The Entombment of Christ 1536

Curator: At first glance, this is visually striking; it is theatrical. Is it an oil painting? Editor: It certainly appears to be, but this object before us is actually a painted ceramic dish made by Fra Xanto Avelli da Rovigo around 1536, titled "The Entombment of Christ," and it currently resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Curator: Ah, Maiolica! Its function as a utilitarian object complicates it. Here, it carries echoes of Italian Renaissance painting; a traditional composition representing a powerful biblical narrative in a contemporary object made for the wealthy. Editor: Absolutely. The placement of this scene upon something we eat from, how does that position the consumer and this sacred, tragic scene? Does it desensitize or, conversely, make it hyper-visible to an elite class of diners? We must interrogate the context: Who had access to this and how was it meant to be interpreted? Curator: Yes, this symbolism layered onto the everyday, but here, the everyday becomes sacred. Think about the iconographic language at play; we see this visual vocabulary present across cultures from devotional painting to byzantine iconography. The swooning Virgin, the mourners gathered round. The potent display of grief acts almost as a relic, to evoke pity. Editor: Right, that shared humanity transcends religious doctrine. Although Christ's suffering has deep spiritual significance to some viewers, others can see his suffering as a potent image to the pain inflicted on marginalized bodies. We consider contemporary forms of state-sanctioned violence and those symbols echo with undeniable clarity and that is how the memory lives in symbols. Curator: The continuous cultural connection becomes all the more compelling. It offers, in effect, an insight into collective consciousness and a continuous visual record of grief. Editor: Indeed. And this bowl's unique function underscores how these images live within our spaces. I think the painting serves as a focal point not just for the diners, but also for the collective cultural history we all share.