Model Guillotine
ClassificationsSculpture-models
Date1770-1825
Made AtFrance, Europe
MediumBone and pigment
Dimensions15 1/2 x 14 x 5 3/4 in. (39.4 x 35.6 x 14.6 cm)
Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. Burton W. Fink
Object number2011.25.73
DescriptionGuillotine automaton models made of bone such as this one are a result of the Napoleonic Wars (1770-1825). French prisoners of war who had been captured and imprisoned on ships by English forces were fed a diet of mutton, and the most enterprising of these captives did not let anything granted them go to waste. Over a lengthy period of time, they softened the bones that came with the meat so that they could be molded and carved like clay.The most famous prisoner of war carvings are exquisitely crafted vessels built from memory in the style of French ships to be sold in English markets. This guillotine appears to have come out of this same tradition. The guillotine was a French execution device, indicating that the blue-coated soldiers decorating the carving are also French, a detail which would otherwise have been consistent with either French or English uniforms. Despite a balustrade decorated with hearts, these examples are deeply unsettling, with the figure in the guillotine even having a detachable head.
On View
Not on view
1770-1825
1754-1763
c. 1800
19th Century
19th Century
19th Century
19th Century
1910-1911
1960s