Fles met het opschrift: Hoogmoed gaat voor den Val 1683

Editor: Here we have a glass bottle from 1683, the inscription reads "Hoogmoed gaat voor den Val", it's made from glass and potentially ceramic, depending on how it was made. I’m really struck by how delicate and ephemeral the glass seems, considering its age. What is your perspective? Curator: It's crucial to look at the material history here. This bottle, its production – how was this glass made, by whom, and under what conditions? The engraving too; this wasn’t mass-produced. Think of the specialized labour involved in creating this single object. This wasn't mere craft; it speaks to early mercantile capitalism. Do you see it that way too? Editor: That's fascinating! I hadn't thought about the production process in such detail. Knowing the glass isn't simply "there" but produced through specialised labor transforms my understanding. It highlights the skilled artistry behind what might seem like a common object. So, you see the inscription "Hoogmoed gaat voor den Val" as less about individual morality, and more about production of it's own value? Curator: Exactly. “Pride precedes the Fall”. Whose pride are we talking about? Not the user of the bottle, I posit. Instead, this text implicates the pride and toil taken by the maker, imbuing the piece with symbolic and economic meaning. It’s labour manifest in material form. Editor: So, it's more than just a decorative bottle. It becomes a vessel containing the history of its making, both physically and socially. It also shows the cultural values around pride that time! Curator: Precisely. Now consider how the meaning might change depending on the viewer, and the purpose for which this bottle would be intended, who would be filling it, and with what? Editor: That gives me a much broader and critical appreciation of this object and I will consider materials and labour of creation as part of the analysis of artworks going forward! Curator: Wonderful! Approaching art through its materiality gives voice to the silent histories embedded within.