Met been bekleed handvat, voor een paraplu of parasol; met vergulde knop c. 1910 - 1920

Editor: Here we have "Met been bekleed handvat, voor een paraplu of parasol; met vergulde knop," created around 1910-1920. It is currently located at the Rijksmuseum. I am struck by how austere and simple it is, considering the period it comes from. How do you see this object within the social context of its time? Curator: It's easy to look at this handle and see just a functional object, but let's think about what it represents. Bone, often from animals, being used to decorate a mundane object. What does that signal about class and consumption during that period? Who had access to this type of "luxury"? Editor: That's a great point. I hadn’t considered the ethics of the materials or the implied socio-economic status. So, it is less about its functionality and more about the statement it makes. What would you say is the primary statement that the maker is conveying with this work? Curator: The use of bone also brings into question ideas of access to the natural world. It prompts the viewer to interrogate the relationship between humans and nature, and who benefits from the commodification of natural resources, and how that relationship further affected marginalised members of society during that time. How does that impact our view of the object itself? Editor: I see. So by using bone, which has specific connotations of fragility and mortality, this piece also subtly interrogates the temporality of the leisure classes themselves. This adds complexity to something I initially read as simple ornamentation. Thanks for that deeper dive! Curator: Absolutely, by examining seemingly simple objects through an intersectional lens, we reveal deeper societal narratives and historical truths.