17
Cast of a human skeleton
Art Studio
Plastic Apple
(used in introductory language classes)
French
Turtle
Art Studio
German Chinoiserie Wall Cabinet
late eighteenth-century
University Art Museum
Laser Array Part
Physics Machine Shop
The skeleton is another indication of a human's place within the curiosity cabinet. With an apple in hand, the skeleton takes on religious associations, a reference to the story of Adam and Eve, original sin, and the fall of man. Or on a more humorous level, the viewer might remember the phrase "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" juxtaposed with the remains of a once-living being. The objects in the sixteenth-century curiosity cabinet belonged to a world essentially unchanged since its creation; bracketed by the beginning of time and its end, history in the sixteenth century was believed to be as cyclical as the seasons.
