Commemorating the Revolution on Chinaware Still Image

Commemorative plate depicting the guillotine execution of Louis Capet on 21 January 1793, surrounded by figures and the inscription "L'an second de la République française."

Dublin Core

Title

Commemorating the Revolution on Chinaware

Description

The execution scene appeared on a plate. Even were this simply a souvenir that no one intended to actually eat from, this piece of china reveals fantastic revolutionary anger. Having a picture in crockery of an execution, even in a society where public executions were still occurring, still appears as bloodthirsty. But the use of this plate would seem to be a symbolic eating of one’s enemies. Is this a reverse communion, in which strength is drawn from the blood of the victim?

Source

mfr 86.182

Relation

http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/104/

Identifier

104

Citation

“Commemorating the Revolution on Chinaware,” LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY: EXPLORING THE FRENCH REVOUTION, accessed November 9, 2026, https://revolution.chnm.org/d/104.