Ontwerp voor een zilveren suikerschaal Possibly 1913 - 1914

Editor: Here we have Mathieu Lauweriks’ “Ontwerp voor een zilveren suikerschaal,” a design for a silver sugar bowl, likely from 1913 or 1914. It's a pencil drawing on aged paper, and the Art Nouveau style gives it a kind of elegant, almost yearning feel. What strikes you about it? Curator: The nautilus shell and the meticulously planned geometric grid, so evocative. Don't you find it fascinating how Lauweriks fuses organic forms with this rigid structure? He is referencing a profound symbolic lineage. Editor: In what way? Curator: Well, the spiral is an ancient symbol. Think of labyrinths, sacred geometry... even our DNA. Lauweriks is tapping into this visual shorthand to express growth, evolution, the unfolding of time itself. Editor: I see, so he's using recognizable symbols to give the bowl a deeper meaning? Curator: Precisely. And look at the sugar bowl itself. Elevated, almost ceremonial. Sugar, historically, wasn't just a sweetener; it was a sign of wealth, power. Lauweriks combines these elements to suggest a connection between natural order, material prosperity, and perhaps even spiritual ascension. What do you make of the faint numbers plotted all over the page? Editor: That does add a new layer. The artist’s intention was perhaps less about ornamentation and more about establishing harmony through perfect proportions. It’s about embedding meaning, I see. Curator: Precisely. It gives me cause to reflect on the symbols we imbue ordinary objects with and the emotional resonance they can carry through time. Editor: I will now think about sketches in a totally different way. Thanks for helping to unlock those symbolic elements.