Reflection for TWO: imperial box

Fresco pulls out a wooden box. I don't notice it right away, but the top acts as a lid that you can slide out to open the box. On the lid are two Chinese characters. Fresco introduces the object this time by asking how we can make a museum visitor connect with the object on an emotional level, especially considering that museum signs often remain so dry and factual.

With this in mind, Fresco opens the box. The inside is lined with a blue-gray silk, on the bottom is an additional superstructure, also lined with silk, made for a smaller box. This box could also be taken out and opened. Fresco tells me that imperial letters were put in it - mandates or warnings from the emperor - and that the Chinese characters on the lid mean "command." I register it all, but it speaks very little to me. I immediately understand why Fresco introduced the object in this way. Had I seen it in a display case in a museum with an informative caption attached, I probably would have walked past it.

Fresco and I are both plodding along. How can we possibly connect with this box? Fresco explains that the emperor only sent this box when bad news needed to be delivered, such as reprimands. It takes a while, but then the box begins to live anyway. You didn't want to receive this box; when you saw it being delivered you knew it was wrong. We suddenly saw comparisons to our daily lives. This is the bad-news phone call you've been (not) waiting for all day, or that blue envelope dropping on the doormat. When you see it this way, that box suddenly becomes a lot more ominous than before.

We came to the conclusion that along with such a comparison, the box could well work in a museum context. Also for ex-pupils or young students: this is the phone call from your mentor after final exams when you actually already have such a premonition that you didn't pass. It is a shame, though, that in a museum you don't get to unwrap the box yourself, because that certainly added something to the sinister atmosphere the box had taken on.