Jean-Baptiste Claude Odiot

Jean-Baptiste Claude Odiot stands as the historic French silversmith whose 18th‑ and 19th‑century vermeil designs supply the White House centerpieces. The series treats his oeuvre as more than aesthetic—his work becomes a tangible link between elite consumption and contested histories of labor, colonial extraction, and political funding. Writers invoke Odiot to anchor discussions of provenance and cultural responsibility, turning decorative objects into moral evidence that reframes protesters as witnesses and compels political actors to address the symbolic weight of crafted luxury in public life.