""Memento Mori"", German marine ivory skeleton bust - 19th century

""Memento Mori"", walrus ivory Vanitas (Odobenus rosmarus Linnaeus, 1758) depicting a skeleton bust with snakes.

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 Chamber of Wonders (Wunderkammer), but also acted as contemplative reminders of mortality.

Height x width x depth: 8 x 5.2 x 3.2 cm. Weight: 80 g.

Item condition grading: **** good.

Accompanied by antiquity expertise (pre 1947).

This lot is available for sale only with shipments within the European Union. THE CITES ARTICLE 8 (3b) DEROGATION The article 8 (3b) derogation - Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97, the so-called ""antique derogation”, and the article 62 – Commission Regulation (EC) No 865/2006, in conjunction with Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/2080 of 16 December 2021 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 865/2006, allow to sell this kind of item (defined as pre-1947) within the European Union.

Current legislation states that if an item has been manufactured prior to June 1947 and has been significantly altered from its natural raw state for jewellery, adornment, art, utility or musical instrument before that date, a CITES certificate is not required (exemption no more applicable for worked specimens containing elephant ivory) (therefore only for material that has been “worked” before 1947, and has been transformed from its natural state by human craft).