#1083: Skull & serpent sculpture by dental student

A unique skull and serpent sculpture executed in dental bisque. It was reportedly crafted in 1900 by a dental school student at Chicago who was demonstrating his artistic ability for an assignment in connection with his training.

While the skull and serpent motif has a long history, this example is much more finely executed than is typically found and exhibits a fine level of anatomical detail. Historically, the serpent in the skull is always making its way through the socket that was the eye: knowledge persists beyond death, the emblem says, and the serpent has the secret.  Interestingly, in this example the serpent enters the skull via a healed perforation above the left eye.

The sculpture is the size of a small child’s skull, measuring about 4 inches wide and about 7 inches long from top of the back side of skull to the front teeth. There is no lower jaw. The level of detail suggests it was carefully modeled from a real skull. No signature or other identification marks have been found.

The sculpture is in fine condition, noting a possible break in the snake’s body where it crosses the top of the head. This could have occurred during the casting process. Regardless, the snake is sound and complete.

One of the images below shows the sculpture next to an adult skull, for comparison.

CA 1900   $285 

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