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Lot of 2 Antique Death Masks

Currency:USD Category:Antiques Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:NA
Lot of 2 Antique Death Masks
SOLD
100.00USDto C**************t+ buyer's premium (18.00)
This item SOLD at 2024 Mar 20 @ 19:30UTC-4 : AST/EDT
Terms on Chattels: Visa, Mastercard, Discover & Wire Transfer Accepted. 18% Buyer's Premium on all sales with 3% cash discount and 6.5% sales tax on applicable sales. All sales are final. Items are “AS IS” Information is believed to be accurate but cannot be guaranteed. Auctioneers reserve the right to bid. Buyer is responsible for any shipping charges. See full terms.
Lot of 2 Antique Death Masks
By the late Middle Ages, Europe had become obsessed with death, after the plague wiped out up to 50% of the population in just four traumatic years. It was at this moment that true death masks superseded the sculpted, artistic kind. These likenesses, created by moulding wax or plaster over the face, were a useful way of fossilising the features of deceased relatives, so that sculptors could use them as a reference for the lifelike portraits displayed at funerals. Then in the 18th Century, something unexpected happened: people began to value death masks for their own sake.
For the next 200 years, doctors across Europe set about assiduously preserving these glimpses of the moments after death for posterity. The faces of icons, criminals and even babies were immortalised in grisly detail – a practise that coincided with a surge of interest in the pseudoscience phrenology, in which a person's personality traits were inferred from the features of their skull. Many death masks were turned into spooky heirlooms, while some became souvenirs that command six-figure sums to this day. One was revered as an object of beauty comparable to the Mona Lisa, inspiring countless artworks and wild theories.