A PAIR OF CARVED BOXWOOD RELIEFS OF TWO LADIES, ONE OF THEM ANNA OF HUNGARY
A PAIR OF CARVED BOXWOOD RELIEFS OF TWO LADIES, ONE OF THEM ANNA OF HUNGARY

STYLE OF HANS KELS, PROBABLY 16TH CENTURY

Details
A PAIR OF CARVED BOXWOOD RELIEFS OF TWO LADIES, ONE OF THEM ANNA OF HUNGARY
Style of Hans Kels, probably 16th century
Anna of Hungary depicted facing to dexter and wearing the Collar and Badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece; the other sitter in three-quarter profile to sinister wearing a jewelled monogram on a chain around her neck; each relief on an associated circular wood ground and parcel-gilt frame; the reverse of the frame of Anna of Hungary with three inventory numbers 'S452', '9979' and '9979'; the other relief with three inventory numbers 'S451', '9978' and '9978'
Minor wear to gilding; very minor cracks to frames
3.1/8 in. (8 cm. ) diam., overall
Provenance
Nathaniel Rothschild by 1903, when they appear under number 180 in the inventory of his collection, attributed to Hans Kels, and thence by descent.
Rothschild inv. no. AR3293/3294.
Literature
1905 Theresianumgasse Inventory, p. 28, no. 104.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
G. Habich, Die Deutschen Schaumnzen des XVI. Jahrhundert, Munich, 1929.
J. Leeuwenberg and W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in Het Rijksmuseum - Catalogus, The Hague, 1973, no. 809.
S.K. Scher, ed., The Currency of Fame - Portrait Medals of the Renaissance, pp. 201-303.

Lot Essay

The identification of these two ladies, particularly one of them, has proven to be difficult. One of them has traditionally been called Anna of Hungary, wife of the Emperor Ferdinand I, and this can now be confirmed. Two other sets of draughtsmen depicting male and female royal personages of the day are known, one of them in the Rijksmuseum (Leeuwenberg, loc. cit.) and the other in the Castello Sfozesco, Milan, and both include the same sitter with an inscription identifying her as Anna of Bohemia (another of her titles). Unfortunately, the other sitter is not included among either of these sets, but must represent another member of European royalty of the early 16th century.
When these portrait medallions appeared in Nathaniel Rothschild's inventory of 1903, they were attributed to the German sculptor Hans Kels (circa 1480-1559). Kels, along with Friedrich Hagenauer and Christoph Weiditz, were among a small group of highly skilled sculptors who created this type of portrait medallion in wood, usually with the intention of later using the relief as a model for casting in bronze, silver or gold.
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