Dish from the Charlotte Louise Service c. 1774

Curator: Oh, isn't it just the picture of polite society? It reminds me of birthday parties where no one quite enjoyed the cake. Editor: Exactly! The formal Rococo aesthetic really sets that tone. This, my friend, is a serving dish, part of the Charlotte Louise Service, created around 1774 by the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres. It is currently held here at The Art Institute of Chicago. Curator: Sèvres, of course! The porcelain kings! You see how the central design seems almost hesitant, like a whisper of nature trying to soften all that rigid formality. Is that supposed to be a floral cypher, right? A royal “C” of some kind? Editor: Precisely! Most likely an initial intended to bestow grace upon Charlotte Louise de Rohan-Soubise, Countess de Brionne. That is evoked by those sweet little vignettes featuring cherubic figures floating amongst wreaths. Classic symbolism for wealth, power and dynastic blessing. Curator: There is such artful and skillful attention to detail on this dish. Yet, it also feels strangely...empty? So much pristine white porcelain—an echo of what wasn't meant to be touched by daily life. Editor: I concur. These dishes were more than dinnerware. Serving as declarations of refinement and status. Remember that back then dining and entertaining at court were like highly stylized forms of soft power. Porcelain was not just pretty but inherently political. Curator: Yes! Like saying: "Our food is so elevated that you aren’t allowed to actually consume it directly from this particular plate." What a power play! Editor: Power embodied in creamy white and edged with delicate gold! I can almost hear the rustle of silk gowns and the polite murmur of masked gossip drifting over perfectly arranged petits fours. Curator: An amazing window into another world—one defined by delicate surfaces and coded gestures. The pursuit of pleasure in this plate is forever fused with control. It says a lot, doesn't it? Editor: It truly does. A tiny stage set where food, status, and symbolism all danced a minuet of sorts. I’ll never look at porcelain the same way again!