Each bead of the rosary represents the bust of a well-fed
burgher or maiden on one side, and a skeleton on the
other. The terminals, even more graphically, show the
head of a deceased man, with half the image eaten away
from decay. Such images served as reminders that life is
fleeting and that leading a virtuous life as a faithful
Christian is key to salvation.
PSA: Yes I know it does not look like a Rosary! But that’s the description of it given everywhere including the Museum so it is what it is.
by CryptographerKey2847
2 Comments
Oh wow this is I want to say deep instead of dark, it’s pretty incredible! I wonder if rosaries were structured differently by region or era? I bought my brother a kind of a wrist/ man’s rosary so it was just one where you would go round and round instead of having the entire length in beads
Memento mori