Sugar Bowl 1797 - 1800

Curator: Editor: We're looking at a silver sugar bowl, created around 1797 to 1800 by Christian Wiltberger. It’s currently held at the Met. There is a clear formality and elegance that is a sign of high-class dining, it strikes me as distinctly Neoclassical. How do you approach a piece like this? Curator: It's crucial to consider silver as a material commodity in the late 18th century. Think about its acquisition – the mining, the trade routes, and who controlled them. Where did Wiltberger source his silver and what were the labor conditions? Editor: So you're suggesting the object itself represents a whole system of extraction and production? How can we decode those power dynamics through this object? Curator: Exactly. Consider the form: a Neoclassical design was intentionally referencing classical antiquity and this aesthetic has significant connotations about the patron class that desired that aesthetic, right? What relationship do you see between this imported style, and the emergent American identity during the 18th century? Editor: I suppose the commissioning of such a luxury item implies a certain level of economic power and social aspiration. And that the decorative-arts is linked to colonialism and capitalism... the consumption of sugar itself was tied to slavery and exploitation too. Curator: Precisely. We're seeing how "high art" like this sugar bowl is entangled with everyday consumption, labor practices, and even political ideologies. Editor: It’s amazing to realize how much a seemingly simple object can tell us about larger historical forces at play. I’ll never look at silverware the same way again! Curator: Indeed, objects like this provide invaluable insights if we approach them as artifacts of a material world.