Plaque (Saddle Saint) c. 20th century

Editor: So, this is "Plaque (Saddle Saint)," made around the 20th century. They’re silver and really ornate. The craftsmanship looks so intricate! The figures seem significant... but what do you see in them? Curator: These reliefs certainly evoke medieval religious art, but that 20th-century dating complicates things. The plaques may be referencing a very specific history, potentially used as devotional objects connected to pilgrimages, or perhaps they functioned within a colonial context where such imagery had acquired new layers of socio-political meaning. Editor: Colonial meaning? What makes you say that? Curator: The figures’ garments and the symbolic objects, like the cross, were tools of conversion but also signifiers of power within specific colonial administrations. Where was this acquired by the museum, do you know? How do you imagine these circulated in their time? Editor: I am unsure about its acquisition history, but they look so refined. I almost feel like they would have belonged in someone’s personal collection, or perhaps in a small church… something really intimate. Curator: That’s a possibility. And how would that context change our understanding of their purpose, of their impact on the public image of the Church? Does its private devotional usage change how you feel about the role these figures have within society at that time? Editor: That's fascinating! It never occurred to me that their impact could be viewed so differently based on where they were displayed. I’m beginning to see how the display and purpose can shift their entire meaning and place within the cultural landscape. Curator: Exactly! And that shift also brings up new ways of looking at the figures displayed as saints, as a sort of tool to control those looking upon their figure.