Dish 1685 - 1699

Curator: Take a look at this Dutch Golden Age plate! It’s a ceramic piece, probably dating between 1685 and 1699. The title's simply "Dish." The Met has it. It’s wonderfully odd, isn't it? Editor: It's surprisingly haunting for something that's ostensibly just decorative. The muted blue and white palette gives it an almost dreamlike quality. The woman standing at the shore, seemingly engaging with the mermaid, lends it an eerie quietness. Is this porcelain? Curator: Faience, actually, that is a type of tin-glazed earthenware. The way the scene is framed within the circular plate almost creates a miniature stage. Imagine it in someone's home, a glimpse into a different world while you are eating, reflecting the wonder and imagination that art enables for the home owner. Editor: Indeed. Thinking about mermaids and the female form... considering how women’s bodies have been represented in art through history…it seems like they embody so much fantasy and often unachievable beauty standards. And consider how power dynamics of gender play out in fairy tales. Curator: And the landscape! The scene feels balanced and still; very different, maybe, to other genre paintings of the Dutch Golden age, which often try to emulate some dramatic history or religious piece. Maybe we have to question if we have trapped ourselves in narratives around men. It is hard to forget about art history and the old patriarchal lens of these things, though, when seeing art today. I wonder where all of the queer merfolk were? Editor: That's a good point! We are trained to see it in a very limited way, but, by pointing at who is not represented in it, it starts a very different conversation. It invites us to analyze this and to deconstruct and imagine untold narratives. This everyday dish almost becomes a statement. Curator: Perhaps the plate was made during a period of relative cultural freedom and experimentation, a visual manifestation of exploring the new. It's really delightful that art like this has been preserved! Editor: It does invite reflection. Thanks for showing me, its nuances have caught me off guard in a delightful way!