Het nieuw en vermaeckelyck gansespel 1770 - 1794

Editor: Here we have "Het nieuw en vermaeckelyck gansespel," or "The New and Amusing Goose Game," dating from 1770 to 1794, made by Erven Hendrik van der Putte. It's a print, a combination of woodcut and engraving on paper. The design reminds me of a board game! What's your take on this peculiar piece? Curator: I see here a confluence of factors, principally the commodification of leisure in late 18th century Netherlands. We must look at the labor involved: the woodcutting, the engraving. Each cut into the matrix, each impression onto the paper, a repeatable, and therefore distributable, unit of entertainment. Note the toning of the paper. Is that intentional or incidental? Does it speak to the production values of the time, where the cost of production perhaps trumped concerns around preservation? Editor: That's interesting! I hadn't thought about the "cost of production". It makes you wonder how widespread these were meant to be, and what sort of "consumer" they had in mind. Was this a mass produced item or more of a luxury product? Curator: Exactly! We see a game intended for amusement, produced through a complex system of labor, intended to be bought and consumed. Consider how the repetitive act of playing the game mirrored the repetitive processes used to create it: the turning of a screw, the carving of a line, a never-ending pursuit to obtain the resources to spend on leisure. How does this connection between production and play influence your reading of it? Editor: I hadn't considered that! I suppose I looked at it as just a game. Now I see how much it reflects the economic reality of its time, even something as seemingly simple as a game is embedded within its specific socio-economic structure. Thanks! Curator: Precisely. By understanding the production of an object like this, the materials used, we can better understand the society and culture that created it.