Death
Astride a skeletal steed and outfitted with a quiver of arrows, this figure of Death grips a bow in one hand and points with the other, seemingly singling out the next victim on a battlefield. Death’s plumed turban may be an exoticized reference to the Ottoman Empire, as this statuette was made during a period of heightened military conflict between the Habsburg rulers of the Holy Roman Empire and their Ottoman counterparts. Safely at home, a European collector examining this sculpture near their Kunstkammer would be reminded of the very imminent and violent danger of death at the hands of a long-standing enemy.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
