Design for Back of a Sedan Chair 1695 - 1705

Editor: This drawing, "Design for Back of a Sedan Chair" dating from 1695-1705, is currently at the Met. It’s pen, etching and ink on paper. The intricacy of the design is stunning, but the very object it intends to embellish also brings social class to mind. How would you interpret this piece? Curator: For me, it's fascinating to consider this drawing not just as a design, but as a record of labor and consumption in the late 17th century. The sedan chair itself was a commodity, a vehicle of the wealthy. What does this detailed rendering suggest about the skills, and therefore the human labor, required to create such an object, from the draughtsman to the chair’s builder, and embroiderers who likely realized a version of this drawing in material form? Editor: So you're thinking about the sheer amount of human energy represented here, beyond the aesthetic? Curator: Absolutely. The materials - the pen, the ink, the paper- each has its own history of extraction, processing, and distribution, often relying on exploited labor. Etching also allowed for multiplication. These designs could circulate and be reinterpreted in multiple workshops, so who really designed the chair? What’s authorship here? Editor: That’s a very interesting way to think about this drawing – seeing the process of making as embedded within the drawing itself, it makes me see the object with new eyes, now. Curator: Indeed. Next time you see such an intricate piece, try tracing back its origins and considering the often-invisible hands that brought it into being.