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Sugar Spoils: Marie‐Antoine Carême and the Gastronomic Architecture of Napoleonic Empire
Author(s) -
Whyte Ryan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
art history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1467-8365
pISSN - 0141-6790
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8365.12590
Subject(s) - architecture , sugar , art , banquet , pastry , amphora , art history , visual arts , history , ancient history , food science , chemistry
This essay explores how the chef Marie‐Antoine Carême adapted the banquet tradition of the sugar‐paste centrepiece to serve Napoleonic diplomacy. It argues that Carême used the medium of sugar‐paste to depict territorial spoils to compensate for French territorial losses, notably sugar‐producing colonies in the Americas. Carême used architectural theory and print culture to suggest the equivalence of pastry and architecture, thereby allowing his centrepieces to represent lands invaded during the Napoleonic wars. His centrepieces functioned as spolia on the basis of their medium and their material resemblance to architectural monuments represented in porcelain centrepieces and on painted porcelain dinner services.