The skull symbolises death when appearing in most paintings. Being the only part of the body to be preserved for considerable time, one believed the skeleton might come to life at a later stage. Hunters would leave the skeleton of the dead animals to "the earth".
When painting this upper part of a fox’ skull, Kolby has made a homage to its beauty of natural form. Mirroring itself in the polished table, it represents the aesthetics of nature, the unbound, untouched and eternal form - a contrast to the hard polished and crafted beauty of the mahogany table - this Manmade object.
