Escaping the Guillotine and the Melting Pot

Image via here

Note: Due to the Rosenbach's no-picture policy, the image above is not the silver chocolate pot described in this post. However, it was also crafted in Paris in the late 18th century before the French Revolution.

Title: Chocolate pot
Year: 1775
Material: Silver, wood
Creator: Joseph Thomas Vancouvenbeurgh
Collection: Burn This: Censorship, secrecy, and survival in the Rosenbach collection

The chocolate pot displayed in the Rosenbach's "Burn This" exhibit would draw the eye of historians, artists, francophiles, and, of course, chocolate lovers.

The pot is on display because, unlike many of its kind, it escaped being destroyed during the French Revolution. Extravagant and beautifully crafted works of silver were melted down for two reasons: first, they were seen as examples of the wasteful and selfishly indulgent lifestyle of the Old Regime's nobility, and second, they nicely filled the coffers of the new republic.

The Rosenbach's chocolate pot is a testament to what happened to similar pieces, and to the importance of being in the right place at the right time. Its survived the tumultuous time period simply because it was taken from Paris before the revolution began. In fact, it has been here in Pennsylvania ever since the 18th century.

The pot is displayed among a jumble of other items that escaped either accidental or intentional destruction, and the accompanying text explains why it is included in this exhibit. The other items are mostly textual, so the pot's contrast draws the eye. The level of the labels, however, and the room's lighting, make the signage difficult to read.

People who consider themselves indifferent to history, or who find old household objects boring, may be tempted to pass by the pot. It would be interesting to expand on its story by including revolutionary francs (which may have once come from a chocolate pot themselves) or an accompanying narrative of the type of person who would have once owned the pot. How could a visitor not be fascinated by the tale of a duke before and during the revolution?

Such a story would paint a picture of the type of time and place where censorship and destruction, the exhibit's theme, took place, and how a person may be born with a silver spoon in his mouth (and a silver chocolate pot in his hand), but die with an iron blade at his neck.