Ciborium for the Coronation of Napoleon I 1804

Curator: Standing here, I’m struck by the sheer gravity of the image before us. It’s Charles Percier's rendering from 1804, titled "Ciborium for the Coronation of Napoleon I." You can find it in the Met's collection in New York. Immediately it just looms, this massive chalice sketched out like a phantom idea... Editor: Yes! "Phantom" is the word. There's a ghostly, unreal quality about it. Like it’s a monument floating just out of reach, in that perfect neoclassical greyscale. What a grandly somber feel. Curator: Grandly somber...I think that hits it squarely. I find myself really fixated on its symbolic weight. This object, even as a concept drawing, encapsulates ambition on a frankly absurd scale. Can you see it? How would you feel standing before this artifact in the flesh? Editor: I imagine a mix of awe and a touch of fear. Think about the symbolism; the eagles hinting at Roman authority, the laurel wreaths a classical nod to triumph, all swirling around the central cross. It’s almost pagan and religious at the same time, which…sums up Napoleon's imperial ideology quite neatly, don’t you think? Curator: Indeed. Percier's rendering seems caught between reverie and blueprint. It shows not only a design, but a mood. He so clearly captures this sense of impending… something. Majesty or megalomania, it’s hard to parse which. Editor: Absolutely, and that cross crowning it all... It seems almost precarious atop all that imperial hubris, doesn’t it? Such heavy symbols... do you ever wonder how we continue to carry that much weight as societies? Curator: More than ever. What’s remarkable is how the pencil and print medium soften that intended impact. Imagine the solid, polished version of it during that theatrical coronation—it must have felt stifling! Editor: It probably did. Looking at this preliminary rendering has almost done the opposite for me: all that grandiose meaning begins to evaporate, leaving only the fragile artistry that makes such powerful things even possible. Curator: Ultimately, perhaps the most arresting aspect is not what the ciborium represents, but how vividly Percier lets us glimpse the mechanism behind manufactured glory. Thanks for highlighting that paradox. Editor: My pleasure! That ghostly beauty might be what I carry with me.