Exceptional memento mori in sculpted and engraved ivory. On one side the face of a dead person, with insects, worms, frogs and lizards on this face and in his mouths, ears and eyes. On the other side a skull with the same theme. At the bottom there is an inscription in French: ""EN MOI VOUS MIRES TES"" and on the forehead of the skull ""QUE JE SUIS SERES"". Dimensions: 80 mm without the pedestal, weight: 173 grams. This article comes with CITES form 2025/BE04123/CE and can be sold only inside the EU
It is only fairly recently that certain rosary beads have been linked to a Parisian ivory sculptor and merchant, Chicart Bailly, who worked from 1485 until 1533. Among the production of these small devotional objects, known as vanitas objects, a number of them share common characteristics, including the rather macabre depiction of skulls adorned with worms, toads, and lizards, and the frequent presence of inscriptions in vernacular French from the early Renaissance. The connection of these works, made in France, to the production of Bailly's workshop was made possible by the discovery of a post-mortem inventory of ""l'homme honorable Chicart Bailly, bourgeois de Paris et marchand tabletier,"" preserved in the National Archives (Minutes de Guillaume Payen, 1533).
Provenance:
Canon Felix Vercruyssen (+1952). Lit. The Ivory Mirror: The Art of Mortality in Renaissance Europe, Bowdoin College of Art, S. Perkinson, Brunswick, 2017. J. LOWDEN & J. CHERRY. Medieval Ivories and works of Art, The Thomson Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, 2008
