2011.26
Memento Mori Prayer Bead
Artist
Artist Unidentified (German or Netherlandish?)
Title
Memento Mori Prayer Bead
Creation Date
1500-1550
Century
early 16th century
Dimensions
2 3/4 in. x 1 1/2 in. x 1 5/8 in. (6.99 cm x 3.81 cm x 4.13 cm)
Object Type
carving
Creation Place
Europe, Germany
Medium and Support
ivory
Credit Line
Gift of Linda and David Roth in memory of David P. Becker
Copyright
Public Domain
Accession Number
2011.26
This memento mori prayer bead serves as a reminder of the inescapability of death and helped lead to the formulation of vanitas, or the hollowness of earthly pleasures. It originally decorated a chaplet or rosary that in late medieval and early modern Europe was used as an aid, through prayer, toward salvation. Chaplets reminded the devotee of his or her mortality, and this bead’s use of memento mori is no exception. Using the doubled-headed Janus figure, the head of a decaying corpse with mouth opened appears back-to-back with a skull; an elaborate network of bone and sinew conjoins the two. Snakes, frogs, snails, and reptiles crawl over its surface, making the bead an object of both fascination and repulsion. The snake was a traditional symbol for original sin and the fall of man, but the frog symbolized Christ’s resurrection. The ivory was likely imported from Africa, a result of global trading networks.
Additional Media
Ivory.2011.face.jpg
Ivory.2011.side.jpg
Ivory.2011.sidedup.jpg
Ivory.2011.top.jpg
Ivory.2011.topdup.jpg