Plate with a cityscape and bouquets c. 1778

This plate, crafted in Doornik, features a delicate cityscape framed by bouquets. The floral motifs here, seemingly simple, carry echoes of ancient symbolic languages. Flowers, since antiquity, have been associated with cycles of life, death, and rebirth. Consider the blue flowers here, reminiscent of the Romantic era’s fascination with the "blue flower" as a symbol of longing and unattainable desire. These motifs are not isolated. They resurface across cultures and epochs: from ancient Greek funerary wreaths to Renaissance allegories of spring. Their persistent presence speaks to a deep-seated human impulse to find solace and meaning in the natural world. The plate invites us to contemplate the emotional undercurrents that bind us to the past, a visual testament to our shared human experience.