Pendule met kippen 1775 - 1790

Curator: So, let’s examine this engraving titled "Pendule met kippen" - or "Clock with Chickens," if you will - dating back to around 1775-1790, rendered in print by A. Colinet. Editor: It immediately strikes me as delightfully bizarre. A clock… with chickens? It has this wonderfully over-the-top Rococo flamboyance combined with something almost unsettling about those birdlike figures. Curator: The print belongs firmly to the decorative arts tradition of its era. These pendulum clock designs reflected the tastes of the wealthy. They were status symbols as much as time-telling devices, weren't they? Editor: Exactly. Look closer and you can also appreciate this in the context of design history, seeing the gendered associations – time, mechanics often linked with masculinity and these chickens as ornamentation can represent an aspect of the domesticated feminine within the sphere of design. Curator: Note the classical influence as well – the carved face, the symmetrical floral arrangements – Colinet is playing with various cultural associations. This piece circulated as a reference for clockmakers, indicating that people found the image of this clock quite fashionable. Editor: Indeed. It's impossible to ignore the social commentary here. It speaks volumes about the opulent lifestyle of the elite and also evokes an underlying feeling of societal control through the very rigid structures of time and imposed values on art that reflected status. The composition emphasizes hierarchy as a method of displaying authority and social roles. Curator: I find it an impressive example of period aesthetics. The formal composition and masterful engravings served its specific historical purposes— to show off. Editor: Precisely, the contrast it presents is what truly fascinates me! On one hand it stands as an expression of artistic accomplishment, on the other as an emblem of hierarchical and deeply ingrained cultural narratives around identity.