Antique Silver Memento Mori Pendant with Skulls and Skeleton

A rectangular plaque with four rows and seven columns of various marble and imperial porphyry specimens, from the Grand Tour. 2.81 kg, 26.5 x 18 cm



Acquired at Shepton Mallet Fair, Somerset, UK, in 2010. From the private collection of a Somerset gentleman.

Comprising a D-shaped hoop with foliate and floral decoration, rectangular bezel set with a facetted rock crystal(?) gemstone with a skull and crossed bones beneath the gem; engraved to the inner face 'In˚ Shepherd Obt 20 Jan 1724 æt 62' and a worn maker's mark. 4.60 grams, 22.48 mm overall, 18.44 mm internal diameter (approximate size British Q 1/2, USA 8 1/4, Europe 18.12, Japan 17)



Acquired from a London, UK, auction house. From a private Bristol, UK, collection. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13213-249807.

The memento mori jewellery of the 16th-18th centuries served as wearable ‘reminders of mortality’. Typical motifs within this genre included skulls, skeletons, crossbones, hourglasses, coffins, the gravedigger’s pick and shovel, and various other emblems of death and decay.

Octagonal in plan with carved scene of the Adoration of the Magi with star above; stepped border, pierced for attachment. 30.2 grams, 68 mm



Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s.

The flat relief and the stylistic refinement of the images place the execution of the plaque towards the end of the 17th century, with some artistic parallels with the Romanian silversmiths of Chiprovatzi.