"Memento Mori", skull shaped Almoner - 18th century, Italy - France ?

"Memento Mori" - Vanitas, carved wood with top handle and hinged back door.
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.
Height x width x depth: 10 x 8 x 5 cm. Weight 400 g.
Item condition grading: **** good.