Table 1690 - 1730

Editor: So, this "Table," created sometime between 1690 and 1730 by an anonymous artist, is currently held at the Art Institute of Chicago. It looks like it's made of wood, and something about the craftsmanship suggests a Baroque style, maybe a little decorative art as well. It gives off a sense of formality. What strikes you about this piece? Curator: Well, instantly I see the cultural memory embedded within its very structure. The wood, the color – these aren't just materials, they whisper tales of forests felled and meticulously crafted during a time of elaborate social rituals and a growing merchant class in Europe. Notice the turned legs. Do you recognize the form it evokes? Editor: I guess they do have a kind of fancy spiral to them? I’m not sure I’d have made a conscious connection, to be honest. Curator: Think about twisting forms across cultures, Editor. These forms echo ancient columns and symbolic trees of life found in many early cultural motifs, repurposed and given new context here to suggest refinement, stability and connection to a tradition. Even this object reflects, subconsciously perhaps, cultural memory, adapted to create the feeling of luxury, even, at meal times. Consider how powerful it might have been for owners of that period. Editor: So, by looking at the shapes and materials, we can trace it to different times and places? And even that someone, somewhere, designed it that way, hoping viewers like me could intuit all this when we stand before this furniture? Curator: Precisely! Symbols endure, adapted and layered with new meanings through the years, impacting viewers subconsciously, but profoundly. We imbue objects with so much narrative depth; consider this anonymous artist successfully tapping into those depths centuries ago. Editor: It’s amazing to think a simple table embodies such complex layers of meaning. I will look at functional objects so differently from now on!