Sugar Bowl 1834

Curator: Let's turn our attention to this exquisite porcelain sugar bowl created in 1834 by the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres. What strikes you first about it? Editor: Hmm, the gold! It’s just gleaming! All that creamy white porcelain is singing under its gilded chains and rosettes. Very blingy, if you ask me. Like Marie Antoinette let loose in a candy store. Curator: It certainly embodies a specific aesthetic of wealth. The object aligns itself with the Rococo revival, and touches of neoclassicism. It must also be noted how its consumption relates to race, as this item was made for refined enjoyment, while the product which it held relied on labor under brutal oppression. Editor: Oh, absolutely. Thinking about sugar itself, from sweetness to exploitation… that's intense! Curator: Indeed, sugar itself, then a luxury, became implicated in global power dynamics tied to plantation economies and exploited labor. An item as precious as this suggests who was able to savor the sweetness and who suffered to make it possible. The golden royal insignia, what is its purpose other than to signal who possesses ultimate earthly power and privilege? Editor: The fact that it's a sugar bowl… It’s such a simple, innocent thing, turned completely on its head. Art often confronts these terrible imbalances and helps us remember all the hidden human stories embedded in ordinary objects. Curator: It forces a consideration of material culture as an indicator of broader societal power structures and global interconnectedness. Sèvres was at the apex of production during this period and maintained very close relationships to people in power. The design, materials, and intended function speak volumes about consumption, class, and privilege in the 19th century. Editor: This little sugar bowl sure got me thinking beyond sweetness! There's a whole universe locked inside of it! Curator: Precisely. Everyday art objects are often quite revealing when held up to a historical mirror.