Antique hand-carved in 1800s, gift from Napoleon Bonaparte to ‘favorite cello player’
Kat Von D, a famous reality TV star who has become outspoken about her embrace of the Christian faith in recent years, has rejected calls to remove a cabinet from her home that some have deemed “demonic.”
The tattoo artist, who’s well-known for appearing on the former reality TV series “LA Ink,” has documented her recent conversion to Christianity on social media and recently addressed criticism she’s received for sharing an image of what she described as one of her “favorite pieces of furniture.”
In an Instagram video responding to the backlash, Von D identified the piece of furniture as “a cabinet that was hand-carved in the 1800s” in the shape of a cello and commissioned by former French ruler Napoleon Bonaparte for “his favorite cello player.”
“I’ve gotten a ton of negative feedback from my fellow Christian followers, who were calling the piece ‘demonic and dark’ and telling me how I should just get rid of it and … get it out of my house as soon as possible,” she said, vowing that that “will not be happening.”
After sharing close-up footage of the cello-shaped cabinet and homing in on its “whimsical monsters, creatures and musical instruments,” she noted that it contains a plaque featuring a phrase that translates to “In God I have hoped” or “In God I have put my trust.”
“Gothic architecture uses monsters all the time and it’s more for symbolic reasons,” she said. “They’re meant to teach the viewer about good versus evil. During the time that a piece of furniture like this was created, not a lot of people were reading. It was meant to be able to teach these moral stories to everybody, regardless of whether you could read or not.”
Von D insisted that “these monsters serve as a reminder of all of the chaos, the unruly human nature that is within all of us and how … it exists outside of the holy space of the church.”
Acknowledging that “for a lot of people, it’s not the most beautiful thing to look at, to … explore the dark corners of our hearts and reflect on the fallen nature of what it’s like to be a human,” she identified herself as “a hard-headed human,” adding, “I really appreciate the daily reminders of all the things that we battle every day, all the evils that we’re faced with all the time.”
“I don’t see it as something ugly or scary, and I think if things like this … shake you and weaken your faith and weaken your walk with Christ, then don’t look at it,” she added. “But for someone like me, I don’t feel like my faith is weakened in any way.”
Von D concluded the video by offering advice to Christians who’ve criticized her for having the cabinet in her house: “So maybe next time before commenting that super critical or judgmental comment to … your fellow brother or sister in Christ or even just to anyone for that matter, maybe just be quiet. I’ve always found it so much more inspiring and moving when people lead by example in their daily lives instead of … telling strangers on the internet what to do.”
Von D, who was born Katherine von Drachenberg, was baptized in 2023, one year after renouncing the occult and witchcraft. She took another step in her faith journey earlier this year by joining the Orthodox Church.
Last week’s video is not the first time Von D has weighed in on other negative feedback she’s received from fellow Christians. Shortly after her baptism in 2023, Von D noted that Christians had made the case that “the way that I dress, the way that I look or the way that my friends looked in the video” of her baptism are not reflective of Christianity.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
