Two designs for tables, stands, a vase and a bowl on a stand c. 1765 - 1780

Curator: This intricate drawing housed here at the Rijksmuseum is entitled "Two designs for tables, stands, a vase and a bowl on a stand", created circa 1765-1780 by Jean Charles Delafosse. Executed in pen, pencil, and ink on paper, it showcases a series of neoclassical designs. What is your immediate impression? Editor: An elegant exercise in power. Even these sketched objects speak to a very particular vision of luxury, order, and display – a show of status. The ornamentation almost feels…weighty, symbolic. Curator: Absolutely. The weight is literal but also conceptual. Delafosse was deeply immersed in the Neoclassical movement, turning to classical forms to signal a return to order, rationality and of course, empire-building. Observe how motifs like acanthus leaves and figures borrowed from Greek and Roman sculpture are integrated, imbuing these objects with cultural prestige. Editor: The figures are interesting, how they become load-bearing. Do we see them as symbols of beauty subjected to the literal burden of upholding a surface, or of beauty celebrated, lifted? It certainly prompts questions about gender and the expectations placed upon women in that period. Curator: It also reflects the broader political and social context, doesn’t it? A yearning for stability. This decorative-art movement emerges precisely at the turning point when revolutions brewed and old aristocracies had their reckoning, trying to use visual art to re-assert order as if the old world order had its own aesthetic. Editor: I see it as both. These weren’t just sketches for furniture; they are emblems loaded with complex historical resonance, negotiating power, luxury, gender and the changing face of Europe itself. Curator: A world literally being supported by myth and history...It’s incredible how much meaning can be embedded in the design of everyday objects.