Ontwerp voor een vierdeurskast c. 1865 - 1870

This is a design for a four-door cabinet, rendered in pencil by Joseph Kusterer. While the drawing itself is simple, the intended final product is anything but. Look closely, and you will see intricate carved details, a sure sign that this would have been a luxury object, commissioned for a wealthy client. The labor involved in producing such a cabinet would have been considerable. A skilled cabinetmaker would have spent weeks, perhaps months, carefully selecting, cutting, and joining the wood, and a specialized carver would have been brought in to execute the decorative elements. The design itself speaks to a culture of highly specialized making, where individual artisans possessed unique skills honed over years of apprenticeship. What's interesting here is the contrast between the drawing's modesty and the ambition of the envisioned cabinet. This reminds us that even seemingly simple designs can embody complex social relations and production processes. It underscores the vast amount of labor involved in realizing even a single object.