Praline
Box (Pappschachtel)
circa early twentieth century (?)
An Austrian paper box
vibrantly decorated with festive Russian motifs - all for the sake of pralines.
What a wonder this would have been to any person opening it for the first time
(and for those to come)! Or maybe, due to so much of the current rubbish
filling the shelves of even the most prestigious sweet shops today, it only
seems like this Julius Meinl artefact is worth more visually than what the contemporary
eye has become used to.
Besides that thought, this cardboard box is
still a work entirely of its own no matter what its age. The looker is invited
into at least three layers of experience: the visual, the textural and the savoury.
First one must digest the colours and shapes of the illustration. Maybe a
celebration of the coming of Spring, with flowers blooming from the snow under
a warm sky specked with plump clouds, it brings to mind everything but
chocolate. However, with a bit of imagination, one could treat this box as an
actual Easter Egg à la russe, with its prominent colour being red (to represent
the blood of Christ) and its element of song felt through the movement of its
overall design as well as through the two balalaikas. The experience then continues
into pulling open the lid of the box (the texture must be a bit grainy
considering the earlier styles of printing) onto the actual smelling and
tasting of the treats (once) within. As rich as it is already, consider the
additional side-illustrations of chequered onions and striped turrets against darker skies of dusk.
