Skip to main content
Video Loading
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 16

A big diorama with butterflies and flowers with a Memento Mori Italy 1850.

About the Item

A Memento Mori from Wunderkammer, depicting a painted skull, leaning on a book with a scroll reading: pray to God for the soul, in devotion to the Archangel Gabriel. The painting is positioned at the base of a large diorama with natural specimens of multicolored butterflies, mounted in a rectangular wood and glass case, with a veneered wood base where the vanitas is depicted. In the upper part, the top is decorated with a carved shell. The specimens are placed on flowering branches, arranged on a carpet of moss and flowers. Italy first half of the 19th century.
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 26 in (66.04 cm)Width: 12 in (30.48 cm)Depth: 6.25 in (15.88 cm)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1850
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    Milan, IT
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU917139257652

More From This Seller

View All
Memento mori sculpture depicting a skull, Italy 1700.
Located in Milan, IT
Wunderkammer Memento Mori sculpture, depicting a carved wooden skull. Italy circa 1700.
Category

Antique Early 18th Century Italian Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Wood

Memento Mori in Wood with Chrismon, Monogram of Christ, Italy End of 17th Cent
Located in Milan, IT
A Memento Mori in wood with Chrismon, monogram of Christ. Valuable sculpture in fruit wood in almost true-to-life measurements, sculpted with art and finished with a wealth of details. The wood was covered with a thin layer of pellet and finished in color. Immediately above the forehead, in correspondence with the anterior neonatal fontanel, the CHRISMON is painted in purple red. The monogram of Christ or Chi Rho (or CHRISMON) is a combination of letters from the Greek alphabet, which form an abbreviation of the name of Christ. Solar in nature, often inscribed in a circle with multiple rays reminiscent of the cosmic wheel deriving from the ancient solar emblems of Egypt. The symbol consists of two large overlapping letters, the 'X' and the 'P'. They correspond, respectively, to the Greek letter '?' ('chi', which reads kh, aspirated) and '?' ('rho', which reads r). These two letters are the initials of the word '???st??' (Khristòs ), the name of Jesus, which in Greek means "anointed" and translates the Hebrew "messiah". On the sides of these two letters, there are very often two others: one 'a' and one '?', alpha and omega...
Category

Antique Late 17th Century Italian Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Wood

A diorama with fishes, Italy 1870.
Located in Milan, IT
A natural Wunderkammer specimen: a marine diorama with two decoy fishes (Pterois volitans), a brunch, fan shaped, of Horny coral, starfish, and reef. The Specimens are mounted inside a glass...
Category

Antique Late 19th Century Italian Natural Specimens

Materials

Glass, Wood

A pair of diorama with hermit crabs, Italy 1870.
Located in Milan, IT
A natural Wunderkammer specimen a pair of marine diorama with Hermit Crab (Pagurus Bernhardus) a brunch, fan shaped of Horny coral, reef, shells. The Specimens are mounted inside a glass...
Category

Antique Late 19th Century Italian Natural Specimens

Materials

Coral

Memento Mori chain seal, Saint Petrsburg, Russia, second half of 19th century.
Located in Milan, IT
Chain seal in silver and jet. The seal features a rectangular silver plate with a carved noble coat of arms representing a two-headed eagle. The matrix is crowned by a frame with a w...
Category

Antique 1860s Russian Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Silver

Miniature painted in gouache on paper, depicting a Memento Mori, Italy 1808.
Located in Milan, IT
Miniature depicting a Memento Mori painted in gouache on paper, grisaille technique. The frame, in ebonized fruitwood and finished with wax, black in color, is oval in shape with an ...
Category

Antique Early 19th Century Italian Paintings

Materials

Brass

You May Also Like

Italian Marble Bust Vanitas / Memento Mori 19th Century Carved Sculpture Italy
Located in Ijzendijke, NL
Masterfully carved Italian Vanitas bust in solid marble from late 19th century. White Carrara marble skull combined with a red Rosso Imperiale marble Ro...
Category

Antique Late 19th Century Italian Renaissance Revival Busts

Materials

Marble, Carrara Marble

19th C Italian Funerary Marble & Bronze Portraits, Husband & Wife Memento Mori
Located in Lowestoft, GB
Rare pair of funerary sculptures of a male and female likely husband and wife, carved in marble and housed in substantial cherry wood frames with ebonised slips. Each portrait has a...
Category

Antique 19th Century Italian Busts

Materials

Marble, Bronze

An Unusual and Rare English ‘Memento Mori’ Carved Shrine with Two Human Skulls
Located in London, GB
An Unusual and Rare English ‘Memento Mori’ Carved Shrine with Two Human Skulls to the underside, a carved ‘Dragonfly’ Marble 16th / 17th Century England Size: 36cm high, 28cm w...
Category

Antique 16th Century English Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Marble

Rare 19th Century Italian Memento Mori Bust / Sculpture Carrara Marble Vanitas
Located in Ijzendijke, NL
Masterfully carved Italian Vanitas / Memento Mori bust in solid marble from late 19th century. White Carrara marble skull combined with masterfully...
Category

Antique Late 19th Century Italian Renaissance Revival Busts

Materials

Carrara Marble

19th Century Italian Roman Vanitas Bust Renaissance Revival Memento Mori Marble
Located in Ijzendijke, NL
Masterfully carved & most impressive Italian Vanitas bust in solid marble from late 19th century. White Carrara marble skull combined with a Belgian Bla...
Category

Antique Late 19th Century Italian Renaissance Revival Busts

Materials

Carrara Marble, Belgian Black Marble, Marble

Hand Carved Wood Memento Mori Skull Cane Walking Stick Handle
Located in Studio City, CA
A fantastic and wonderfully hand carved piece. This smiling, mischievous skull is carved in very fine detail. Would be the crown jewel of any walking stick collection once attached t...
Category

20th Century Sculptures and Carvings

Materials

Wood

Recently Viewed

View All