PLAQUETTES, BRONZE PLAQUE, IVORY FIGURES, CRUCIFIX FIGURES
PLAQUETTES, BRONZE PLAQUE, IVORY FIGURES, CRUCIFIX FIGURES
A SOUTH GERMAN BRONZE PLAQUETTE of the anointing of David, after Hansjamnitzer, in gilt bronze floral frame.
A SPANISH BRONZE RELIEF of St. Sebastian shown pierced by seven arrows, tied to a tree, his helmet and breastplate on the ground on either side of him, early 17th Century.
AN ITALIAN BRONZE PAX cast with the figure of Christ in Majesty, a shell below, 16th Century.
A FRENCH BRONZE PLAQUE, cast in low reef with Hercules killing the Hydra, shown standing amidst rocks striking with a club at the seven-headed beast, riel brown patina, and 17th Century style.
A SPANISH BRONZE PLAQUE of St. James the Great, standing in a rocky landscape, an open book in his left hand and a pilgrim’s staff in his right, late 17th century, suspension hoop a later addition.
A FINE SPANISH GILT BRONZE PLAQUE of Christ at the pillar, standing with His left arm bound high above His head, right arm tied behind the column, naked but for a finely hatched cloth held up at His loin by a rope, cast with particular care for detail,.) Circa 1600, later marble frame.
See Weber, for a Spanish late 16th century plaque of similar quality, now in the Cluny Museum, Paris.
A RECTANGULAR NETHERLANDISH LEAD
PLAQUETTE of the Judgement of Paris, derived, with alterations, from the Raimondi engraving after Raphael of the same subject, 17th Century.
IVORIES
AN IVORY CHALICE, in Gothic style, the hex foil foot etched with acanthus alternating with shields, rising to a knops carved with six roundels, five of them with portraits of saints, the lobed cup with ten niches enclosing figures surmounted by cricketed gables, 9in. high (23cm.)
AN ATTRACTIVE AUSTRIAN IVORY AND STAGHORN CUP, the stem carved with a bear hunting scene of intricately entwined animals, the stag horn beaker inset with oval reliefs of hounds, later gilt metal liner, 17th 18th century.
AN IMPORTANT GERMAN IVORY RELIEF by Ignaz Elhafen, with Jupiter as Satyr and Antipope with Cupid, the Satyr and the Nymph sitting on a festooned sole in front of a tree and a vase, Cupid lying asleep at her feet, a faun and a number of nymphs in the middle- and background, inscribed in ink on the back ‘Jupiter … late 17th century, some discolouring, one finger from Antipope’s right hand missing.
Ignaz Elhafen (1658-1715) used the engraving ‘Venus and a Satyr with Amor’ by Lukas Kieran as a source for this relief adding the vase, the Faun and the Nymphs. Probably one of a series of four reliefs carved with scenes of Classical Mythology, now dispersed in private collections in Toronto, Liechtenstein and the Wallace Collection.
A SPANISH IVORY FIGURE of Christ crucified, the
emaciated body hanging with widely stretched arms,
with agonised expression, open mouth and half-closed
eyes, the peritoneum loosely bound by a rope, brown
stain, (23.5cm. by 19cm.) Seville, circa 1700, with travelling case.
Obviously influenced by Francisco Antonio Ruiz (or Ruiz Gijon) 1653-1715?) one of the most important sculptors in Seville around 1700.
A FINE FLEMISH IVORY CRUCIFIX FIGURE, attributed to Mattheus van Beveren, the dead Christ’s body suspended by His arms stretched out above His head, His peritoneum loosening, carved in one piece, mid-17th century, mounted on framed board
See ‘La Sculpture au Siecle de Rubens’, Brussels, 1977, nos. 158-165 and 312 for works by or attributed to Mattheus van Beveren (Antwerp 1630- d. Brussels 1690).
A SOUTH GERMAN IVORY EQUESTRIAN GROUP, the rearing stallion saddled with a lion skin and ridden by a naked Amazon, with grimacing expression, brandishing an axe in her right hand and a shield, carved in low relief with masks and scrolling foliage, on her left arm, on a rockwork base carved with leaves, 9in. (23cm.) circa 1680-1700, on tortoiseshell inlaid ebony pedestal.
This group is apparently influenced by the earlier elaborate ivory groups of men and women fighting monsters and performing other energetic feats by the sculptor now known as the Master of the Furies, three examples of which were in the Austrian Imperial Collection, illustrated by Julius von Schlosser.
A GERMAN IVORY FIGURE OF HOPE, from the workshops of Leonhard Kern, she stands draped with a loin cloth and holding a parrot (?), an archer behind her, a child kneeling at her right side.
For two similar groups, one in the Narodni Gallery, Prague, of Diana with putt and two dogs and another of the same subject, in the Hermitage, Leningrad, see Dr. Christian Theuerkauff, ‘Some Works of Leonhard Kern’.
AN IMPORTANT IVORY FIGURE of Fulvia with the head of Cicero, by Leonhard Kern, the heroine Standing dressed in a long garment flowing down from a girdle round her hips, her head slightly inclined to sinister to-wards the head of Cicero in her left arm, her right hand fused to the protruding tongue of Cicero’s mouth, carved with hexagonal base, about 1625.
See Elisabeth Grunenwald, Leonhard Kern, Ein Bildhauer des Barock’, Schwabisch Hall, 1969, for figures by Leonhard Kern (1585-1662) in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; they were all carved around 1625/30, when Kern took particular care for detail and finish in the execution of his figures, characteristics which can be clearly observed on the ‘Fulvia’.
The story goes that after Cicero had been killed by Anthony’s troops, Fulvia had his head delivered to her house, where she threaded a golden bodkin through his tongue as a symbol of his famous eloquence.
A FLEMISH IVORY CRUCIFIX FIGURE, Christ with His head lowered onto His chest, His peritoneum finely carved and tied on His right hip, 17th Century, on ebony cross, in arched wood and glass case lined with red velvet.
A FLEMISH IVORY CRUCIFIX FIGURE, Christ’s head raised, His eyes gazing upwards, mouth open in distress, well figured hair, peritoneum with deep fold and long sash, late 17th Century, fingers lacking, mounted on a later cross.
A SOUTH GERMAN IVORY MASK of a Satyr, after Christian Angermeier, the fierce face with slanted eyes, wide nostrils and showing the teeth, framed by curls and a plaited beard, large pointed ears, the ears carved separately.
Grotesque masks of this kind were used as mounts for strangely deformed stags’ antlers and horns, which were collected and included in the ‘Kunstkammer’ treasures for their rarity and oddity. See Dr. Peter Volk, ‘Satyrkopfe mit Geweihen in Maximilians Kammergalerie’, Munchen.
AN IVORY RELIEF of a Putto, carved facing to Dexter, high (12cm.) 17th Century.
A FLEMISH IVORY RAPPOIR finely carved with a miser clutching a bag of gold to his breast, after Jan Steen, beneath him garlands of fruit and flowers and a winged, burning heart, the top and base carved with the fruits of the earth, the back with original grater, early 18th century.
AN IVORY SNUFF RASP carved in low relief with Apollo carrying off Daphne, with a mask below, (18cm.) Flemish, 18th century.