Memento mori ring, 1850-1930

Metal memento mori finger ring, each half of the band is in the form of an arched skeleton, there is a large skull wedged between their two heads

‘Memento mori’ translates from Latin as ‘Remember you must die’. This metal memento mori ring is in the form of two arched skeletons, with a large skull wedged between their two heads. Such rings were reminders of death. They prompted people about the shortness of life and the inevitability of death.

A skull was typically used to represent death from the 1500s onwards. It gradually replaced the common older image of a skeleton leading a living person off to their death.