South German Carved Bone Rosary Bead
A South German Carved Bone Rosary Bead ‘Memento Mori’ depicting the Head of Christ and a Skull
17th Century
Size: 3.5cm high, 3.5cm deep, 3cm wide - 1¼ ins high, 1¼ deep, 1 ins wide
See: Finch & Co catalogue no. 7, item no. 70, for an Italian example
17th Century
Size: 3.5cm high, 3.5cm deep, 3cm wide - 1¼ ins high, 1¼ deep, 1 ins wide
See: Finch & Co catalogue no. 7, item no. 70, for an Italian example
The large central carved bead of the rosary would mark the end of a cycle of prayer and the beginning of the next naturally prompting the worshipper to ‘remember me’. Rosaries assisted the devoted in accurately repeating from memory the correct number of prayers and incantations required by his faith. The 11th century bequest of Lady Godiva to the monastery of Coventry includes ‘a circlet of gems which she threaded on a string in order that by fingering them one by one as she successively recited her prayers, she might not fall short of the exact number’.
South German Carved Bone Rosary Bead
SOLD
