Roman Miniature Skeleton - Reproduction

Reproduction of a Roman miniature bronze skeleton in the collection of the Getty Villa Museum. Made of bronze, this 1st century Roman articulated skeleton in the collection of the Getty Museum features round eye sockets and a wide, grinning mouth with large upper teeth. Its arms now missing and only the upper part of one leg remaining, the skeleton, referred to by the Romans as larva convivalis, meaning banquet ghost, was once made to jump and dance and was a reminder of the brevity of human life, and necessity of profiting from the short time which remained. In Petronius’ satirical novel, The Satyricon (CE 60s), Trimalchio, the crass, nouveau-rich host of a dinner party, brings out a small skeleton between courses. With its flexible joints, Trimalchio poses the skeleton in various ways, and recites a poem to the affect that life is short and should be enjoyed before becoming a skeleton like the one on display. He declares “Alas for us poor mortals. Thus we shall be, after Hades takes