Rare German Nuremberg Carved Ivory Anatomical Model of a Pregnant Woman by Stephan Zick (1639 - 1715)

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Object Description

A Rare German Nuremberg Carved Ivory Anatomical Model of a Pregnant Woman by Stephan Zick (1639 – 1715) ‘Memento Mori’
The stomach and chest disassembling to reveal the internal organs and a foetus within the uterus the body presented in a deathly repose upon a velvet and gold braid covered wood funeral bier
Some internal organs missing
Circa 1680

Size: 5.5cm high, 24cm long, 6cm wide – 2¼ ins high, 9½ ins long, 2¼ ins wide

Object History

Provenance:
Ex Private collection Gunther Bloch, friend of Ernest Ohly London
Ex Private European collection

cf: An example in Herzog Anton-Ulrich Museum collections of Duke Carl I Braunschweig Inv. no. Elf 187
The most distinguishing feature of Stephan Zick’s work are the ‘scored’ kneecaps of the recumbent figures

Object Literature

In the 15th century artists and anatomists began to dissect cadavers to discover how the human body actually operates and these early investigations formed the basis of modern medical science. With the ground breaking drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, anatomical illustration, such as his ‘Fetus in Otero’, developed into an important art form, so that both art and science contributed to the development of medicine. During the 16th and 17th centuries interest in human anatomy grew with many books and prints illustrating the body dissected to reveal the organs, muscles, nerves and skin. The painting by Rembrandt ‘the anatomy lesson of Dr Tulp’ shows a very similar figure of a deceased pregnant woman to these ivories.
However, although these models depict women who have died in childbirth, Zick and his followers did not produce them for study by the medical profession as the placement of the organs does not correspond with late 17th century anatomical findings. For example in these models the heart is positioned at the centre of the thorax. These ‘vanitas’ were made for viewers to contemplate their own mortality whilst removing and replacing the body parts that made life possible. Sometimes, instead of a funeral bier, the recumbent figures were placed inside a coffin-shaped box emphasising ‘memento mori’.

Object Details

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Exhibition address: (June and December, contact for details)
Cromwell Place
4 Cromwell Place
London
SW7 2JE

Rue Ernest Allard, 32
Brussels
Sablon
1000
Belgium (by appointment)

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