Phrenology Skull

• Year2017
• Dimensions
  Frame: 16.5cm x 16.5cm x 1.5cm / 6.5" x 6.5" x .6"
  Embossed panel: 9cm x 9cm / 3.5" x 3.5"
• MediaEmbossed pewter, paper illustration
• SOLD 
• AvailableClick here to enquire

Phrenology was a pseudoscience, popular in the mid 19th Century, that suggested one’s personality and character could be predicted by delicate measurements of the skull. It was a primitive form of neuroscience that would eventually be discarded, though thankfully for collectors of vintage curiosities, it left behind a legacy of gorgeously detailed phrenology busts. For this piece I have embossed a skull and cut away the metal in the brain area to reveal a vintage illustration, showing the areas of the brain that were supposedly responsible for different kinds of thoughts and character traits. The piece is framed in a detailed black wooden frame, there’s a hook for hanging and also a fold out stand so it can be placed on a flat surface.