Metal cup, a copy of the original silver cup in the Louvre, decorated with a series of skeletons depicting the dance of death, Roman

Decorated with skeletons, both adult and infant, the silver cup on the right represents the ‘Dance of Death’. As a memento mori, this cup reminds drinkers of the shortness of life and the inevitability of death. This cup is a copy of the original silver version, which is in the Louvre in Paris, France. It is shown here with a similar example (A629455). The original Louvre cup was found during excavations in 1895, part of what is known as ‘The Boscoreale treasure’, which was buried by its owner prior to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79.