Sugar box with cover 1715 - 1730

This is an ornate sugar box with cover, likely made in Vienna. The delicate porcelain box is adorned with pastoral scenes, perhaps referencing the lavish aristocratic lifestyles of the time. But let’s think about sugar for a moment. This substance, so casually stored, was the product of brutal colonial exploitation, produced by enslaved people on plantations in the West Indies and other colonies. The European sweet tooth had a bitter cost. Looking closer, the box is elevated on four feet shaped like animal paws, perhaps a subtle nod to the exotic trade routes that brought sugar and other goods to Europe. The images on the box romanticize rural life, but sugar’s journey from cane field to table involved global power dynamics, human suffering, and complex economic systems. This box is more than a container; it's a symbol of a world shaped by desire, exploitation, and luxury.