English Carved White Marble Tomb Sculpture of a Skull 'Memento Mori'

Period: 1500-1700

Origin: England

Medium: White marble

Literature: The image of the skull found on a church memorial can be both a vanitas and a reference to the grave of Adam as it was thought that Golgotha 'the place of the skull' and the site of Christ's crucifixion, lay on the site of Adam's grave. Theologians came to see Jesus as the 'New Adam' whose crucifixion bridged the division between humankind and God that Adam had caused.