This ivory skeleton, a memento mori (reminder of death) may have been once owned by Dr Richard Mead (1673-1754), whose gallery in Great Ormond Street, London displayed his extensive collection of works of art and antiquities in the 1740s. A detailed description of Dr Mead's collection published in Latin in 1790 mentions (in translation) 'a man's skeleton very accurately designed, leaning with his left elbow on a clock and with that hand supporting his head, holding in his right hand a scythe; it is treading underfoot sceptres, crowns, helmets and other symbols of power and rank. The work of Albert Durer. One foot and half an inch high'. This description exactly matches the V&A's ivory, although it is not based on a work by Dürer, but relates to a plate in Andreas Vesalius, 'De Humani Corporis Fabrica', published in 1555. Dr Mead's collection was auctioned after his death in 1755, and the ivory skeleton (lot 48) was sold to a Dr Chauncey for £21 10s 6d. Dr Chauncey's collection was in turn sold in 1790, although the buyer of the skeleton at that sale is unknown. The V&A's ivory was given to the Museum by Dr Walter Leo Hildburgh in 1953, its previous provenance unrecorded, but it could well be the one in Dr Mead's collection. It is likely to have been made in Southern Germany, perhaps as early as the 17th century.