Fries met fruit before 1664

Curator: This delicate engraving, known as "Fries met fruit," meaning "Frieze with Fruit," was created by Sébastien Leclerc I sometime before 1664. You can currently find it here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: The composition is intriguing; the symmetrical balance is immediate. It feels ornate, and slightly mischievous, almost like a page from a hidden fairytale. Curator: Leclerc's medium is significant here. He expertly utilizes engraving—an intricate, laborious intaglio process. Imagine the precision and skill required to render such detail using only a burin on a metal plate. The printmaking process itself allowed for wider dissemination, offering access beyond elite patrons. Editor: Yes, and seeing those cherubic figures with their horns alongside such bountiful clusters of grapes immediately suggests associations with Bacchus and the bacchanalia, even if viewed now through a gendered lens. How was it initially consumed and interpreted by both its original intended audience, and subsequently? It also sparks a question: What role does "decoration" play, then, in seventeenth century society, especially considering the rise of print culture and broader access to visual materials. Curator: Excellent points. Considering its baroque style, we might ask whether Leclerc was aiming at straightforward surface embellishment or engaging in dialogue with other decorative trends, how does it circulate through society? Also, engravings were a vital part of disseminating design ideas, often serving as models for other craftspeople. Editor: Indeed. So much can be extracted, I feel, by delving deeper into the image’s socio-political landscape, but also to question, even complicate, how its themes remain socially relevant for our audiences today. Curator: Thinking about the labor embedded in every stage, from design to printing, refocuses our perception. Its material presence, reproduced and distributed to audiences within society… the implications and reach were enormous. Editor: True. It seems, then, that despite its title, Leclerc’s frieze is layered and fertile in meaning. Curator: Precisely. The frieze, in its materiality, offers both visual pleasure and insight.