{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O130427"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O130427/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NN6512/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NN6512/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2023NN6512","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NN6508","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NN6509","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NN6510","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NN6511","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NN6565","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NN6564","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BW3391","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JV6863","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX1844","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX1839","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NN6755","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O130427/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O130427","accessionNumber":"A.48-1935","objectType":"Head","titles":[{"title":"Memento Mori head","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"The belief in universal judgement after death encouraged the production of objects that would act as a memento mori, or reminder of mortality. Good conduct depended to some extent on the knowledge that death awaited everyone. This head, possibly from a rosary, shows a young woman on one side and a skull on the other.","physicalDescription":"The head shows on one side the face of a young woman with her hair parted in the middle, and on the other a death's head, the lower jaw which is broken way. Either by accident or design the girl's head may be seen reflected in the eye sockets of the skull.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"carvers","id":"AAT25256"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"quartz crystal","id":"AAT11152"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"carved rock crystal","categories":[{"text":"Gemstones","id":"THES270329"},{"text":"Death","id":"THES48970"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2023NN6512","2023NN6508","2023NN6509","2023NN6510","2023NN6511","2023NN6565","2023NN6564","2008BW3391","2017JV6863","2019LX1844","2019LX1839","2023NN6755"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"10","id":"THES49099"},"free":"","case":"CA9","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Head","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"},"note":"Paris"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1450-1500","earliest":"1450-01-01","latest":"1500-12-31"},"association":{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Mr C.G. Cooper","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"4.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"3.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"4.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"0.08","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The object was formerly in the collection of C.G. Cooper.\n\nHistorical significance: This small rock crystal carving conveys one of the most profound themes of the late Middle Ages, serving as a <i>memento mori</i>, a reminder of the transitory nature of life and the inevitability of death.","historicalContext":"The crystal head was probably originally mounted with a loop for suspension. It would probably have been a pendant of a rosary. It has been suggested that it was made in the fifteenth century in France, probably in Paris where the carving of rock crystal  flourished from the thirteenth century onwards.","briefDescription":"Carved rock crystal Momento Mori","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Weber. <u>Aspects of Death in Art and Epigram.</u> 1914. p.429, note. 315"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Babelon.<u>Catalogue des Camées..de la Bibliotheque Nationale.</u> 1897. Nos. 1003."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Skull","id":"AAT191856"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"Death","id":"x30761"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.48-1935"],"accessionNumberNum":"48","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1935,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LU6447"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2006-12-19","availableToBook":false}}