Zeroing-in on details

Makes the object a thing of narrative-memory.  Turns an object into an abstraction.  

The simplest detail can delight and invigorate.

So I'm at one of my happy places -- Bancroft Succulent Garden in Walnut Creek, CA.  The light is particularly beautiful on a beautiful Fall afternoon.  One of the docents points out this succulent.  Modest.  "'This is the first succulent Ruth Bancroft planted in her garden 50 years ago.   She was frugal." Of course, the succulent above is not one of Ruth's originals, but it is the exact type the Great Genius Ruth planted.  I was jazzed all day.  
 

Detail

A microscopic approach versus the whole enchilada. Perhaps, not a dichotomy.  Consider, a dish that captures the spirit of an entire culture including its music.  A poem which incorporates the hand & heart of the writer.  The spoon which can trace the heart-line on the palm of the cook.