Bottle c. 1675 - 1685

This is an anonymously created blown-glass bottle, held at the Rijksmuseum. The purple glass shimmers, adorned with swirling, light-colored lines that dance across its surface. Consider the vessel itself – a symbol of containment, of holding something precious, much like memory holds our experiences. The inscription ‘nec sedeo sine’ translates to ‘nor do I sit idle’. The use of Latin in this context, elevates the object beyond mere utility, connecting it to the classical world, a repository of shared European cultural memory. The swirling lines, like vines reaching across time, remind me of the arabesques found in ancient Roman frescoes, or even the illuminated manuscripts of the medieval period. The act of inscription, of marking an object with text, carries a weight of cultural significance, a desire to communicate across generations. It’s as though the maker knew that this bottle would one day be seen, studied, and pondered over, a silent message in a bottle across the ages.