Wine taster 1685 - 1695

Curator: Here we have a silver wine taster, dating from between 1685 and 1695, currently held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its detailed engraving marks it as belonging to the Baroque decorative arts tradition. Editor: My first thought? It's all in the details! The reflective surface kind of invites you in. Like a little pool reflecting high society. What secrets could it tell, huh? Curator: Considering its time of creation, the wine taster speaks to the material culture of elite European societies. Silver, being a costly material, highlights issues of class, patronage, and access to luxury goods during this time. I find myself thinking about the absence of voices of those who were not able to possess luxury objects such as this. Editor: Definitely! I wonder about the person who engraved it, though. Did they know who this “Char Adan” was? Did they gossip while they engraved the flourishy letters and leaves? 'Cause if you zoom in, there's just SO much life in these little engraved details. Curator: What strikes me is the deliberate combination of inscription and botanical motifs. We can infer relationships between the symbolic language of nature, the inscription representing personal or familial identity, and of course, the social context of the ritual use of this wine taster. It would be a vital exercise to interrogate who ‘Char Adan’ was, and his position in society at the time. Editor: Agreed. And thinking about the "taste," beyond just the literal flavor – it’s a question of discerning good from bad, or valuable from worthless, and then *imposing* that judgment. Art, wine…even people were, and still ARE, "tasted" and ranked according to arbitrary standards. A tiny vessel brimming with some very weighty implications, don't you think? Curator: Yes, in tracing these threads, from material value to the labor and identity intertwined in its production, we begin to appreciate how this seemingly simple object resonates within a broad web of power dynamics and representation. Editor: It reminds you that even the smallest things can tell BIG stories. Next time I’m at the Met, I will certainly need a loooong lingering look!