‘For Heaven’s Sake’ is a life-size platinum cast of an infant human skull pavé-set with brilliant-cut pink and fine white diamonds. The cast is set with 8,128 perfect diamonds: 7,105 of which are natural fancy pink, while the fontanel contains 1,023 white diamonds. It was unveiled in 2010 at Gagosian Gallery Hong Kong’s inaugural exhibition, ‘Forgotten Promises’.
The skull from which the cast was taken was acquired by Hirst whilst he was working on the first diamond skull, ‘For the Love of God’ (2007). It is that of an infant estimated to be between 40 and 42 weeks of age and was purchased as part of a rare collection of 19th century human skulls and skeletons from Leiden that originated from the Delft pathology collection.