Probably France, 15th Century

Sotheby's London, 9 December 2005, lot 95.

This fragmentary torso would have been a part of a funerary monument, with the decomposing cadaver reminding the viewer of their transitory position in this world. This work is a part of a larger artistic trope called Memento Mori, which translates to remember you must die, and, like the present work, was used to highlight the inescapability of death.