Soup Plate c. 1775

Curator: We're looking at an array of earthenware, each piece part of a dinner service. This particular item is a soup plate dating from around 1775, part of the collection at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, maker unknown. Editor: Immediately I think "understated elegance." It’s simple, but all that detailing—the beading and raised relief—gives it a subtle complexity. Almost ghostly in its whiteness. Curator: That ghostliness might come from the neoclassical interest in porcelain, which, at the time, was extremely coveted and notoriously difficult to produce in Europe. Here, earthenware attempts to emulate porcelain’s pure whiteness, signifying wealth and taste. It represents an aspiration. Editor: So, a material imitation signaling status, but achieved through a completely different labor process and, of course, using widely available local materials rather than rare imported kaolin. You can see the seams where the parts were joined together—that's honest materiality. Curator: Absolutely, and that tension between mimicking luxury and revealing its humble origins becomes part of its symbolic meaning. The overall effect gives me echoes of a more restrained, less bombastic French court style than what was typical for tableware of this period, speaking perhaps to a kind of provincial or colonial gentility. Editor: Right, it whispers rather than shouts. And consider the practicality too – these aren't delicate precious porcelain pieces. These are sturdy pieces meant for daily use in dining. Think about the anonymous worker, carefully crafting the mold and applying that intricate decoration. Their hands shaped this aspiration to elegance. Curator: Which ultimately reveals more about class aspirations than about the status it attempts to capture. We project fantasies of aristocratic life, but these vessels would ultimately participate in the maintenance of specific ideas regarding proper home and domestic decorum. Editor: Yes, a humble but beautiful reminder of the daily labor and social codes behind refined taste. Curator: Indeed. These pieces offer us more than just dinner; they present a portrait of material aspiration.