Wapen van Västergötland 1696

Curator: Let’s delve into this print titled "Wapen van Västergötland," created anonymously in 1696. What are your first impressions? Editor: It reminds me of a heraldic emblem, like something you'd see in a medieval manuscript. What can you tell me about it? Curator: For me, this print speaks to the commodification of identity. Coats of arms, once unique markers of noble families, became reproducible commodities through printmaking. Consider the engraving technique – the labor involved in meticulously transferring the image onto a metal plate, allowing for mass production. How does this shift in production alter the meaning and value of the symbol? Editor: So, the meaning changes when something is easily reproducible? It’s interesting that this was made using an engraving. The image really takes on a new life when you can make many copies of it. Curator: Exactly. Who was this print for? Was it commissioned, or was it intended for wider circulation? What does it tell us about the social aspirations of the emerging middle class who may have consumed such imagery? Think about the paper it's printed on as well - the raw material, the papermaking process itself, and what that tells us about access and consumption in 17th-century Sweden. Editor: So the availability of materials and techniques changed who got to make and consume art? It definitely shifts the narrative. Curator: Precisely. Looking at the "Wapen van Västergötland", it invites us to consider how even seemingly fixed symbols like coats of arms are subject to the forces of production, distribution, and social mobility. Editor: I see it now. This engraving isn’t just a static image, but reveals shifts in societal values. Curator: Precisely.