Designs for a Chandelier 1765 - 1795

Curator: I'm drawn to the dreamlike quality of this piece; it’s ethereal and so incredibly detailed. We’re looking at "Designs for a Chandelier" here at the Met, attributed to an anonymous artist, dating roughly between 1765 and 1795. It’s primarily a pencil drawing, likely intended for print. What catches your eye? Editor: All those tiny details, like so much ornamental labor distilled into one sketch. I'm really seeing the production: the pencils scratching, the drafts, and someone probably sweating over how to get those crystals just so, knowing the patron wanted luxury to drip from every surface. Curator: Yes! It’s dripping with intention, and perhaps even fantasy. I almost see a stage set, waiting for candlelight and elegant shadows to play across its crystal beads. I wonder what sort of room this was envisioned for? Editor: Probably some over-the-top aristocratic salon, the kind fueled by colonial exploitation, I'd imagine. Each crystal is a commodity; think of the global trade networks and labor involved in producing these items in this era. A far cry from just elegance, don’t you think? Curator: It does make you ponder. There’s a push and pull there – between the drawing's delicacy and the social forces that would’ve brought that imagined room and this chandelier into being. Do you think that knowing the source of this "beauty" makes it more or less attractive? Editor: Complicated question. It reveals more about the design—it was absolutely part of maintaining hierarchy and solidifying the owner's wealth. So, a bit of both I’d say. We should resist only looking at these things as just pure artistry because there is a whole industry to glamourize inequality behind it. Curator: It definitely deepens the complexity, knowing all the processes that went into even just designing the object. I leave this with an enhanced view on the art itself. There’s just so much going on in this little sketch when you begin to unpack it all. Editor: Agreed, next time I look at fancy things I’m going to think long and hard about the whole supply chain.