Pitcher 1842 - 1858

Curator: What a charming piece. This is an earthenware pitcher, made sometime between 1842 and 1858. You can find it here at the Met. Editor: It’s such a warm, inviting brown. I love the almost cartoonish scene molded around the bottom, with all its blurry folks and trees. Curator: The style, with its molded decorations and that rich brown glaze, points to a period where decorative arts were becoming more accessible to a growing middle class. It was produced in a burgeoning market for household goods. Editor: Absolutely. There's a deliberate folksiness that appeals to this consumer class, right? It almost romanticizes labor while keeping it at a safe distance. It’s sanitized pastoral imagery. Curator: Indeed. Potters were keen to reflect idealized versions of everyday life. These kinds of rural scenes often obscured the realities of agricultural work and the social disparities of the time. They're not documentaries. Editor: And there's a potential argument to be made about what gets 'contained' here. The very vessel meant to hold something domestic—milk, water, or even beer—becomes a subtle stage for power relations. What stories aren’t being told in this seemingly innocuous pastoral scene? Curator: It’s that tension that makes it compelling though. The mass-produced nature makes it more democratic but there's also a flattening out of experiences represented through decoration. The details of manufacture also disappear to the consumer, in other words labor and social relations connected to this object. Editor: It is true. These domestic items, elevated through art history, speak volumes. It reminds us that 'everyday life' is always mediated, shaped by these economic and cultural forces. Curator: Precisely. That makes it more valuable, doesn't it? Something like this humble pitcher opens up whole avenues of social understanding through design. Editor: Exactly! I see that very dynamic every time. Thanks!