Sauceboat c. 1755

Curator: I’m struck by how this piece almost vibrates with Rococo excess! Look at this Sauceboat, made by the Worcester Royal Porcelain Company around 1755. It’s ceramic, almost entirely porcelain, and currently resides here at the Art Institute of Chicago. Editor: It's beautiful! The handle especially feels rather abstracted, almost surreal in how it resembles a swan’s neck, doesn’t it? Curator: That flourish definitely aligns with the aesthetic sensibilities of the time. Rococo prioritized elaborate ornamentation. What interests me is how porcelain production intersected with economic power and elite consumption in 18th-century Britain. Owning pieces like this was a blatant display of wealth and social status. Editor: Exactly, that swan evokes myths of transformation, love and longing—echoing those narratives of power, beauty and unattainable dreams so prized in the upper classes! But why a swan, specifically? Do you think it reflects a longing for courtly ideals from a previous age, an implied nobility? Curator: I think it more literally speaks to the rising gentry appropriating symbols formerly exclusive to the aristocracy. Consider the dining rituals themselves: elaborate sauces, precious ingredients—these reinforced social hierarchies through everyday performance. The object becomes a prop in that performance. Editor: Fascinating. I see how its mere existence elevated a specific meal time and, thus, by association, the status of those present. I think it does carry weight through form too; notice that textured white exterior, evocative of feathers. Wouldn’t this reinforce an aura of lightness, grace, aspiration towards a more rarified plane? Curator: Without a doubt. Each component is consciously designed to convey status. Even the flowers, carefully painted onto the sides, weren't simply decorative. They symbolized natural abundance tamed by the wealth and artifice of human creation. It’s also significant that Worcester catered to an increasingly demanding market hungry for fashionable goods. Editor: So, it speaks to control. It brings this untamed natural world into the house. It uses allusions of it. What stays with me, however, is the almost unsettling tension of that swan. Curator: Yes, there is so much going on under the surface here; it provides insight into social rituals and values of its era. Editor: A delicious little fragment to unlock a banquet of culture from our past.