Shallow Dish with Putti in Relief c. 1786

Curator: This shallow dish, adorned with putti in relief, was crafted by Wedgwood. Doesn't it evoke a sense of serene antiquity? Editor: It does, but I immediately think of the factory floor. These replicated scenes, the precise mold work, it’s industry masquerading as art. Curator: Perhaps, but the artist transforms industrial processes into something almost...dreamlike. I see cherubs playing, echoes of Renaissance frescoes captured in clay. It feels like a whispered secret. Editor: I see the commodification of desire, Wedgwood streamlining classical imagery for mass consumption. The material itself, the scale of production, speaks to a different kind of story. Curator: Maybe, but it also speaks to beauty made accessible. And, in its own way, a longing for something more. Editor: True, and regardless of its high-minded aspirations, the material tells its own story.