**Love beyond death: marriage ring with skull and skeleton motif from the late 16th century.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

Skulls and Skeletons

Skeletons and skulls have become cult symbols through artists and rock bands. However, the representation of life and death have a much older tradition.

Beatriz Chadour-Sampson

Based in England Beatriz Chadour-Sampson is an international jewellery historian. Her publications range from Antiquity to the present day, such as 2000 Finger Rings from the Alice and Louis Koch Collection, Switzerland (1994) of which she continues to be a consultant for the Swiss National Museum.

In modern culture, skulls have many meanings: as a symbol of death they are a warning against violence or danger, against toxic or poisonous substances. As a design motif, skulls flourished in the pop culture of the 1960s, where they often symbolised rebellion or the breaking of traditional taboos.

In 1969 the pop artist Andy Warhol began his series of vibrantly coloured ‘Skull’ paintings, possibly initiated by his near-fatal shooting experience a year earlier. Rock music bands such as the Grateful Dead or Mötorhead frequently employed skull and skeleton imagery in their graphics and, in more recent years, the skull in particular has become increasingly present in fashion and jewellery trends. These modern usages are a legacy of a much older history of skulls and skeletons as design motifs on European art and jewellery, where the symbolism was more nuanced than simply a portent of death, and embraced a more philosophical approach to human rites of passage.

**Andy Warhol's skulls influenced not only rock bands, but also the fashion industry.** Wikimedia

Lemmy Kilmister, frontman of Mötorhead swore by skulls. — **Lemmy Kilmister, frontman of u003cemu003eMötorheadu003c/emu003e swore by skulls.** Wikimedia

Rings, the most intimate of jewels, commemorate special events in life and often carry personal messages. Rubies and diamonds, symbolising love and virtue, were and continue to be the favoured choice of gemstones for betrothal and wedding rings, as seen in an example with interlocking twin rings, known as gimmel rings, which were popular in the later 16th and 17th centuries. A miniature enamelled sculpture of an infant in swaddling clothes is concealed inside the bezel of one of the rings, only visible when the two hoops are taken apart. In the corresponding compartment inside its twin is a skeleton, probably intended as a memento mori, a reminder of the inevitability of death and the need to lead a moral life.

It also acts as a reminder of the enduring nature of the marriage vow, part of which is engraved inside the hoops in Latin: ‘QUOD DEUS CONNIUNXIT, HOMO NON SEPARAT’ (What God has joined, let no man put asunder). Such rings were worn all over Europe, with similar inscriptions in vernacular English, Netherlandish, German or French. The two right hands supporting the bezel are part of the closing mechanism and represent faith and loyalty in married life.

**This marriage ring consists of two hoops.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

**When opened the bezel reveals a skeleton, a reminder of the transience of life.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

Continuing this surprising association of skulls with marriage is a late 16th/early 17th-century ring whose bezel consists of a skull supported by two skeletons. At the back of the hoop is the fede (Italian for trust) motif of conjoined right hands, found widely on Roman, medieval and Renaissance rings. The fede is reminiscent of the clasping of hands during the wedding ceremony and signified loyalty on betrothal or wedding rings. Equally unexpected is an early 18th-century enamelled gold ring in the form of a diamond studded skull and crossbones. Although the design appears simply decorative, the diamond was a well-established gemstone on betrothal rings from the late 15th century, symbolizing constancy and virtue.

**Facetted diamonds form the eyes and nose of the skull with sparkling surround. This betrothal or marriage ring dates from 1700-1710.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

Memento mori symbols – from the Latin meaning ‘Remember you must die’ - alluded to the inevitability of death and a reminder to obey Christian values. Across European arts, literature and music, the representation of Death had a moralizing purpose. The genre of vanitas still-life paintings emerged in the Netherlands in the early 17th century, such as the one by Adriaen van Utrecht (1599-1652), and soon spread throughout Europe.

Such paintings reminded the patron who commissioned the artwork of their mortality and the worthlessness of worldly fortunes or vanity. As well as the presence of the skull, the floral bouquet is beginning to wilt, the pocket watch and the hourglass signify the passage of time, and the book suggests the futility of intellectual pursuits. The costly wine glasses, elaborate gold cup and clay pipe with loose tobacco wrapped in paper are symbols of the worldly pleasures of drinking and smoking, and the coins, pearls and gold chain, ring and earrings are symbols of human vanity. The moral of the painting, and of jewellery bearing similar motifs, is clear: life is transient and earthly fortunes are fleeting.

**Still life by Adriaen van Utrecht, c. 1642.** Wikimedia

Skulls could also be used to convey religious convictions. Two snakes winding around the hoop of an early 18th-century, brightly enamelled skull ring emphasise the interconnectedness of life and death. The snake with its venomous bite represents death, but the natural regular shedding of its skin also symbolizes the Resurrection of Christ.

**This 18th century ring symbolises the closeness of life and death. The snake heads emerging from the sides represent death and rebirth, in combination with the skull.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

In the later 17th and 18th centuries, jewellery with imagery of coffins and skeletons alluded less to the moral concept of memento mori than to the mourning of a loved one. The coffin-shaped bezel on a dainty late 17th-century ring in black and white enamel conceals a skeleton, and the white cross on the coffin’s catafalque suggests it was worn as a sign of grief, emphasised by an eye on the hoop shoulder from which three tears fall. Mourning rings, especially in England, were made to commemorate the deceased and were often mentioned in wills as gifts of remembrance to friends and family. These are often inscribed with the name of the deceased, age and date of passing, as on an English ring of 1734 which reads in a mixture of English and Latin: Mary Friend, died 12 June 1734, aged 18. Mourning rings often included hair from the deceased, such as can be seen under crystal behind a tiny white skull on the bezel of this example.

**A coffin with miniature skeleton inside forms the bezel of this finger ring, made between 1690 and 1700.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

**Mourning ring with skull motif under rock crystal with hair of the deceased, was made in England in 1734.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

A late Victorian gold ring featuring sculptural figures and Gothic style architectural features was probably never worn, but instead kept as an objet de vertu. Looking back to much earlier symbolism - the design may follow a literary source - the themes are those of transience and redemption. Placed on a table elaborately draped with a tasselled tablecloth is a white enamelled skull as a memento mori symbol. A naturalistic owl perched on the table is an attribute of night, sleep and death and hovering below is a colourful butterfly, a symbol of the resurrected human soul. On the opposite side is a reclining figure of an angel with her hands held in prayer representing redemption.

Throughout the history of European jewellery we can see a fascination with the skull and skeleton as symbols of the cycle of life and death.

**Victorian ring with miniature still-life sculpture of a skull on a table, surrounded by an angel and an owl, as well as butterfly. The ring dates from about 1890 to 1900.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

The collection

National Museum Zurich

The exhibition showcases more than 7,000 exhibits from the Museum’s own collection, highlighting Swiss artistry and craftsmanship over a period of about 1,000 years. The exhibition spaces themselves are important witnesses to contemporary history, and tie in with the objects displayed to create a historically dense atmosphere that allows visitors to immerse themselves deeply in the past.

More of: Modern Age Culture Jewelry Article World of museums

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