Antique Memento Mori Crucifix with Skull and Crossbones, Ebony Inlay Pectoral Cross

A large pectoral crucifix with ebonized ground and silvered corpus, mounted with a skull and crossbones at the foot of the cross. The skull at Calvary represents Golgotha — "the place of the skull" — and the grave of Adam, and marks this as a memento mori cross of the kind carried by professed religious and placed in the hands of the dying. A striking and desirable devotional antique.