Design for a Panel or Wallpaper (?) with an Ornamental Frame with Scrolls and a Shell Decorated with Garlands and Bundles of Flowers and Fruits and a Monogrammed Oval Frame 1870 - 1900

Curator: What strikes me immediately is the sense of abundance. Editor: Yes, the anonymous artist responsible for this piece, titled "Design for a Panel or Wallpaper (?) with an Ornamental Frame with Scrolls and a Shell Decorated with Garlands and Bundles of Flowers and Fruits and a Monogrammed Oval Frame," probably produced it between 1870 and 1900. It is now part of the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It seems to capture a particular desire for opulence in interior design. Curator: Definitely, I think that the way the eye is drawn to that central monogrammed oval is fascinating. It situates the artwork within questions of identity and perhaps speaks to the social standing of the client for whom it may have been produced. This was probably commissioned as a symbol of elevated social standing during a period when new economic structures were changing the make-up of the aristocratic order. Editor: I see your point about identity, and yet, looking closer, what impresses me most is how the artist manipulated color. That bold contrast between the green border and the rich, red background really makes those floral and fruit details pop. Then we notice how expertly rendered the gilded shell and scrolls that adorn the top. There is a clear structure at work, one could read the symmetry through the lens of structuralism as an expression of order and refinement. Curator: The fact that this piece could function as either a panel or wallpaper really speaks to a particular democratization of interior design aesthetics during the late 19th century. Mass production started infiltrating even the wealthiest of social circles, meaning that the client commissioning such an extravagant piece was trying to navigate their identity within this evolving social and economic context. It becomes about not just status, but also the anxieties that come along with it. Editor: Indeed. I am left with the sense that even decorative arts such as this, can offer much for discussions about class, identity, and aesthetic theory. Curator: I agree. Even within a space of carefully planned decoration, we can see an active negotiation of historical forces.