Page 44 - @ccess3_Readers Book

beverage and is flanked by the specific vessel of his drink
tradition. The ceramic teapot sits at the focal point of the
image, while the coffee and chocolate pots are on the floor
at the feet of their drinkers. China looks guarded, as though
keeping his cards (his tea) close to his chest and separated
from the viewer by a table. The Middle East — Dufour
identifies coffee with Turkey, Yemen, and Egypt — raises his
cup to the event. The figure of the Americas appears to be
walking in armed with an Aztec bow but has left the arrows at
home. Posed around a small, round table in close proximity,
the world’s corners look comfortable, as though it is not at all
odd that they should be enjoying a drink together.

Of the statements made by this beverage summit of world
empires, one is that the globe is vast and varied, but all its
people seek good health and enjoyment; that is, they are
as similar as coffee, tea, and chocolate. But the presence of
the dynamic Mexican figure, a culture newly “discovered”
to Europe about 175 years before, makes an even stronger
commentary. He looks young and simple in both pose and
dress, but he shares the hot beverage habit of the older
Ottoman and the dapper Mandarin. In fact, he drinks out of
the largest, most ornate cup and looks the most exposed
to the viewer in body and pose. His presence there and
desirable serving ware make him the equal of his older
imperial neighbors, a surprisingly generous suggestion in
1685. Yet, in his open posture he also extends an invitation
to come join him for a drink that is not so apparent in
the allegories of the others. If so, he heralds a time when
aggressive trade with the Middle East and Asia would be
brutally complemented by large-scale exploitation of the
lands of the former Mesoamerican empires. Beckoning to
the reader to take the chocolate cure makes him uniquely
vulnerable among this group, an idea borne out by both
British and French colonial history in the Americas.

Source: https://goo.gl/w3hMk9

42 Reader's Book