Etui van degen van minister Jan van den Tempel 1939

Curator: Well, doesn't this look like it belongs in a dollhouse! It's so wonderfully simple, like a felt cartoon of a weapon. Editor: I am particularly drawn to how an object like this case evokes so many layers of symbolic meaning, and then to learn who it belonged to: this is a photograph of the "Etui van degen van minister Jan van den Tempel", a sword case made in 1939 and now held at the Rijksmuseum. Curator: Case for a sword! You'd almost think it was a cozy sleeping bag for Excalibur! In fact, if it wasn't for that rather utilitarian string, one might wonder if its very simplicity shields the inherent violence with the symbolism of innocence? Or perhaps, given its creation date, that aesthetic distance is merely a function of that era's perception of "use." What do you see reflected in its texture and the subdued palette? Editor: I'm fascinated by its plainness precisely *because* of the history it embodies. In 1939, Europe teetered on the edge of unimaginable violence; to sheath a symbol of power and authority, such as a minister's sword, in something so seemingly harmless suggests a very specific anxiety about power, vulnerability, and perhaps, a deep, unspoken dread. How might this mundane, and deliberately inexpressive thing, signal cultural values? Curator: It’s almost funny how ordinary it looks, isn’t it? Like it was hastily cut during a blackout after a bombing. As if some kid made this for a history project or even something that protects from symbolic "ouchies"! And is that thin string what keeps power safely inside its pillowcase? Hilarious, though also profoundly affecting in these tumultuous times. What story do *you* suppose it is guarding? Editor: I think it carries the story of power itself – its illusion and its performance. What do we choose to cloak or expose when holding authority? Perhaps this object serves as a warning from history about the fragility of peace. Curator: A fragile peace, indeed! Maybe, instead, we should hang *that* from our flagpoles! Now *there’s* a powerful and potentially peaceful image, as we collectively learn how to put away childish things. Thank you for pointing the symbolic freight contained within. Editor: My pleasure. It's in such humble objects that history often speaks loudest.