ABSTRACT
Recent approaches to inventories have reconsidered their function and begun to approach them not as transparent documents but social agents, which shaped a culture around cataloguing and ordering objects. Under most items there are entries in different pens from different years that announce the particular object's movements. In the Renaissance, objects could be used as collateral and were consequently pawned or given as credit, but unlike money, objects were and are absorbent of meaning and memories, thus not only forging bonds between those who come in contact with them, but also bringing about hostilities and complications. The need to display wealth during stately visits or feasts gave rise to the practice of credenze, pieces of furniture made specifically to display precious vessels. Credit was a common custom in the early modern period and many transactions were conducted with a promise to pay, or with a credit secured with one's belongings, often an object of similar value used as a pledge.
