Reliquary Containing a Tooth 1850 - 1900

Curator: What catches my eye immediately is the fragility of the lines. It gives the drawing a tentative air. Editor: Indeed. This work, called "Reliquary Containing a Tooth," is a pencil drawing on paper, dating roughly from 1850 to 1900. It resides here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It seems to be an anonymous study of an ornate reliquary. Curator: A tooth! Held within such grandeur! It really begs the question of whose tooth, and the power ascribed to it, right? I’m immediately drawn into thinking about relics, especially in a postcolonial context where such objects were often violently seized, categorized, and recontextualized by dominant cultures. Editor: That’s such an important frame. We need to ask about provenance. Looking at the piece itself, I sense a real reverence in the draftsmanship; see how meticulously the geometric details are rendered. Yet there is an airy ethereality in the use of line that, for me, clashes oddly with the inherent macabre element. It dances on a tightrope between the sacred and, dare I say, the slightly absurd? Curator: I think "absurd" is spot on, and maybe productive! The scale of presentation for such a humble item… it makes you think about how power manifests. I see the geometric and floral motifs adorning it and can't help thinking of similar patterns used to normalize hierarchical structures, and the suppression of marginalized people. Editor: And it’s anonymous! That amplifies the mystery. I see in it echoes of illuminated manuscripts and Gothic architecture... almost like the tooth itself has ascended into the artistic equivalent of a cathedral! Perhaps it is someone poking fun, giving the whole act of worship and admiration a surreal glow. Curator: Precisely. The missing information shapes how we interact. This piece feels incomplete, a ghost of a drawing that still triggers meaningful questions, but withholds its context from our understanding. Editor: I think that feeling is apt; its incomplete character asks more from us as interpreters. Well, I’m certainly taking away more to chew on than I thought. Thanks. Curator: Ha! Excellent pun to conclude! Thank you; likewise!