Memento Mori
Bead
first half 19th century (made)
first half 19th century (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This is an ivory memento mori, depicting a male head, a female head, and a skull conjoined. First this bead appears to have be made in the first half of the 16th century, but is made in the 19th century in France, probably Paris.
This sculpture is not, and has never been a pendant. It was thus presented as a curio, a single sculpture to be turned in the hand of a kind of anachronistic to devotional practice in the first half of the sixteenth century.
When first displayed in 1862, and at the time of the acquisition, the ivory was attributed to Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654), a telling adscription no doubt predicated on the piece's Italianate, post-Mannerist, realism.
This sculpture is not, and has never been a pendant. It was thus presented as a curio, a single sculpture to be turned in the hand of a kind of anachronistic to devotional practice in the first half of the sixteenth century.
When first displayed in 1862, and at the time of the acquisition, the ivory was attributed to Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654), a telling adscription no doubt predicated on the piece's Italianate, post-Mannerist, realism.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Memento Mori (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Carved elephant ivory |
| Brief description | Memento Mori, bead from a chaplet or rosary, carved ivory, probably French (Paris?), first half of the nineteenth century |
| Physical description | Bead from a chaplet or rosary, carved ivory, depicting a male head, a female head, and a skull conjoined. |
| Dimensions |
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| Object history | In the possession of John Webb, London, by 1862 (London 1862, cat. no. 122); purchased from Webb in 1867 From the Webb Collection, for £12. |
| Production | formerly thought to be of the 16th century |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This is an ivory memento mori, depicting a male head, a female head, and a skull conjoined. First this bead appears to have be made in the first half of the 16th century, but is made in the 19th century in France, probably Paris. This sculpture is not, and has never been a pendant. It was thus presented as a curio, a single sculpture to be turned in the hand of a kind of anachronistic to devotional practice in the first half of the sixteenth century. When first displayed in 1862, and at the time of the acquisition, the ivory was attributed to Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654), a telling adscription no doubt predicated on the piece's Italianate, post-Mannerist, realism. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | 216-1867 |
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| Record created | October 14, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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