Rebecca Brandeis Morton

Gastronomy During Wartime: A Banquet Menu

For this piece, Rebecca Brandeis Morton took a facsimile reprint of a menu from L’Almanac Gourmand, published in 1870 by Charles Monselet, and illustrated and rendered it in carousel form. The menu, drafted by Marechal de Richeliu during the Hanoverian War, represents his desire to provide dinner for 30 important prisoners though the country surrounding his chateau was devastated for miles.

Each side of the carousel is an abbreviated tunnel book printed with damask-like tone-on-tone linocuts and the text of the courses. A codex with an introduction, a colophon and a facsimile of the Monselet reprint is housed in a decorated papier mache tureen that is modeled on a dish at the San Francisco Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Press: Rock Paper Scissor
Date: 2003
Number and Edition: 1 of 30
Size: 11” x 12”