Patroon van vlakken met daarin bloemen 1631 - 1686

Jacques Vauquer created this drawing, "Pattern of Surfaces with Flowers," during the Dutch Golden Age, a period marked by the rise of Dutch trade and colonial expansion. The design reflects the era's fascination with the natural world and the global trade networks that brought exotic flora to European attention. Vauquer’s pattern embodies a tension between artistic expression and the underlying socio-economic structures of the time. It is an ornamental design, likely intended for use in luxury goods or decorative arts, which speaks to the cultural values placed on aesthetics and craftsmanship, but also on the economic disparities that allow some to indulge in such luxuries. Consider how decorative arts often served to reinforce social hierarchies, beautifying the lives of the privileged while obscuring the labor and resources extracted from others, including the labor of enslaved people on plantations cultivating raw materials. This tension shapes the emotional experience of the artwork.