Cup plate 1840 - 1845

Curator: Take a moment with this glass cup plate. Crafted between 1840 and 1845, it's a delightful example of early American decorative arts, currently residing here at The Art Institute of Chicago. Editor: It’s lovely, delicate even. The clear glass gives it such an ethereal feel. Almost weightless. Curator: These cup plates emerged alongside the rising popularity of tea and coffee drinking. Social rituals were intensifying, especially around women’s roles. These small plates, such as this clear example, became important accessories for preventing spills from those delicate cups. It points to both gendered social expectations and the performance of bourgeois etiquette during this period. Editor: Fascinating! It’s interesting that the butterfly is centered so prominently. Butterflies, of course, symbolize transformation, rebirth…a beautiful representation, perhaps, of the changing status of women at the time. Curator: Certainly. There's a powerful resonance between the butterfly as a symbol and its placement on an object deeply intertwined with domesticity and social ritual. Think about women being confined to the domestic sphere and how the butterfly on the cup plate offers a symbolic association of a longing to metamorphose and emerge into freedom and flight. Editor: Exactly. Beyond gender though, the butterfly has an extensive, enduring cultural resonance that spans religions and mythologies globally. Even its fragile quality feels significant; beauty is ephemeral, to be cherished but recognized as fleeting. Curator: Yes, fragility also connects back to class. That women could handle and steward things that could be broken easily. Editor: I hadn't thought of that layer, very compelling! Considering the socio-historical context together with such potent symbolism provides us with quite a bit to reflect upon. Curator: Absolutely, it’s objects like these that invite us to reassess seemingly simple material artifacts through an intersectional lens and decode the unspoken messages embedded within them.