Watch 1735 - 1765

Curator: This intricately designed pocket watch, simply titled "Watch", was crafted by Charles Cabrier between 1735 and 1765. You can find it here at The Met. Editor: What immediately strikes me is its opulent, almost decadent feel, despite its diminutive scale. The golden frame surrounding that enameled case... it just shimmers. Curator: Well, objects like these, beyond their functionality, represented the wearer's status. Think about it: portable time was a privilege. Owning something this ornate, this precious, was a statement. A declaration of access to both time and resources in a society sharply divided by those measures. Editor: Absolutely. And structurally, note the crisp Roman numerals against the milky face, bisected by those delicately wrought hands. See how the complexity of the watch face itself stands in contrast to the busyness of the surrounding colorful scene. A captivating dynamic tension, formalistically. Curator: That visual dynamism points, for me, to broader cultural tensions. This piece exists in the late Baroque, verging on the Rococo. A period marked by courtly excesses even as philosophical and revolutionary sentiments were taking hold. One can imagine this very watch being carried amidst conversations of political upheaval. Editor: So you are suggesting that objects can unwittingly reveal the undercurrents of sociopolitical life simply through design, color, form, and materiality? Curator: Exactly. While some toiled endlessly, controlled by the ticking clock, others possessed their own exquisitely crafted timepiece. The power and gender dynamics here become obvious. Think who has access to luxury and who has their labor timed by them. Editor: Intriguing to interpret this object with considerations of power structures and intersectional factors. Focusing simply on aesthetic qualities had seemed an almost sterile exercise by comparison. Curator: And likewise, you are now reminding me not to miss out on a fundamental step which is to carefully observe the intricacies that constitute the whole that can communicate even grand narratives. Thank you!