Poten van een tafel met een zittende griffioen 1750 - 1793

Editor: Here we have "Poten van een tafel met een zittende griffioen" a drawing from 1750-1793, by Etienne de Lavallée-Poussin, using pen and ink. It looks like a sketch for a very elaborate table. What strikes me is the contrast between the table legs – one fairly standard and the other a wild, twisted column with a griffin on top. What do you make of this contrast? Curator: The artist's material choices are immediately interesting: pen and ink, a relatively inexpensive and accessible medium. Given that and the Rococo style, this work reflects the period's embrace of decorative arts within everyday life and consumerism. Think of this drawing within the larger context of 18th-century workshops. Is it simply an exercise, a pattern for production, or something more ambitious? Editor: That’s fascinating. I hadn’t considered it as potentially connected to manufacturing. Does the drawing itself offer clues about its purpose? The griffin looks very precisely rendered, almost as if it were mass-producible. Curator: Precisely. Lavallée-Poussin is thinking about how to translate high art concepts—a griffin as an ornamental element—into something readily reproducible for the market. Think about the division of labor here. Who would have sketched this design? Who would have carved the leg? And for whom was the table intended? It is through labor, consumption, and class that we can view a complicated social dynamic in eighteenth century France. Editor: So it's not just a pretty sketch, it hints at the economic engine behind these lavish designs. That really shifts how I see it. I was so focused on the art itself. Curator: Art and craft become blurred. Editor: Exactly! Now I'm wondering about the paper itself…where it came from and who made it? Curator: Good. Ask those questions, always. Consider it a key component of the work and period of consumption!