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[Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk]: Here we are looking at one of the very few objects in
the museum that we cannot light constantly. The reason is that we have fabric involved
- textiles that get very brittle in constant light exposure. So we have many materials
involved with this showcase; there are shells and rock crystal, the fabric that I mentioned,
and also glass: the figures, the faces, and the hands are made of glass. This type of
combination of materials was very fashionable in the Baroque Era, not only in the small
scale, but actually in much larger scale, where people actually rebuilt large grottos
to make all kinds of festivities and banquets. This theater shows a very specific banquet,
that is the wedding of Cana, as it is told in the Gospel of John in the Bible, and we
can identify many of the figures according to the Gospel. So we see in the front, Jesus
on the left-hand side, and Mary with a blue scarf over her head on the right-hand side.
And in the background is the couple, of bride and groom, ready to be married, and servants.
And we see, also, two wine jars in the front of the whole theater, which kind of play the
most important role in the whole theme and the whole subject, because Jesus is about
to turn water into wine.