Dreams Less Sweet Antiques

Description

Unusual bronze and carved bone Vanitas Memento Mori bust of Polish romantic poet, ethnographer and sculptor Teofil Lenartowicz (1822 - 1893).

The moustached face detaches to reveal the skull beneath. For display the face can hang for a hook on the side of the face or to the side of the bust.

The scroll at the base is inscribed with Lirenka, the name of his most famous poetry volume published in 1855.

Late 19th Century - 1900 Poland.

Dramatic and unusual sculpture.

Patinated blackened bronze with patches of gold showing beneath.

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.

H: 26.5 / W: 18.5 / D: 11cm.

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