Death

mid-17th century

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 520

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.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: Death
Date: mid-17th century
Culture: German
Medium: Lindenwood with traces of pigment, spruce base
Dimensions: wt. confirmed: 12 1/8 × 11 1/2 in., 22.926oz. (30.8 × 29.2 cm, 650g)
Classification: Sculpture-Miniature
Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number: 17.190.729
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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Death on the Battlefield, from 'The five deaths' (Les cinq Morts), Stefano della Bella Italian, Etching; proof state retouched with graphite and pen and brown ink — Death on the Battlefield, from 'The five deaths' (Les cinq Morts)
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