Trofee met spiegel en waaier 1770

This “Trophy with mirror and fan” is an etching by Johann Heinrich Hess. Without a date, the piece is likely a window into the intricate dance of gender and class during its era. The mirror and fan are not just objects. They're symbols of femininity and status, tools that women of a certain class wielded in a world that simultaneously celebrated and confined them. The mirror suggests self-reflection and societal expectations of beauty, while the fan hints at the art of flirtation and the subtle power dynamics of social engagements. Hess, through his delicate lines, invites us to consider the complex lives of the women who navigated these spaces. What did it mean to be seen, to be desired, to be both an object of admiration and a subject with her own desires? The artwork asks us to reflect on a society where identity was carefully constructed and performed.