Eleusinian Still Life
The Athenian suburb of Eleusis was known for the Eleusinian mystery cult. Many of its exact beliefs and rituals remain a mystery, but it is clear that the central myth of the cult was that of Demeter and her daughter Persephone, and the abduction of Persephone by Hades. The myth accounts for the natural change of seasons, and apparently for the cult also suggested the possibility of a pleasant afterlife, which was a unique theology among the Greeks.
In this still life the bucket of wheat is representative of the harvest, or of Demeter, and the skull is representative of death, or Hades. The hand reaching out from the wheat is Persephone's. She was picking flowers at the time of her abduction. The dead arm that reaches up, grabbing her, is that of Hades.