The Dancing Hours after 1778

Curator: Here we have "The Dancing Hours" by Josiah Wedgwood, created around 1780. It’s a jasperware plaque, quite small, only about 13 by 47 centimeters. Editor: It’s fascinating how this almost monochrome palette evokes such a sense of lightness and movement. The figures really pop. Curator: Wedgwood perfected this jasperware technique, allowing for mass production of these neoclassical designs. Think about the factory, the division of labor—it democratized access to art. Editor: Absolutely. These plaques became fashionable adornments, reflecting the cultural fascination with antiquity and the rise of industrial manufacture of luxury goods in the 18th Century. Curator: Right, the social status encoded in owning such an item—it speaks to a whole system of production and consumption. Editor: Indeed, it's a tangible piece of a social and artistic history we can still study today.