Lacquered Tin Vase 1875 - 1885

Editor: This is Félix Hilaire Buhot's "Lacquered Tin Vase," a print at the Harvard Art Museums. It feels like a study in contrasts, with the delicate lines of the vase against the rough texture of the background. What strikes you about this piece? Curator: The vase, likely an object of trade, speaks to the colonial gaze and the appropriation of Asian aesthetics in late 19th-century France. Notice how Buhot renders the dragon motif. Does it appear as a symbol of power and mystique, or is it flattened, exoticized for Western consumption? Editor: I see what you mean. It feels almost like a trophy. Curator: Precisely. Consider Buhot's social context. Was he critiquing this appropriation, or complicit in it? These are the questions we must ask to understand the work's layered meanings. Editor: That really shifts my perspective. Thanks for pointing that out! Curator: Art reveals our own biases as much as the artist's intentions.