Object Name
Artist/Maker
Object Type
Date
c. 1500-1530
Medium
boxwood
Credit Line
The British Museum, London, United Kingdom
Object Number
WB.240
Location
Not currently on display
Institution/Owner
External Link
Dimensions
0.0176 lb. (0.008 kg)
Overall Closed: 16mm × 21mm × 58mm (1.6 × 2.1 × 5.8 cm)
Overall Closed: 16mm × 21mm × 58mm (1.6 × 2.1 × 5.8 cm)
Description
Memento mori; coffin with ridged cover; carved in low relief with cruciform designs; opens to show two hinged leaves. One opens sideways and has carved on the inside devils with the damned and on the outside the saved souls beneath Christ seated in judgement. The inner leaf opens downwards and has on the outside more damned figures and devils, and opens to reveal within the cavity a naked chained figure of a man against a background of flames. He has a finger to his lips. Inside the open leaf is a scroll with inscription in Latin in black letters and initial letters in red. (from British Museum website)
Signature, Inscriptions, and Markings
Inscription
Latin inscription carved on back of fold out inner leaf, in Gothic script:
cogita mori ut vivas
[source: British Museum website]
cogita mori ut vivas
[source: British Museum website]
Published References
Charles Hercules Read, The Waddesdon Bequest: Catalogue of the works of art bequeathed to the British Museum by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, 1898, no. 240
Provenance
Provenance
Baron Anselm von Rothschild, Vienna, between 1866 and 1872; Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, London; acquired by British Museum 1898
Previous Owner(s)
Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild