Crawling
with maggots, this unusual wooden model shows a decomposing corpse
exposed by an open coffin. Little is known about the model. It is
thought to be a memento mori. These objects are reminders of death and
the shortness of life. Memento mori come in different shapes and sizes.
Up until the 1500s, death was often represented by a skeleton leading a
living victim to their fate. A skull became a more common representation
of death after this date. What makes this piece even more creepy is that its origin is unknown.
Memento mori (a Latin phrase for “remember your mortality”)
are objects that were usually carried or worn by a person as a reminder
of one’s mortality. What’s particularly interesting about them is that
they were very common objects for hundreds of years. They served the
purpose of reminding the owner of mortality and the shortness of life.
Prior to the 15th century, the objects would usually be in the shape of a
full skeleton or a combination of a skeleton and a healthy body. Early
in 16th century, the trend evolved into the image of a skull or half
skull, half face. The ones above served a practical purpose in that they
contains a pocket watch.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the trend of having
memento mori objects went out of fashion. This was around the same time
that families ceased having viewings of deceased loved ones in the home
and used mortuaries instead. The concept of caring for a family member’s
body until burial was no longer the cultural norm. As a society we have distanced ourselves from the concept of death both mentally and physically. Considering death is as natural to life as birth, this is not necessarily a positive trend.
