Buffetkast 1885 - 1895

Curator: Editor: This engraving, entitled "Buffetkast," created sometime between 1885 and 1895 by Léon Laroche, depicts what looks like a meticulously designed china cabinet. It’s… striking how detailed it is, almost like an architect’s blueprint, but for furniture. What draws your attention most about this piece? Curator: My focus is drawn to the object’s creation; how does the means of its production inform our understanding? It's labeled "Buffet Louis XIV" indicating an aspirational reproduction or revival. But consider the materiality: it's a print, not the actual crafted wooden cabinet. Editor: So you're thinking about the labor involved versus what it represents? Curator: Precisely! We must consider how a culture values and portrays handcrafted luxury items versus the industrial techniques that depict and perhaps distribute images of such things. Also, think about this piece of paper as commodity, made possible by specific modes of printing production at this historical moment. Does this reproduction enhance or diminish the "aura" of the Louis XIV style buffet? Editor: That’s interesting; I was just thinking about it as an image of something beautiful. I hadn't considered its actual value. Curator: Right! It is not simply a document of history. It also shows its historical moment through printing techniques and modes of valuing consumer products in the late 19th Century. So how might considering the historical moment of the artwork, and it's mode of production, give insight? Editor: Now I see it offers layers of interpretation, revealing as much about the society that created the print as it does about the original buffet style itself! Thanks! Curator: Indeed! By examining materiality and methods of production, we go beyond the image and delve into cultural meanings of this beautiful furniture object in a time of industrial manufacturing and mass consumerism.