Ontwerp voor een tweedeurskast c. 1865 - 1870

This is B. Winghofer's "Ontwerp voor een tweedeurskast," or Design for a Two-Door Cupboard, an architectural drawing. Though we have no date, the design suggests the late 18th or early 19th century, a time when domestic spaces were potent stages for displays of class and taste. Consider how even an everyday object like a cupboard could communicate status. The detailed ornamentation speaks to a desire for refinement, yet also hints at the labor required to produce such an object. Who would have commissioned this piece, and whose hands would have built and perhaps even toiled to maintain it? In a world where access to resources and artistry was deeply stratified, a cupboard was not just a place to store belongings, but an assertion of identity and place within a complex social hierarchy. It asks us to reflect on the stories objects tell about ourselves and the worlds we inhabit.