Purple marble glass compote 1870 - 1890

Curator: This "Purple Marble Glass Compote," crafted by Challinor, Taylor and Company sometime between 1870 and 1890, is currently held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: Immediately, I'm seeing a sort of ghostly elegance. That swirled glass! It’s almost like looking into the cosmos, or a dreamy vortex. Curator: The Victorian era certainly had a fascination with material experimentation. Thinking about glass during this period opens avenues to discussions around consumerism, display, and the aesthetic values being promoted, particularly around wealth. Editor: Absolutely! It feels decadent but also…fragile. I imagine some socialite delicately placing bonbons on it, hoping it won't shatter. Is it just me, or does the stem almost have a classical bust built into it? Gives the whole thing a very theatrical air. Curator: Good eye. Consider also the context in which these kinds of items were circulated and consumed. How do social codes and ideas of feminine refinement play into the creation and ownership of this object? Were women allowed in this society into these workspaces. Were they working the furnaces and blowing glass? Probably not. Editor: A beautiful prison. The elegance seems so bound by constraint. Though the colors swirling at the base feels as though it's fighting its bonds. It’s also interesting that even photographed in monochrome it feels as though one can glimpse the glass’s purple color. This compote has real personality. Curator: Agreed. It pushes us to consider how the language of material culture intersects with lived experience. How might this object have figured in the domestic lives and social rituals of the people who owned it? The color and craft speak to social aspirations. Editor: So much tension! I'm left feeling… melancholic, almost, but strangely inspired. It's a piece that speaks softly, yet has so much to say about then, and perhaps about us now. Curator: For me, it serves as an artifact of power. Display, consumption, social performance… It makes you think about what kind of meaning we ascribe to our belongings today.