Ontwerp voor een vaas 1874 - 1945

Editor: This is "Ontwerp voor een vaas," or Design for a Vase, created between 1874 and 1945, by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet. It’s ink on paper, housed here at the Rijksmuseum. I find its swirling patterns quite mesmerizing, but some elements appear to be staring back. What symbols jump out at you in this piece? Curator: Indeed, it’s captivating. Notice how the artist employs eyes nestled within teardrop shapes. Eyes have served as potent symbols across cultures – windows to the soul, emblems of surveillance, divine omniscience, or even protection. These embedded eyes, combined with the swirling motifs, suggest a dynamic interplay between observation and concealed emotion. Do you see how the vase form itself, traditionally a vessel for containment, becomes a vehicle for revealing inner landscapes? Editor: I do. The vessel isn't just holding something; it's displaying an interior world. Almost like the vase is alive, or perhaps haunted. Curator: Exactly! Cachet’s design merges form and content seamlessly. Consider the black ink – not just a pigment but a shade associated with introspection, the subconscious, and mourning. It could represent a symbolic lament, a holding of grief. The blank eyes amplify the symbolic power of that melancholy. Does the partial vase sketch on the left offer a different, more hopeful alternative in your mind? Editor: I hadn't considered that. It almost suggests the other possibility is being discarded. This has given me a new way to appreciate decorative arts, viewing them as narratives. Curator: Precisely! Objects carry the weight of human experience, anxieties, and aspirations. Approaching design this way helps us understand not only aesthetics but cultural memory.