The traveling eye 6: Reliquary

"The eye has to travel."
          Diana Vreeland

The eye has to travel,
in order to discover what reverence means.

Not because we've been taught this in some church, or in some room, or by some one
and have since forgotten,
but because we are curious about the word. 

Reverence.

The eye has to travel if one wonders how to instill reverence in the most ordinary things,
the object we step over or toss, 
the thing that in our constant seeing has become
          unseen.

The forgettable rock.
A bit of shell.
The unidentifiable bone.
Someone's cloth.   

Does one build a vessel?  

Reliquary Chasse with the Adoration of the Magi. The British Museum, London (ca. 1200–30).

Foot of one of the Holy Innocents. The Cathedral of Basel.

Reliquary bust of a female saint (c. 1520-30) possibly made in Brussels, Belgium. Metropolitan Museum of Art -- The Cloisters Collection.

"Cart," by Susan Danis. All Rights reserved.

A frame?

Stavelot Triptych (c. 1156), intended to house pieces of the true cross. Morgan Library & Museum, New York City.

Tiny saint bones, from the Museum of Folk Art and Folk Life, Hellbrunn Castle, Salzburg, Austria.

"Industrial Coral Reliquary," by Susan Danis. All rights reserved.

"Pearl Reliquary," detail, by Susan Danis. All rights reserved.

If I say, "This is an object not to be forgotten," will you believe me? I have no scrap of parchment proof. No indication that what I'm showing you is some true relic. You can question the authenticity, but I'm also not asking you to worship.

I'm just asking you to think.

All I have to show in my hands is reverence. Time and time and time
          amassed.

Note:

I am newly smitten with the work of Bay Area artist, Susan Danis. Her work is arresting, thought provoking and was used here with permission. I also think her taste in glasses is outstanding. 

Of course.

Someday I have to meet this woman.