<I>Wire frame, headstone</I>

ca. 1879-1962

Symbols of mortality were collectively referred to as memento mori (meaning remember you will die), and many of these symbols that were translated to flower frames. Through their physical, formal, material, and functional characteristics, these objects evoked the brevity of life on earth. Iconic shapes such as the stopped clock, headstone, sickle, broken wreath, sheaf, scales, and hourglass were handed down from through funeral paraphernalia, mourning art, and in print from the Middle Ages.