Is it only ornamental? And why are they usually webbed feet (or at least they are in my experience)?

  • slackassassin@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    22
    ·
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    Also plenty of craftsmen make beautiful shit without being rich. Bragging rights is a weird way to say creative effort in that sense.

    • Valmond@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      13 hours ago

      The artist never gets rich, but his efforts still costs more than the basic stuff.

    • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 days ago

      Kind of my point, but a set of a dozen chairs like that isn’t so much about creativity as it is cost. Still beautiful imo, although i still prefer more minimalist styles in furniture.

        • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          2 days ago

          Yeah, see: when you’re looking at these highly ornate antiques, it’s not the wealth of the craftsman on display; it’s the wealth of his customer.

              • slackassassin@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                19 hours ago

                I hear ya. There’s a line somewhere when people become shitty rich. I’m just not sure that line is at … has a nice dining room table with carved feet or some shit. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

                • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  18 hours ago

                  Let me clarify this part of my thinking: That line has moved a lot since the lifetime of Thomas Chippendale.

                  When you think about what it would take to build an ornately carved mahogany highboy with a high gloss varnish in 1750 versus today, including logging, transporting exotic wood around the planet, the actual woodworking…hell, just compare applying a shellac french polish versus spray lacquer today.

                  • slackassassin@sh.itjust.works
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    2
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    17 hours ago

                    It’s just not ubiquitous. And to say that paying a woodworker to carve intricate details is a useless waste of their time strikes as insulting to the craftsman in any time period.

                    I mean, even under the most cynical representation, the patrons of the classical period were a bunch of wankers too. But I wouldn’t besmirch the musicians, or the music, or what came of it in modern times.