Cupid and doves 1755 - 1765

Curator: Before us stands “Cupid and Doves,” a porcelain sculpture created by the Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory between 1755 and 1765. Editor: My immediate impression is one of delicate extravagance. It looks like a sweet, though slightly unsettling, relic from a world of powdered wigs and formalized courtship. Curator: The Rococo style is evident in its ornate detailing and pastel palette, wouldn’t you agree? The use of porcelain allowed for incredible detail in the figures and the column itself, which displays complex interweaving of pink, white, and gold, culminating in the cherubic figure of Cupid cradling two doves. Editor: Precisely, that sweetness is…complex. Aren’t we looking at a commercial representation of idealized love, divorced from its messy realities? These objects were designed for elite consumption, reinforcing social hierarchies. Cupid, weaponized by capitalism, becomes a symbol of aspiration rather than genuine affection. Curator: While I understand the impulse to locate the work within a socio-economic context, it also operates on a symbolic level. Cupid and doves are longstanding allegories for love and peace. Consider the composition itself; the upward-spiraling column culminating in Cupid suggests a visual metaphor for love's transformative potential. Editor: I'd argue that the transformation it suggests is into capital! By emphasizing the idealized form, we risk overlooking the exclusionary practices that governed its production and consumption. This idealized vision of love excludes those who lacked the privilege to participate in such romanticized gestures. How were the exploited workers represented by this so-called vision of peace? Curator: And yet, can’t we appreciate the sheer artistry, the technical mastery required to mold porcelain into such an intricate form? Doesn't the elegant curvature speak for itself? The texture itself invites scrutiny, analysis. Editor: Of course, technical skill is undeniable, yet it also reminds us how class can influence artistic practice, doesn't it? I’m ultimately reminded of whose stories are valorized within art history. We have to confront how this image— however beautiful — might mask historical injustices. Curator: Perhaps… though for me, the Cupid and doves serve primarily as an exquisite formal exercise, embodying the ideals of its era through carefully constructed composition. Editor: Perhaps... And perhaps those forms should remind us of that era's complicated values and its legacies within today's inequalities.