Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2017.

Vanitas Sculpture

CultureGerman

Dateca. 1700

MediumSwiss pine

Dimensions8 11/16 × 6 5/16 × 7 1/2 in. (22 × 16 × 19 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number2016.37

On View

On view

DescriptionThis unpainted object is carved from a single piece of pine wood, fully in the round and represents the head of a living man on the right half, and dead on the left half, with a snake crawling through the eye socket and jaw. A large socket is carved in the top.
ProvenanceGermany, private collection, before 1970; Munich, Kunsthandel Urban & Pierigal, before c. 1970; Switzerland, Private Collection, c. 1970-2015; Zurich, International Art Trade, 2015, Zurich, Martin Kiener, 2015; Munich, Kunstkammer Georg Laue, 2016; purchased by the museum in 2016