Deksel vantTheepot, beschilderd met een landschap met vee c. 1809 - 1814

Curator: Oh, how darling! It’s almost aggressively pastoral, isn't it? Like a tea party thrown by Marie Antoinette in a moo-cow meadow. Editor: We're looking at a teapot lid, created by the Koninklijke Porseleinfabriek Dommer & Co, sometime between 1809 and 1814. It’s painted with a landscape scene featuring cattle. This object is currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It’s neoclassical. But the cows seem to hint at burgeoning capitalist models of dairy production. Curator: Right, the neo-classical framework overlaid with this utterly bourgeois, comfortable scene... the golden trim against the milky porcelain, like a powdered wig on a farmer’s tan! It feels like a commentary on conspicuous consumption. All that labor just for a spot of Earl Grey? Editor: Well, let's consider the historical context. Early 19th century. The Napoleonic Wars. Dommer’s factory occupied the site of a former munitions plant. Maybe this scene of rural tranquility is a deliberate, almost defiant contrast to the turbulence of the time. A form of escapism rendered onto porcelain. A carefully designed art object created by the rise of industrialist manufacturer? Curator: Escape is a nice way of putting it. I see a longing. And maybe, dare I say, a little satire? It feels self-aware, doesn’t it? The artist is in on the joke that is a very very beautiful object displaying cattle who could be read in contrast to this excessive design. Editor: Satire through domesticity. Porcelain as political commentary. The details tell such an interesting story when seen through a larger lens of production and its role in shaping historical experience! The idyllic painting hides labor involved with object in manufacture. It masks material reality! Curator: It's like holding a tiny, perfectly polite revolution in your hands, every time you pour a cup. Editor: I will have to see this teapot at the museum next time to contemplate a history that speaks from behind a deceptive decorative aesthetic.