Reclamefoto met serviezen en keukengerei van de firma C. Read & Co., Baltimore, Maryland 1920 - 1930

Curator: This piece is a promotional photograph from between 1920 and 1930. It's a product shot for C. Read & Co., a company in Baltimore, Maryland. Editor: Oh, isn't it charming? I imagine sunlight streaming into a breakfast nook. It feels almost aggressively domestic, you know? All those dainty pitchers. Curator: Absolutely. We see an exploration of class and industry right here. This isn’t just about displaying some dishes; it’s about visualizing aspirations and making domestic life consumable. Editor: So true! These ceramic pieces aren’t really shouting ‘function’ at me; they are selling a dream, a tableau of petit bourgeois contentment in each tiny flower decal. Curator: Spot on! Think about the production – the molds, the glaze recipes, the laborers whose hands meticulously decorated each piece… Editor: Suddenly those cheerful little floral designs don’t seem quite so carefree! I’m thinking about the working conditions, the economics involved in firing all that pottery. Makes one pause over the 'preciousness' we first perceive. Curator: Consider that this type of product photography, still fairly new at the time, played a huge role in consumer culture as a whole. Images became more ubiquitous. What we take for granted was actively being built! Editor: Fascinating! I do get caught up in the details – the gentle pastels, those delicate curves – but now it hits home how much this image also speaks of economies of production and desire itself, not merely an assembly of ceramic ware. I can almost taste the milky tea now. Curator: Precisely. I like how a humble photograph meant to sell dishware unveils entire processes shaping not just what's on the table but the culture around it! Editor: Absolutely, I leave with a renewed vision of materiality and social forces cleverly masked in this advert. Thank you!