Design for Two Armchairs with Red and Green Upholstery 1800 - 1850

Curator: What delicate things! The way the chairs just hover on the page, as if someone whispered them into being. Editor: Indeed. This is an anonymous design for two armchairs, rendered sometime between 1800 and 1850. Currently, it resides within the decorative arts collection at the Metropolitan Museum. Curator: An anonymous little dream. I imagine someone doodling them, almost absentmindedly, maybe while listening to rather dull pronouncements! Editor: Perhaps. The drawing invites questions of status and privilege. These were, presumably, meant for a very specific sitter and setting, designed to reflect power and taste in the domestic sphere. Think about who had the luxury of sitting in such ornate comfort. Curator: Comfort, yes, but are they actually comfy? They look rather…upright. Although the rose one definitely beckons with the promise of powdered sugar and gossip. The other reminds me of absinthe, for some reason, maybe a louche uncle? Editor: The subtle color choices are quite telling, aren't they? Pink often embodies femininity, softness. And green here possibly signifies growth, life, wealth, even the natural world brought inside. Consider how color operated within the strict gendered codes of the era. Curator: They almost seem like miniature thrones, really, just scaled down for parlor games! Or maybe a slightly wicked tea party for porcelain dolls. I love the meticulous detailing. Someone really cared. Editor: Indeed, and the use of watercolor lends it an airy, ephemeral quality that softens its statement. These are not brutal proclamations of wealth; rather, quieter assertions. These drawings help us trace not just style, but changing socio-political dynamics and domestic environments. Curator: Like whispers from another life. A very grand, possibly slightly bored, life. Thank you, I’ll be carrying these parlor dreams with me! Editor: And may those dreams prompt reflection upon whose stories get told, whose comfort matters, and the politics embedded in the very objects we surround ourselves with.