A Fine Napoleonic French Prisoner of War carved bone model of the Revolutionary Guillotine

Period: 1800-1900

Origin: France

Medium: carved bone

Dimension: 23 x 4.5 x 15 cm (9 x 1³/₄ x 5⁷/₈ inches)

Literature: Made with the bones of animals used for their rations this exact scale model of a French Revolutionary guillotine shows the great skill of the prisoners of war carving with limited materials , and gives the impression that time was no object .
The guillotine was the invention of a French physician and revolutionary called Joseph Ignace Guillotin ( 1738 - 1814 ) . He proposed that the Constituent Assembly of which he was a Deputy should use a decapitating instrument as a means of execution . This was adopted in 1791 and named after him , although a similar apparatus had been used earlier in Scotland , Germany and Italy .