Sheet with overall curved abstract pattern 1800 - 1900

Curator: Soothing, repetitive, and...slightly seasick? My eyes keep wanting to trace those waves. Editor: That's a fantastic observation. What we're looking at is an intriguing piece of textile art from somewhere in the 1800s, simply titled, "Sheet with overall curved abstract pattern," crafted by an anonymous artist. It is housed here at the Met. And yes, it has a hypnotic quality to it. Curator: "Sheet" makes it sound so...utilitarian! When clearly it's striving for more. It reminds me of sound waves or maybe the patterns in sand after the tide goes out. Very calming and primordial. But it could easily trigger dizziness in some of us, I guess. Editor: There's a deliberate visual language being employed here. The zigzags create this rhythm, punctuated by the small dots like musical notes. Zigzags have appeared across so many cultures over vast sweeps of time - their recurrence taps into a deeper psychological impulse, I suspect. Curator: An impulse for what? Cleanliness? Order? No, I get something slightly unsettling here. This rhythm, these waves... it feels like being caught in something larger than myself, a powerful cosmic order but indifferent, even hostile, to human concerns. Maybe it's a metaphor for life’s ups and downs, always presented with a rigid and relentless geometrical scheme. Editor: You know, those dots alter the image somewhat, tempering what might be an aggressive visual motif. Those simple forms add a level of intricacy that complicates the underlying stark pattern. I think it is also related to other abstract drawings with organic patterns made by the same anonymous artist. Curator: Complicates or pacifies? Are those dots there to make sure the underlying pattern isn't *too* threatening? That’s very smart but in the same way it reveals our intrinsic unease when faced with life's harsh geometry. Almost like a way of apologizing for existence, of course I could be projecting... Editor: Not at all! It is difficult to say with precision, but in the final analysis this geometrical pattern touches upon our human drive to perceive underlying orders in an occasionally absurd existence, seeking beauty in the arrangement of form, matter and symbols, wouldn't you say? Curator: Definitely. And sometimes, just feeling beautifully, aesthetically lost is reward enough, too. I see that here for sure!