Casket reliquary20249" x 11" x 12"Mixed media (Click for material details)
Creating decorated containers to store and protect a precious or sacred object is an ancient practice, common to many cultures throughout the world. These 'caskets' take an infinite variety of forms...cylinders, boxes, pyxides, polygons. In many cases the contents are hidden beneath locked lids, but in the past, caskets containing a religious relic were often made with panels of decorated glass or rock crystal, allowing the viewer to see what lies within.
This piece was inspired by a baroque reliquary seen in an 18th-century basilica in Granada - an elaborately ornamented polygon casket containing the skeletal remains of a beloved saint. However, inside 'Xenophora' (from the Greek "bearing foreigners") lies not human remains, but a wondrous "carrier shell" mollusk specimen. Like Philipp Hainhofer's glorious wunderkammer built for King Gustave of Sweden, 'Xenophora' is topped with a 'mountain' of precious specimens...in the early 1600's, this space was where the objects thought to have particular magical power were displayed.
Carrier shell mollusks display a unique adaptation - as they grow, they collect other shells, sponges, and stones from the sea floor. The mollusk carefully cements these marine detritus to their exteriors, resulting over time in an extravagantly decorated 'hat'. Scientists have theorized that this may simply be an act of visual camouflage, or a technique to disguise a scent trail. But who's to say if this isn't perhaps an aesthetic act of beauty of a conscious organism?
As the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere increases as a direct result of the combustion of fossil fuels, more CO2 is absorbed into ocean waters across the planet. This in turn drives an increase in the acidity of the water that is home to a vast collection of carbonate-shelled organisms, disrupting their growth and development. If humankind allows these global processes to advance unchecked, we may lose fragile natural miracles like the carrier shell forever.
All images © 2019 - 2025 Charles F. Pitz
