Koller - Out of This World Tuesday, 28 June 2022, 4pm

1824* ♣ A TWISTED TALE OF FANTASY AND BIOLOGY Narwhal tusk Monodon monoceros 1930 – 1940 192 x 6 x 6 cm Provenance: -Collection Max Iten -Swiss private collection The narwhal tusk is not just the exemplary and indispensable item that every cabinet of curiosities must contain, but also a prime example for how in these curiosities fantasy and biology, myth and science are found to be entangled. This contortion already begins with the tusk being actually one extremely enlarged tooth that has more sensory capabilities than any inner teeth would have. So what looks to our eyes like a spear held threateningly in front of the animal is actually a delicate part of the very body it supposedly shields. The tooth that is normally hidden inside the mouth here protrudes for up to 10 feet or 3 meters and accordingly the tusk exposes the animal‘s sensitive body as much as it protects it. Long have scientists wondered what this tusk is actually used for because observation of the narwhal in its natural habitat has for long been so difficult. Spending most of their lives underneath the Arctic ice the narwhal‘s deployment of his tusk has always been obscured from our view. In the Middle Ages people believed the narwhal horn when grinded to powder would not only be able to cure disease but also work as a potent aphrodisiac. The people of the Middle Ages were of course all the more strongly convinced of the miraculous powers of this organ since they believed the tusk be a unicorn‘s horn. Narwhal and unicorn – another malformation in which actual animal and mythological entity are twisted into one. The unicorn, this most famous and most fascinating of all the mythical beasts was first described in early Christianity in the Physiologus from Alexandria in the second century AD. From there the unicorn has | 24 Out of This World | Natural History, Space Exploration & Entertainment Memorabilia