Snuifdoos van goud, ovaal met rechte wanden. Op voor- en achterzijde een gegraveerde pompoentak met vrucht en vier bladeren 1784 - 1786

Curator: Well, this gleams like concentrated sunlight. What do you think? Editor: It's deceptively simple. An oval, golden box. The engravings soften the overall formality; otherwise, it could be cold. Curator: Exactly! It's a gold snuffbox dating from around 1785, so think late Rococo, the twilight of the style. You see how the severe lines are just subtly softened with those curving organic forms. Editor: Snuff was status, of course. Like flaunting an early cigarette case. Who made this luxury item? Curator: Our records attribute it to Laurens Potmans. The devil is in the details! Observe the precise, engraved details of the pumpkin vine motif on the front and back. Almost understated in its refinement. Editor: Understated? This is still gold! Let’s unpack that vine for a second. The Rococo was all about bringing nature inside, manipulating it into these elaborate stylized motifs. Was there anything revolutionary, for example, in presenting a vine as decoration, or did it just affirm power structures? Curator: You wound me, I love decoration. A gilded cage is still a cage, isn't it? Still, the engraver’s mark isn’t purely decorative. It seems intuitive; consider the gesture, and hand that must work carefully not to damage the thing itself. Editor: But how radical is the presentation? It still operates within a limited field of imagery, one that served wealth and distinction rather than truly challenging them. Perhaps in this gilded object itself. . . lies the gilded bars to seeing beyond wealth? Curator: Ah, that’s quite a melancholic notion, thinking about its origins in that way. But look closer—beyond critique, doesn't it just fill you with joy, the sheer opulence of craft, how someone, long ago, made this precious thing with love? Editor: Maybe joy's not quite the emotion this elicits in me, but it is undeniable. We may be separated by centuries, but are both touched, albeit in radically different ways, by this artifact and it is a place to start any discussion.