ranges of tureens, sauceboats and centerpieces typical of the fashionable contemporary “French dining
service” in which large serving dishes were placed together in, and not moved from, fixed table spots.
Allegorical still lifes referred inevitably and on a different level to prevalent social and moral concerns.
Although Chardin generally avoided working in the “vanitas” tradition, at least one of his works, The
White Tablecloth (La Nappe blanche, c.1732) (Figure 2.16) has been identified by Thomas Crow as a
possible allegory of the Catholic Communion, its rather austere arrangement of bread and wine perhaps
even a tacit reference to contemporary prejudices against the Jansenist sect (Crow, 2005, 97–113). Still
life technique itself, as a form of representation, has also been read as a commentary on politics, with
spectacular or theatrical displays of luxury objects, for example, being read as an affirmation of the
dominant power of those who owned such things. Chardin’s more discreet approach to composition has
sometimes been interpreted as a deemphasizing of the individual creativity of artists, although his
“finish” or brushwork might be read as expressive of his own individual style and vision (Bryson, 1990,
131; Démoris, 2000, 108). The illdefined focus and “egalitarian” placement of the objects in his
paintings have been associated with a less hierarchical or disruptive female (as opposed to male) gaze
(Bryson, 1990, 161–172), evident also in the works of his female contemporary, Anne VallayerCoster
(1744–1818). Still life as a genre was considered particularly suitable for women, well versed in the
“domestic.”