Kast after 1878

This image shows a 'kast', or cabinet, designed in France, made around 1889. The print comes from a pattern book, these were made for furniture makers to reproduce fashionable items like this one. Notice the words ‘Le Magasin de Meubles’ at the top, and how this is 'number 51' in the pattern book. This object and its publication are revealing of the social conditions of the time. The cabinet is labeled ‘Genre Henri II’ or ‘Henry II style’. The French monarchy were disposed of a century before, but the rising middle class in France looked back to the royalty for their aesthetic tastes. As historians, we can look at such pattern books and begin to understand how people consumed art, and the social meanings they invested in it. We can research who owned them, who bought the furniture made from them, and the messages that the furniture conveyed.