Juwelendozen 1784 - 1796

Curator: Stepping up close to this print from between 1784 and 1796, one is immediately struck by the fine detail achieved by Jean Baptiste Fay in "Juwelendozen," which translates to “Jewel Boxes”. It's housed right here at the Rijksmuseum. Fay was working firmly within the neoclassical art movement using engraving to render his vision. Editor: Wow, talk about precise! Looking at this matrix of geometric shapes, especially those symmetrical circles, I immediately feel a weird sense of calm, you know? Like gazing at elaborate pastries about to go in the oven... Curator: You keyed in to something interesting; pastries! It's worth remembering how prints like these played a pivotal role as instructional templates. We're seeing idealized models, of course, reflecting power structures but equally influencing everything from architecture to furniture. A dissemination of wealth if you like... Editor: Absolutely, the way each of these eight boxes showcases different decorative patterns – I can almost feel the hand of the artisan mimicking the image with painstaking precision. All those repetitive actions for a commission! I can imagine the immense care but equally some joy involved in following someone else's ideas. Curator: Right. These engravings embody the aesthetic principles that underpinned both public and domestic life. But considering the turbulent late 18th-century – the Enlightenment and then revolution, here it shows the stark contrasts of lived experience during a period framed by colonial injustice, profound class imbalances, and the increasing dominance of patriarchy, Editor: Indeed, like keeping up appearances. In all their elegance, what stories do these images consciously hide? As someone alive during that moment, would you have been aware of being a pawn in that societal image, a face with just the role to perform? Would your reflection be your reality, or another projected expectation? Curator: Perhaps these templates served as psychological armor of sorts. But even those meticulously rendered details fail to erase these bigger underlying issues – a time with deep social tension but captured with almost unbearable beauty, which always triggers a crisis. Editor: It definitely encourages contemplation, like staring into your future yet trapped in the present moment, don't you think? And as we move forward, we always hope it gets easier.