  About the Artwork
  
  
  This small ivory carving conveys one of the most profound themes of the late Middle Ages. The death mask joined to the gruesome skull serves as a memento mori, a reminder of the transitory nature of life and the inevitability of death. The repetition of prayers and liturgical texts was important part of medieval devotion. The rosary is a collection of these texts devoted to the Virgin Mary, which became popular by the fourteenth century. The strings of beads used to assist those in saying the long sequences of recitations became known as rosaries. This carving is pierced vertically for suspension, consistent with its original function as pendant to a rosary or chaplet, a shorter string of devotional beads.
  
  
  Title
  Pendant to a Rosary or Chaplet
  
  
  Artwork Date
  between 1500 and 1525
  
  Artist
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  Life Dates
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  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  French
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
  French
  
  
  Medium
  Elephant ivory with traces of polychromy
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 2 3/4 × 1 1/4 × 1 1/2 inches (7 × 3.2 × 3.8 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Sculpture
  
  
  Department
  European Sculpture and Dec Arts
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, General Art Purchase Fund, Insurance Recovery Fund, David L. Klein, Jr. Memorial Foundation, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Fund, Henry Ford II Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hamilton Fund for Medieval Art, with additional funds from Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hamilton
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  1990.315
  
  
  Copyright
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