Repeater watch 1750 - 1760

Editor: Here we have a "Repeater Watch" from the 1750s-1760s, made by Pierre Michaud. It's a gorgeous piece of decorative art; it features an enamel miniature painting showing a genre scene of a group gathered around a table. It’s the combination of the tiny painting and its function as a status symbol, this luxurious object is impressive, but I am not sure what to make of it all. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It’s a fascinating object when viewed through a materialist lens. Think about the enamel itself – the ground minerals, the labour involved in firing and applying each layer. Each step is indicative of social relations within the 18th century trade and the manufacturing process in this specific region. Editor: So, you are thinking of the mining and the industrial aspect and skill needed, not necessarily the painting? Curator: Precisely. Consider, too, the gold casing – mined, smelted, crafted. These materials weren't readily available, this watch is not merely a timepiece but a statement about resources and their transformation through specialized labour, including artisanal and industrial. How do the costumes fit into all that in your eyes? Editor: They are certainly indicative of class, the people within are not working class, not laborers, it's all pointing to how access to goods shapes identity... I am glad to have this alternative perspective, this is helping a lot to widen my way of seeing things! Curator: It’s about deconstructing the luxury object to understand its social and economic underpinnings, moving beyond the aesthetic appreciation. We examined art not in isolation, but within a web of production, consumption, and social stratification.