Fluted Dish 1717 - 1718

Curator: Here we have a "Fluted Dish" by Joseph Walker, currently residing in the Harvard Art Museums. Its dimensions are roughly 23 centimeters in diameter. Editor: It strikes me as something almost celestial, like a small, silver moon fallen to earth. The engraving in the center draws the eye immediately. Curator: Indeed, that heraldic engraving speaks to the social context of its creation. Who owned it? What status did it convey? Silverware was both a functional object and a marker of wealth. Editor: And those symbols! We have a shield, crest, and possibly a motto alluding to family lineage. I wonder what stories they tell about the family's past. Curator: It invites us to think about labor too. The repetitive fluting around the edge, the skilled hand needed to work such a precious material... Editor: It's a potent reminder that objects carry within them the echoes of the people who made them, and used them, shaping both our material world and our cultural memories. Curator: It does make you consider who used this piece, and what their lives were like. Editor: Exactly. Food for thought, indeed.