Coin cabinet 1800 - 1810

Editor: So, this is Charles Percier's "Coin Cabinet" from around 1800 to 1810, currently housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It strikes me as a wildly ornate piece of furniture…almost like a miniature temple. With all those little drawers, one wonders what kind of coins it would hold! What do you see when you look at it? Curator: Oh, it's a symphony in miniature, isn't it? A playful dance between Neoclassical order and Egyptian revival fantasy. Imagine Percier, riffling through Piranesi engravings one afternoon and Belzoni's travelogues the next. You see that cabinet door slightly ajar, don’t you? It hints at secrets, treasures waiting to be discovered within its tiered chambers. Does it almost feel like entering a king’s tomb, only…domesticated? Editor: Domesticated, that's a great word for it. So, all those Egyptian motifs were in vogue at the time, then? Curator: Precisely! Post-Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, everything went a bit pyramid-mad, didn't it? Though Percier adds his Parisian refinement. Observe those delicate inlays—those are sphinxes with a decidedly French curl to their…whiskers! Tell me, does that pyramid shape evoke any particular mood? Editor: I guess it gives the cabinet a sense of grounded stability, despite all the fancy flourishes? It definitely catches the eye, and it looks pretty awesome to be fair. I mean, It's so elaborate! Curator: Indeed! It invites a sort of curious delight. A world history compacted into a jewelry box and then expanded. Editor: Well, it's definitely not your average cabinet. So much thought went into it, even for storing…coins! It opens your mind, right? Curator: It reminds me to always look deeper. A mere vessel becomes a time machine, a philosophical treatise—on furniture legs! It whispers to us about history's playful spirit!