Covered Butter Dish 1885 - 1888

Curator: Our next piece is the "Covered Butter Dish," a glass sculpture crafted by the Richards and Hartley Flint Glass Company between 1885 and 1888. It currently resides here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: Visually, it strikes me as quite mesmerizing, almost jewel-like. The domed lid, particularly, catches the light so beautifully because of all those little raised circles, those spheres... Curator: They're quite a clever feature, aren't they? They enhance the light's refraction, but on another level, these dishes, affordable yet elegant, provided accessible luxury to burgeoning middle class American households. The industrial revolution democratized this type of domestic ware. Editor: Democratized... That’s an interesting choice of words, certainly not how I would have described it! For me, the piece relies entirely on those repeated convex lenses for its aesthetic success. Note how they transform a simple shape into something complex, even decorative, disrupting the otherwise plain, symmetrical form. Curator: And yet, the dish itself becomes a statement of availability; it shows us what could be afforded, and how goods from the United States moved beyond bare necessity. Editor: That reading feels a little forced. We can equally appreciate the careful placement of each of those semi-spheres, note how they conform to and accentuate the form, creating visual interest and textural variation without sacrificing overall harmony. Curator: Agreed, but let's not forget the socio-economic story it hints at. It is more than mere form. The very existence of this type of mass-produced object signals a shift in societal norms and possibilities. Editor: And perhaps also in our interpretation of functional objects! I have to concede that I appreciate a useful sculpture all the more for its material representation of a social movement. The tension between art, industry, and affordability that we perceive adds complexity. Curator: Absolutely. Hopefully our listeners will never look at a simple butter dish the same way again.