Plate - "Table Rock, Niagra" c. 1936

Editor: So, here we have "Table Rock, Niagra," a ceramic plate made around 1936. I find it incredibly romantic, with this majestic waterfall miniaturized on… tableware? I’m a little confused but drawn in. What am I missing? What do you see? Curator: It's wonderfully odd, isn’t it? A miniature epic for your dessert. I see echoes of Romanticism's fascination with the sublime, shrunk down for domestic consumption. This collision is precisely its power! Don't you think those tiny figures at the base, gazing up at the waterfall, encapsulate the insignificance of man before nature's grandeur? Editor: Definitely! It's a humbling perspective. But the border of seashells—how does that fit? Curator: Ah, the shells. Those are Hiatt's playful little anachronisms! Perhaps a nod to the popular souvenir trade around Niagara Falls at the time, little bits of "nature" people could take home. Imagine displaying your own natural wonder on a shelf, next to this manufactured one on a plate! Does it start to feel more coherent as a memento? Editor: Okay, I'm tracking now. A memento combining grand landscape with quirky, personal touches. A miniature memory, I love it. Curator: Precisely! A reminder that even the most awesome sights become intertwined with our own, individual experiences.