"Memento Mori", German Mammoth ivory skeleton - second half of the 18th century

"Memento Mori", Vanitas, Mammoth ivory (Mammuthus primigenius) carving depicting a composition with a central skeleton with scythe and hourglass surrounded by skulls and bones.
A vanitas is a symbolic work of art showing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. The skull was the symbol of death from the 1500s onwards; previously death was represented as a skeleton. Skulls were very popular in the Baroque period and were not only an essential part of any Wonderland Room (Wunderkammer), but also acted as contemplative reminders of mortality. In hourglasses, the interval taken by the sand or water to pass from the upper, full, to the lower, empty, constituted the measure of time; frequent as a symbol of the flow of time, the transience of human life and therefore also of death.
Height x width: 20.5 x 8.5 cm. Weight 101 g.
Item condition grading: **** good.
Accompanied by Ce.S.Ar. Centro Studi Archeometrici certificate of authenticity.

CITES - Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97
This item has been made with materials non belonging to endangered species protected by CITES Convention (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora).