Le Servari a quatre cordes d’acier Arabe et tambour arabe before 1828

Curator: Ah, here we have Pierre Félix van Doren's "Le Servari a quatre cordes d’acier Arabe et tambour arabe" created before 1828, a pen and ink drawing on paper. Editor: It’s wonderfully sparse, almost ghostly. All delicate lines and curves, like music fading into silence. There's a serene quality to its simplicity. Curator: It does have a minimalist elegance. What draws my eye are the meticulous details of the musical instruments. Note how Van Doren meticulously renders each string on the servari, the shape of the Arabic drum... He is clearly attentive to the material culture. The looping ribbon could be considered a purely ornamental addition to give a greater depth and context of elegance. Editor: The ribbons give movement, suggesting the music is not still, it's in flight. Perhaps hinting at rhythm, a hidden vitality in the lines themselves. Also I am feeling that maybe those arabesques were used like a frame on purpose in the design process and may later been re-adapted in a medal or coat-of-arms. What do you think of my speculation? Curator: That is certainly an intriguing hypothesis! This is where his "orientalism" influences are at their highest level, even when dealing with music. These arabesques certainly reinforce your interpretation in context, but this one does look very close to his influences in line representation, in forms and shape. I agree with your idea of hidden rhythm too: perhaps he tried to express the relation between these elements visually as much as geographically? Editor: Precisely! The geographical blended with the visual... He almost transposes a specific cultural experience, the music making in a location and time. A translation by the pen! What a charming visual fragment. Curator: A window into another place and time as caught by his keen, yet clearly influenced, eye. Its beauty lies in this visual impression: this delicate recording of shapes in a fleeting experience from far away.