This bronze death mask of the executed Irish Republican and rebel leader Robert Emmet (1778-1803) was made from the original taken by the portrait miniaturist and antiques dealer James Petrie (d.1819). Petrie is said to have inveigled his way into Kilmainham Jail in Dublin shortly after Emmet’s execution.
The mask is estimated at €800-1,200 in Whyte’s Eclectic Collector auction on April 6 in Dublin.