Fine Antique Georgian Memento Mori Skull Skeleton Gold Silver Ring One of a kind

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Fine Antique Georgian Memento Mori Skull Skeleton Gold Silver Ring One of a kind:
$1750.00

Memento mori : Mementomori (Latin for 'remember that you [have to] die') is an artistic or symbolictrope acting as a reminder of the inevitability of death. The concept has itsroots in the philosophers of classical antiquity and Christianity, and appearedin funerary art and architecture from the medieval period onwards. The mostcommon motif is a skull, often accompanied by one or more bones. Often thisalone is enough to evoke the trope, but other motifs such as a coffin,hourglass and wilting flowers signified the impermanence of human life. Oftenthese function within a work whose main subject is something else, such as aportrait, but the vanitas is an artistic genre where the theme of death is themain subject. The Danse Macabre and Death personified with a scythe as the GrimReaper are even more direct evocations of the trope.

In Europe fromthe medieval era to the Victorian era :

Philosophy : The thought was then utilized in Christianity, whosestrong emphasis on divine judgment, heaven, hell, and the salvation of the soulbrought death to the forefront of consciousness. In the Christian context, thememento mori acquires a moralizing purpose quite opposed to the nunc estbibendum (now is the time to drink) theme of classical antiquity. To theChristian, the prospect of death serves to emphasize the emptiness andfleetingness of earthly pleasures, luxuries, and achievements, and thus also asan invitation to focus one's thoughts on the prospect of the afterlife. ABiblical injunction often associated with the memento mori in this context isIn omnibus operibus tuis memorare novissima tua, et in aeternum non peccabis(the Vulgate's Latin rendering of Ecclesiasticus 7:40, "in all thy worksbe mindful of thy last end and thou wilt never sin.") This finds ritualexpression in the rites of Ash Wednesday, when ashes are placed upon theworshipers' heads with the words, "Remember Man that you are dust and untodust, you shall return." Memento mori has been an important part ofascetic disciplines as a means of perfecting the character by cultivatingdetachment and other virtues, and by turning the attention towards theimmortality of the soul and the afterlife.

Visual art : is reduced to three essentials: Life, Death, and Time. Timepieces havebeen used to illustrate that the time of the living on Earth grows shorter witheach passing minute. Public clocks would be decorated with mottos such asultima forsan ("perhaps the last" [hour]) or vulnerant omnes, ultimanecat ("they all wound, and the last kills"). Clocks have carried themotto tempus fugit, "time flees". Old striking clocks often sportedautomata who would appear and strike the hour; some of the celebrated automatonclocks from Augsburg, Germany, had Death striking the hour. Private peoplecarried smaller reminders of their own mortality. Mary, Queen of Scots owned alarge watch carved in the form of a silver skull, embellished with the lines ofHorace, "Pale death knocks with the same tempo upon the huts of the poorand the towers of Kings." In the late 16th and through the 17th century,memento mori jewelry was popular. Items included mourning rings, pendants,lockets, and brooches. These pieces depicted tiny motifs of skulls, bones, andcoffins, in addition to messages and names of the departed, picked out inprecious metals and enamel. During the same period there emerged the artisticgenre known as vanitas, Latin for "emptiness" or "vanity".Especially popular in Holland and then spreading to other European nations,vanitas paintings typically represented assemblages of numerous symbolicobjects such as human skulls, guttering candles, wilting flowers, soap bubbles,butterflies, and hourglasses. In combination, vanitas assemblies conveyed theimpermanence of human endeavours and of the decay that is inevitable with thepassage of time. See also the themes associated with the image of the skull.

In classical antiquity : Thephilosopher Democritus trained himself by going into solitude and frequentingtombs. Plato's Phaedo, where the death of Socrates is recounted, introduces theidea that the proper practice of philosophy is "about nothing else butdying and being dead". The Stoics of classical antiquity were particularlyprominent in their use of this discipline, and Seneca's letters are full ofinjunctions to meditate on death. The Stoic Epictetus told his students thatwhen kissing their child, brother, or friend, they should remind themselvesthat they are mortal, curbing their pleasure, as do "those who standbehind men in their triumphs and remind them that they are mortal". TheStoic Marcus Aurelius invited the reader (himself) to "consider how ephemeraland mean all mortal things are" in his Meditations. In some accounts ofthe Roman triumph, a companion or public slave would stand behind or near thetriumphant general during the procession and remind him from time to time ofhis own mortality or prompt him to "look behind". A version of thiswarning is often rendered into English as "Remember, Caesar, thou artmortal", for example in Fahrenheit 451.

In Judaism : Severalpassages in the Old Testament urge a remembrance of death. In Psalm 90, Mosesprays that God would teach his people "to number our days that we may geta heart of wisdom" (Ps. 90:12). In Ecclesiastes, the Preacher insists that"It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house offeasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it toheart" (Eccl. 7:2). In Isaiah, the lifespan of human beings is compared tothe short lifespan of grass: "The grass withers, the flower fades when thebreath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass" (Is. 40:7).

In early Christianity : Theexpression memento mori developed with the growth of Christianity, whichemphasized Heaven, Hell, and salvation of the soul in the afterlife. The2nd-century Christian writer Tertullian claimed that during his triumphalprocession, a victorious general would have someone (in later versions, aslave) standing behind him, holding a crown over his head and whispering"Respice post te. Hominem te memento" ("Look after you [to thetime after your death] and remember you're [only] a man."). Though inmodern times this has become a standard trope, in fact no other ancient authorsconfirm this, and it may have been Christian moralizing rather than an accuratehistorical report.

>>>Expertise on the metal: GUARANTEEDSOLID SILVER(900 / 925)&VERY THICKandSTRONG23/24 ktGOLDPlatedand Silver haveauthentic GENUINE OLD PATINA

>>>Numismatic Note : On the detailed pictures, the buyer can see the condition ofthis item, good condition, strong !!! Choice about extremely fine detail with agorgeous patina !!! A stunning and exceptional example of this humongousartifact !!!

>>>WEARABLE RING

MEASUREMENTS & WEIGHT

<>13.50 grams <>

<> 21.30 mm Inner diameter <>

<>Condition :Extremely Fine!!!<>

>>>Dear buyers, please keep in mind that we are dealing with ancient and antiqueitems. You should not expect ancient and antique items to be as brand new ones.They always have some degree of wearing. Please, take care to examine thephotos and read descriptions. Thank you.

PROVENANCE :Formerly acquired at the ancient art market in Munich, Germany in 1995.

>>> Thephotos are part of the description in this Listing !!! Dear Customers, you willreceive exactly the same item which you see on the pictures, not similar orother. Please read the description carefully and review the photos. All items,which I sell, are captured with high - photographic equipment and the photos,which I insert in my sales, are with high resolution. The photos areabsolutely clear and the potential buyer can truly identify the item, which purchased.Photos are not further processed by specialized software! Upon purchase myitem, you will receive exactly the same item which you saw on the photo !!! Thepictures in listing are CLEAR with opportunities ZOOM for expansion so that youcan perfectly identify all the details of item !

>>>RETURNS : IF YOU HAVE ANY REASON TO DOUBT A ITEM THAT YOU HAVE PURCHASED, YOUMAY RETURN IT WITHIN 14 DAYS !!!

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