Side 1: head of woman.
Carved inscription: 'ELLAS NEST IL POINT POSSIBLE TAN ECHAPER' ('Alas it is not possible to escape from it' [i.e. death]).
Side 2: skull.
Carved inscription: 'MEMENTO'.
Dalton 1909: French, 16th century.
Museum's opinion 2011: French, 16th century.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Carved in the round.
Object Condition
Pierced with a hole for suspension.
Provenance
Collection of William Maskell (b. 1814, d. 1890); British Museum, by purchase, 1856.
Bibliography
O. M. Dalton, Catalogue of the Ivory Carvings of the Christian Era in the British Museum (London, 1909), no. 443, pl. CV.
P. Williamson, 'Medieval Ivory Carvings in the Wernher Collection', in Apollo (May 2002), pp. 17-22 (p. 20, no. 28).
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