Still...

Mary Magdalene's affects, courtesy of Caravaggio

In the same way that unpeopled environments are haunting in a certain undefinable way, painted possessions help us identify something deeper, more tangible in our tableaux of choice. The pearls and chains above, torn from Mary's throat in a fit of penitence, are indicative of her mental state; no woman in a normal state would dare destroy jewelry like that (unless she's one of Cinderella's stepsisters and is a tad anxious about meeting the prince...)

That's a good look on you, ladies!

In a brilliant update of the vanitas theme, Justine Reyes photographed a number of poetically gorgeous, dramatically lit scenes of half-eaten bananas alongside an open coin purse, pomegranates split open aside ceramic birds, and sugar plums delicately placed in a crystal goblet next to stacked supermarket fruit containers. Humans are excluded from these images, but their fingerprints are all over the actions represented in these photographs.

Clockwise from top left: Still Life with Fish and Orange Slices; Still Life with Sugar Plums and Containers; Still Life with Banana, Purse and Change; Still Life with Still Life Book and Figs. All © 2009 by Justine Reyes.

There's nothing especially appealing, however, about a pile of rotting fruit and vegetables in your own kitchen, and I'll take resin-cast or gold-plated bones over a real fish spine stinking up the kitchen sink any day.

Erica Weiner Jewelry Hummingbird Skull Necklace (left) and Noir Jewelry Dinosaur Bones Cuff (right). And how about those paper moons?

Enter Penkridge Ceramics; they describe their work as "still-life studies in clay," and what work it is. Stunningly beautiful trompe l'oeil pieces of fruit - from figs to artichokes, mushrooms to horse chestnuts - this is the stuff of dreams. My dream kitchen, at least. They're irreverent enough to elicit a chuckle, but beautiful enough to warrant a place of honor in the chicest home.

Porcelain Horse Chestnut Sculpture