Table (Lyre Pedestal) c. 1939

This is a watercolor drawing of a table with a lyre pedestal, created by an anonymous artist. The drawing presents a domestic object imbued with cultural and historical weight. The lyre, a symbol deeply rooted in classical antiquity, suggests a reaching back to ancient Greece and Rome. During that period, musical knowledge was considered the preserve of the elite. In drawing a table with such a pedestal, the anonymous artist engages with notions of status, class, and the pursuit of elevated cultural capital. The material reality of such an object – the wood it's made of, the labor required to produce it, and the setting in which it would be placed, speak volumes about the social hierarchies of its time. I wonder, what kind of conversations would have taken place around this table?