Bookplate Bastian Kist c. 1916

This bookplate by M.C. Escher features a skeleton perched atop a dark coffin, surrounded by the name 'Kist' intertwined with its bony figure. Death, here, is not a fearsome reaper, but a stark, anatomical presence. The skeleton motif has long haunted the human imagination, from ancient Egyptian funerary art to the danse macabre of the Middle Ages. It reminds us of our mortality. In medieval morality plays, skeletons were allegorical figures. Observe how the letters of 'Kist' meld with the skeleton. The skeleton transcends its traditional role as a symbol of death. Instead, it becomes intimately linked with identity, in this case the owner of the book, Bastian Kist. This union of name and death invokes a deep-seated psychological recognition, the idea that our identities are inextricably bound to our mortality. The image touches on a fundamental truth: life and death are interconnected, each defining the other in an unending cycle.