German elephant ivory Vanitas with skull - 18th-19th century

"Memento Mori", Vanitas represented by an elephant ivory skull (Loxodonta africana Blumenbach, 1797 or Elephas maximus Linnaeus, 1758) carved in the full round and depicted with a snake coiling around the underside of the jaw and emerging from the right eyeball.
A vanitas is a symbolic work of art showing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. The skull was the symbol of death from the 1500s onwards; previously death was represented as a skeleton. Skulls were very popular in the Baroque period and were not only an essential part of any Chamber of Wonders (Wunderkammer), but also acted as contemplative reminders of mortality.
Height x width x depth: 14 x 11 x 12.5 cm. Weight: 1865 g.
Item condition grading: **** good (minor cracks).
Accompanied by CITES certificate.

This lot is available for sale only with shipments within the European Union; the CITES certificate for export outside the European Community can only be requested for lots sold to museums.