I bought this handsome chap today. It's a memento mori, possibly Italian and probably 19th century. I've long been fascinated by the practice of including a skull in portraits of Renaissance noblemen (for example) as a reminder that even the greatest man must die, but I've not come across one in this form before, as a kind of oversized macabre chess-piece, and I can only find a photo of one other on the internet. I assume they would be made as commissions rather than just churned out, but I really don't know.
If anyone happens to have any knowledge relating to them, I'd be interested to hear it.
I find it fascinating to ponder who might have had the thing made, and why, and where they kept it, and what thoughts they had whilst gazing at it.
If anyone happens to have any knowledge relating to them, I'd be interested to hear it.
I find it fascinating to ponder who might have had the thing made, and why, and where they kept it, and what thoughts they had whilst gazing at it.
