Featured Can anyone identify this item, please?

So the hourglass is sitting on a postal scale. I guess it's a get-your-Christmas-shopping-done-early theme.

 

It is the detail that made me ID it as Golgotha rather than as Calvary.

 

Golgotha and Calvary are the same place, the location of the skull of Adam. Golgothas or Golgotha is the name in Koine Greek, Calvariae is the name in Vulgate Latin, which became Calvary in English.
A skull on a crucifix is a reference to the skull of Adam, and of Christ's resurrection, going beyond death.

 

Postal scale! Thank you!

Debora

 

What is the structure on the right hand side of the work? A tower? If it's the artist's rendition of the tower of Babel (never seen it depicted like that, though), then maybe the piece is pointing to the Bible verse Rev 18:23, as well as the concepts in the rest of the passage. If the tower is a structure in the Roman Vatican, then we're getting closer to the meaning, for the crucifix with the skull and bones also points to Catholicism.

What about the pair of boxes (for lack of a better term) with the drawers beneath the skull? They look a bit like the alms boxes the collection money goes into during Catholic masses.

And what are those things that look a bit like dusters on top of the boxes. Pens and Quills?

Also, I keep thinking that candle was sliced with a sword and didn't just break from the force of gravity after a mighty shaking.

 

Let's bring it forward where we can see it:

 

I think the box is a desk caddy with a spot for an ink well. Looks like there are a couple of quill pens. I did some research on the candlestick, appears to be 18th century.

 

That's how I see it too. It's definitely of the vanitas type, with the notable exception of the absence of a skull. It's very spare over all, omitting many of the elements common to others, no gems or coins or exotic seashells, no indicators of wealth. The crucifix has been treated with exceptional violence.

 

i have looked with a 10x magnifying glass but can't find any signature. I only see some scratches or lines
I wonder if this could be signature

 

i don't know what you mean with outside the image
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cleaver... i thougt it was a birds leg at first and i didnt undestand wat it meant.

 

Christ fallen from the cross. The artist hopes for the fall of Christianity?
Or the artist thinks Christianity has failed Christ? (If so, not too wrong there.)

 

I believe it is a letter scale also. The hour glass because of its shape makes me think Odd Fellows or Masonic.

 

A pretty generic hourglass imo.
It is good to know that Hi2022 is in The Netherlands, where we have very few Oddfellows or Masons. It is more of a thing in the English speaking world.

 

The edge of the plate creates a mark, you can see it on the back of the paper. I was just noting that the space between the edge of the image and the edge of the plate was a little larger than typical for the size of the print. When I was studying printmaking we would trim that margin closer and then use the cutoffs to test the "bite" of the etching solution.