Memento mori is an artistic or symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death. The concept has its roots in the philosophers of classical antiquity, and appeared in funeral art and architecture of the medieval period. Memento mori jewelry with skull or coffin motifs became popular in the late 16th century, and it was reflected in the artistic genre of vanitas, where symbolic objects such as hourglasses and wilting flowers signified the impermanence of human life.
