Death

Unknown

mid-17th century · Lindenwood with traces of pigment, spruce base · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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.

Artist

Unknown

Date

mid-17th century

Medium

Lindenwood with traces of pigment, spruce base

Culture

German

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917