Cohen's Muse Box

"Come on in and show us those snappy snappies." - Peach Wilkins This article could use some more pictures. Would you kindly help BioShock Wiki by adding some? Pictures needed: Screenshots: The Muse Box, locked in the bell jar; the Muse Box, after it's unlocked; Both the Muse Box and Cohen's plaster art piece (with or without bell jars).

“If you had become my one and true disciple, you might have been worthy of seeing inside the box of my most private Muse… but who knows if that man is yet even born.”

― Sander Cohen to Jack

Cohen's Muse Box is a chest owned by Rapture artist Sander Cohen. The box serves as an optional plot item during the events of BioShock.

Description

The content of Cohen's Muse Box is, as the name implies, Cohen's "most private Muse."

The chest is designed in an aquatic theme with a nacre scale overlay, scallop shell-shaped hinges in the back, and a seashell-shaped keyhole plate. A brass octopus adorns the chest with its eight arms surrounding the box. Four of the octopus' arms serve as legs for the chest and two hold the key plate. The remaining two are the handles.

BioShock

Main article: BioShock

Jack comes across Cohen's Muse Box on the lower level of the Atrium in Fort Frolic during his trek through Rapture. The chest sits atop a pedestal under a large glass bell jar tightly locked with chains and a padlock and suspended from the ceiling. Next to the chest is one of Cohen's plaster artworks juxtaposed with the Gene Tonic Medical Expert 2, also under a display cloche, but locked with a Number Lock. The player cannot open either at first encounter.

Cohen at the display cases.

After Jack has completed Cohen's Quadtych, Sander Cohen himself will appear in joy to observe his masterpiece. If Jack doesn't kill Cohen, he will open the artwork next to his Muse Box and offer it to Jack out of gratitude, regarding it one of his lesser works. Cohen explains that if Jack would have become his one and true disciple, he might have gotten the chance to see inside the Muse Box (which, judging by his dialogue, no one apart from Cohen himself ever has), but as such, he leaves it locked and strictly commands Jack to leave Fort Frolic.

If the player kills Sander Cohen and searches his corpse, Jack will get Sander Cohen's Muse Key, which will unlock the Muse Box. Upon unlocking, Jack finds Cohen's personal muse: around 70 Dollars, 8 Incendiary Bolts and, most disturbingly, 3 Spider Splicer Organs.

Behind the Scenes

• Sander Cohen can be encountered later on in his Mercury Suites apartment of Olympus Heights. However, if the player kills Cohen in Fort Frolic, they won't be able to enter Cohen's bedroom, which contains a Power to the People. Cohen will still carry his key in Mercury Suites, so after killing him there, the player may return to Fort Frolic via Bathysphere and open the box.
• The chest was designed by concept artist Robb Waters.
• Although Sander Cohen's Muse Key shares the same icon as the Emergency Access Key, a golden key icon exists in BioShock's display texture files, intended for Sander Cohen's Muse Key.

Concept art by Robb Waters.

The unused icon for Sander Cohen's Muse Key.