Ivory model of back-to-back skull and head

Ivory model of a human skull and head, back to back, covered with worms and toads, possibly French. One side of this carved ivory head shows a human face crawling with worms; the other side shows a skull crawling with toads after the worms have eaten away at the flesh. Not much is known about this model, but it is thought that it is a memento mori – literally a reminder of death and the shortness of life. The skull was the symbol of death from the 1500s onwards. Previously death was represented as a skeleton accompanied by a living victim. The model was purchased from a private collection in Rome, Italy, in 1932. https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co76376/ RIGHTS: Data in the title, made, maker and details fields are released under Creative Commons Zero. Descriptions and all other text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence Scanned using Cyreal multi camera photogrammetry platform www.cyreal.com © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum