Vier randdecoraties van baldakijnen of vallen en drie paar stoelen met kruk before 1800

Curator: Looking at this, my first impression is just how delicate the line work is! It almost feels like lace, or embroidery rather than a structured architectural plan. Editor: Indeed. What we’re looking at is a print titled "Vier randdecoraties van baldakijnen of vallen en drie paar stoelen met kruk", dating from before 1800. It's attributed to an anonymous artist. This piece is part of the Rijksmuseum's collection, offering a glimpse into the world of Baroque design and decorative arts. It combines engraving, drawing and etching, characteristic of the time. Curator: That period was ripe with displays of power, especially visually. Even furniture wasn't exempt; each design, down to the chair legs and the tassels, reflects wealth, status, and intricate social hierarchies. You wouldn’t see many non-noble bottoms on these thrones, I imagine! Editor: Absolutely, and it speaks volumes about the socio-political landscape where the act of sitting itself becomes a statement. These elaborate baldachins, too – likely for beds or windows – indicate a very specific understanding of privacy and display, concepts which are, even today, subject to much discourse and negotiation within the social sciences. Curator: Do you think this type of design promotes comfort or is the form strictly performative? I find the level of embellishment, almost aggressively ornate. Editor: Well, beauty and comfort don't always align. It prompts questions about the cost of beauty – who pays, both literally and metaphorically, for such excess? Consider the labor, the materials… these aren’t passive images; they represent a system. Also, it reminds us of how we continue to construct notions of value and taste within Western art. Curator: It definitely places a strong emphasis on excess that might be problematic to modern, twenty-first century, post-modern, audiences. A fascinating intersection of materiality, power, and the performance of status, encapsulated in humble, domestic objects! Editor: It encourages us to investigate how taste is policed. Every pen stroke holds its meaning.