Dreams Less Sweet Antiques

Description

Cabinet of Curiosities set of 3 rare 19th Century French Memento Mori antler carved Vanitas skull miniature busts. 2 with removable faces. The intricately carved deer antler busts set on ebony wooden socles.

The 3 busts depict:

King Louis XIV OF France (the Sun King) with skull face.

French philosopher Renè Descartes with detachable face and upper head revealing a skull face.

Classical woman with detachable face again revealing the skull face.

This very rare and impressive group is available as a set, or enquiries may also be made to purchase individually.

Louis XIV (1638 – 1715), also known as Louis the Great (Louis le Grand) or the Sun King (le Roi Soleil), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715.

René Descarets (1596 – 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathematics was paramount to his method of inquiry, and he connected the previously separate fields of geometry and algebra into analytic geometry. His best known philosophical statement is "cogito, ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am").

A vanitas is a symbolic work of art showing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. The skull was the symbol of death from the 1500s onwards previously death was represented as a skeleton. Skulls were very popular in the Baroque period and were not only an essential part of any Wonderland Room (Wunderkammer), but also acted as contemplative reminders of mortality.

Sizes:
King Louis XIV: 14.5 cm
Renè Descartes: 12 cm.
Classical Woman: 14.3 cm.

Provenance: From a private collection in France.