Atlas of the World 18th–19th century

Curator: Well, if that isn’t precious! The composition almost vibrates with its own importance. Editor: You know, it's hard not to be charmed. What we’re looking at is a porcelain sculpture called “Atlas of the World,” made by the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory sometime between the 18th and 19th centuries. Here at the Art Institute of Chicago, it sits among other decorative arts. It’s… well, it's something. Curator: Something alright. Is it just me, or is that globe rather whimsically colored in an odd pastel green with little doodles scattered around it? The expression on Atlas's face is far too serene given what he is supposed to be doing for eternity! And all perched on a frothy cloud? Oh my! It looks like a baroque-gone-bonsai dream. Editor: The green of the globe—not traditionally terrestrial—definitely introduces an allegorical element; it becomes more conceptual than geographical, right? This, combined with the material – porcelain—speaks to the aristocratic circles that the manufactory served. It becomes a show of worldly dominion for one's personal viewing pleasure! But the draftsmanship in those hand-painted constellations! Stunning! Curator: It's deliciously over-the-top. Knowing it’s porcelain makes it even more delicate. The entire thing feels almost like a commentary on the burdens of power, rendered in something so fragile and exquisite. I bet it sparkled under candlelight, nestled amongst precious objets. I’d wager someone had quite the cabinet of curiosities. Editor: Definitely a curiosity cabinet piece, echoing themes of humanism and the Enlightenment through a Baroque sensibility of dramatic expression with a highly refined surface. The curve of his back is, well, literally the crux of it, no? Curator: And isn't that the point? It’s the ultimate burden, this impossible weight! Yet he carries it with... flair! In all, an extravagant rendering, perhaps capturing that peculiar space between what we are supposed to bear versus what we adorn ourselves with in the bearing of it all. Editor: Ultimately, a demonstration of value, both in terms of labor and symbolic meaning, frozen in this enduring little mythological tableau.