Spice Box Shaped as a Skull

17th century

German

A fitting accessory for an eerie end, this tiny macabre pendant—under an inch tall and wide—is also a rather surprisingly complicated spice box. The miniature spring-loaded button on the top opens the skull to reveal two sections, the back one divided into four compartments, and a panel engraved with the names of four aromatics: Negal (cloves), Muscha (nutmeg), Canel (cinnamon) and Schlag (schlagwasser, a mixture of brandy, primrose petals, and violets, thought to be a cardiac stimulant). The openings for the eye sockets, nasal passages, and missing teeth are not just anatomically correct; these perforations would have allowed the fragrances of the secreted spices to waft out and work their medicinal magic.

Status: On View, Gallery 238
Department: Applied Arts of Europe

Title: Spice Box Shaped as a Skull
Place: Germany (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1600–1699
Medium: Silver gilt
Dimensions: 3.2 × 2.2 × 2.7 cm (1 7/8 × 1 1/16 × 1 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Marilynn B. Alsdorf
Reference Number: 1992.505
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/119546/manifest.json

Ian Wardropper et al, Renaissance Jewelry in the Alsdorf Collection. The Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 25, 2 (2000), pp. 76-78 and 97, no. 40.

The Baltimore Museum of Art, Renaissance Jewels and Jeweled Objects from the Melvin Gutman Collection, 1962-68, cat. 66.

Melvin Gutman, New York, by 1962; his sale, New York, Parke-Bernet, Oct. 17, 1969, no. 27; Marilynn B. Alsdorf, Chicago [according to Wardropper 2000, p. 4]; given to the Art Institute, 1992.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.