Persian Berries 

Curator: The severe neutrality of the composition strikes me; the artist has intentionally reduced the subject to its barest visual elements. Editor: Here we have "Persian Berries," manufactured by Skilbeck Brothers, presented as part of the Harvard Art Museums collection. This image sparks thoughts around botanical colonialism. Curator: Interesting. The arrangement also brings up questions of scientific classification and taxonomy. Editor: Precisely! These berries, contained and labeled, speak to a history of extracting resources and knowledge from colonized lands. Curator: Still, one cannot ignore the color chart on the side, serving as a perfect counterpoint to the muted tones within the bottle itself. Editor: Perhaps both aspects, the color chart and the botanical contents, are essential to understanding the historical and cultural layers embedded within this manufactured object. Curator: Indeed, both form and context converge to provoke thought.