Porringer 1760 - 1793

Curator: Here we have a "Porringer," a rather fascinating piece dated between 1760 and 1793. Editor: Oh, what a charming little silver pool! The baroque handle is quite a flamboyant exclamation point on what otherwise seems to be quite humble vessel. Curator: Indeed! This piece is part of the decorative arts and design collection. Crafted from metal, its materiality speaks volumes about daily life of the period, and specifically consumption rituals. How might the rising merchant class have appropriated aristocratic tableware trends using more modest materials like, say, pewter? Editor: Ah, pewter! I imagine holding it in my hands—that cool, weighty feel of something essential. Something used, loved, passed down. Was it a child’s bowl, perhaps? It feels perfectly sized for tiny hands grabbing gruel. I like how it suggests intimacy and simplicity, belying the grand era it comes from. Curator: Absolutely! Consider the implications of its production. Metalworking during this era involved various levels of skill, from the miners extracting the ore to the artisans crafting the final shape. Where was the ore sourced? Were these workers enslaved, or part of a guild system? This object encodes class and power relationships... Editor: You make it sound almost…ominous. For me, that small detail—that single ornate baroque-y curl above it—it hints that maybe even everyday life has just a flourish of artistry. I guess there is still beauty, or an aspiration to it, even in something as prosaic as a little metal dish. Curator: Perhaps! Its decorative touches challenge assumptions about the utilitarian versus the beautiful. Was there a market for plain ware? Or was a little flourish essential to every transaction, blurring distinctions between high and low art? These choices dictated profitability... Editor: It's funny how something so simple can hold so much—economic theory, societal critique... but for a moment I can see myself peering in the looking-glass, catching a glimpse, however small, of the hands who have passed the bowl around a communal table before. Curator: Yes, objects can be powerful entry points into grasping a wider social tapestry. Hopefully visitors will now be keen to explore our other examples of metalware from this fascinating era. Editor: For me, it will remain that shimmering portal where I get a quick flash of a world where the humble meets beauty. I must try the stew now in our cafeteria – I'll eat it from a metal dish just like that.