• Home
  • Auction 261
  • 21 German elephant ivory Vanitas with skull - 18th-19th ...

Lot 21 - Auction 261

German elephant ivory Vanitas with skull - 18th-19th century
Estimate:
9.000,00/12.000,00 €
Starting price:
6.500,00 EUR
Current bid:
0,00 EUR

Bids

Lot status:
Auction closed

Description

German elephant ivory Vanitas with skull - 18th-19th century

""Memento Mori"", Vanitas represented by an elephant ivory skull (Loxodonta africana Blumenbach, 1797 or Elephas maximus Linnaeus, 1758) carved in the full round and depicted with a snake coiling around the underside of the jaw and emerging from the right eyeball. 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: 14 x 11 x 12.5 cm. Weight: 1865 g.


Item condition grading: **** good (minor cracks).


Accompanied by CITES certificate.

This lot is available for sale only with shipments within the European Union; the CITES certificate for export outside the European Community can only be requested for lots sold to museums.

Only registered and authorized users are allowed to place bids.

Please use the registration form to send us your participation request, or, if you are already registered and authorized, use the login box on the top.

For any information please contact info@bertolamifineart.com