Sugar Bowl 1750

Editor: Here we have John Brevoort’s "Sugar Bowl" from around 1750, crafted from silver. It’s small, almost unassuming, yet the material feels weighty, luxurious. What's most interesting to you about this object? Curator: Its existence and the very specific purpose it served. Consider the labor: mining the silver, refining it, the silversmith’s craft. Sugar itself was a commodity then, often produced by enslaved labor. This bowl isn't just a vessel; it’s a tangible piece of a complex global network of extraction, production, and consumption. Editor: So you’re saying it’s less about its function as a container and more about what it represents? Curator: Exactly. It’s about power. Who had access to sugar? Who could afford a silver sugar bowl? This object embodies status, wealth, and the social hierarchies of the time. Think about the act of serving sugar from such a vessel, the performance of wealth. Editor: I never really thought about a sugar bowl having so many economic connections! It makes me wonder about the people who mined the silver and worked in the sugar plantations. Were they ever considered in the artistry of something like this? Curator: That’s precisely the question a materialist approach forces us to ask. We have to challenge the traditional narrative that focuses solely on the artistry while ignoring the hands and conditions that made such luxury possible. We look at how things are made and at what cost. Editor: That’s such a different perspective than I usually take. Thanks to that, I now see beyond the elegant Baroque design and now view the bowl with more complex and relevant thoughts. Curator: Precisely, it’s about widening our understanding and including often unseen realities into the art world.