Turns out it’s not a “holy molar,” after all, at the Art Institute of Chicago, researchers discovered when looking into what had been thought to be a religious relic from John the Baptist.
A tooth inside an ornate, artistically significant container and frame — in the Art Institute’s possession for decades and believed to come from the important biblical figure — wasn’t from John the Baptist, after all.
Researchers found that “the tooth was actually from the 5th century AD and could not have belonged to John the Baptist,” says a spokesperson for the Art Institute, citing results of tests that were conducted in 2016 by a team from Oxford University, though the outcome hasn’t been widely disseminated.
One of the researchers, Georges Kazan, says the team is “not yet in a position to discuss this study unfortunately, as it is still ongoing, involving multiple relics around the world.”
Religious relics typically are objects associated with a saint’s body or belongings and have been kept for historical interest or spiritual reasons.
The study at the Art Institute involved researchers “drilling for carbon-14 and isotope sampling,” according to the museum spokesperson. The tooth and its small reliquary were removed from display at the Art Institute in June and sent on loan to the Getty Center in Los Angeles for an exhibition and recently returned to public viewing in Chicago.
The Art Institute spokesperson says the object still carries significance even though it turned out that the tooth isn’t old enough to have been from John the Baptist.
“The object of value does not come from the tooth,” the spokesperson says. “The entire object is a holistic work of art — comprising the tooth within the reliquary and the container — which is still a very significant piece in our permanent collection.
“The findings around the tooth are fascinating but do not change the actual object.”
John the Baptist was one of Jesus’ contemporaries in the 1st century. The bible says John was beheaded on the orders of the local ruler Herod Antipas. Sometime before his demise, John was said to have baptized Jesus in the River Jordan, and they might have been cousins. Often described as a preacher and “forerunner” to Christ, John is seen by Christian, Jewish and Muslim followers as a prophet or holy man.
According to the museum, the tooth is inside “a transparent rock-crystal vessel” — rock crystal was “high prized in the medieval Islamic world,” and it’s considered “a precious stone” that “was used to create a number of luxurious secular objects, including this vessel, which was probably originally intended to be a container for fragrant oils.”
That rock-crystal container, apparently dating between 900 and 1100, is inside a gilded silver frame that “uses the form of a miniature Gothic tower” — the frame is likely from the 1400s.
Art Institute officials say the “fascinating part is that the tests in 2016 confirmed the tooth is actually from late antiquity rather than Medieval times, which indicates that this tooth was selected because it is significantly old.
“It is not a contemporary tooth from the time of the reliquary but one most likely previously venerated well before the 15th century.”
Kazan wrote in 2015: “Many Christians saw relics as earthly repositories of God’s Holy Spirit, able to work miracles and bestow healing. They became invaluable commodities and symbols of status, particularly during the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, the trade in relics was seen as the embodiment of the worst excesses of superstition and cynicism.”
For some Christians, the objects, though not to be worshiped, were seen as a way for people to be closer to the spirit of a saint.
Relics have played a role in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and some Protestant traditions as well as some non-Christian faiths.
Relics in the Christian world often came to rest in churches and other religious sites, including private chapels of the wealthy. Saintly items also were behind a sort of spiritual tourism, drawing religious pilgrims and, because of the money that could mean for communities, sometimes spurring forgeries. There also were likely legitimate mix-ups, experts say.
The tooth and other objects ended up with the ruling family in a part of Germany “after the Protestant Reformation, and it was the descendants of this family that sold it to a consortium of dealers about 1930,” according to the Art Institute. “In 1931 several pieces were acquired for the Art Institute, including purchases by patrons and support groups.”
It’s common for multiple relics to come from or be associated with a single saint. That’s the case with John the Baptist.
Bones discovered in 2010 on the Bulgarian island of Sveti Ivan, which translates to St. John, were tested and appear to be from a 1st-century Middle Eastern male — adding to the possibility they’re from John the Baptist, as many believe.
The Shrine of All Saints in Morton Grove also has a tiny piece of bone said to be from John the Baptist, but it’s unclear whether that’s true.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, has what was long thought to be a piece of finger belonging to John the Baptist. But testing in recent years revealed it’s not old enough to have been his. Also, while it is human, it isn’t a finger, according to the museum’s William Keyse Rudolph.
There are several places, including Rome and Syria, that claim to have at least part of John the Baptist’s head. Parts of hand and arm have been reported elsewhere.
“There’s been a big uptick in interest in John the Baptist” in recent years, says Butler University’s James McGrath, an author of books on him and an expert on the New Testament.
McGrath says he’s hopeful that continued scholarship will fill in more blanks on John the Baptist.
“Jesus connected himself with John,” McGrath says. “And, if we get John wrong, we’re probably going to get some things wrong about Jesus, too.”
Old relics remain difficult if not impossible to authenticate. Even if they turn out to be not what some believed and hoped they were, they still can hold value — perhaps beyond the artistic and historic.
Though nicknamed by some a “holy molar,” the Art Institute’s tooth is believed to be an upper-left canine.
The Rev. Dennis O’Neill, a Catholic priest who founded the Morton Grove shrine, says of the tooth, “It’s still valuable for intercession,” with numerous people over the years probably “using it to open their hearts to John the Baptist” and try to connect with God.
“It’s a labor of faith and love to make” a reliquary, Rudolph says, “and a testament to the desire to connect with the higher power you believe in.
“As a work of art and a devotional object, it’s absolutely authentic.”