaid text would break the illusion that the image is an object that exists in space.