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Lot Essay
Monuments which included kneeling figures appear to have begun in the late 15th century, but it was in the 16th and early 17th centuries that they reached their greatest popularity. The present figure was almost certainly part of a multi-figure composition, with the kneeling figure of the knight placed close to the wall - thus obviating the need for the reverse to be fully carved - and looking in to a central motif which could have been a Crucifixion or group of the Virgin and Child.
The stone used here is an extremely fine limestone which holds the details of the carving very well and which can be polished to produce a soft shine. It appears to be the same as stone quarried in the mountains north of Augsburg which was mainly used locally, thereby suggesting that the present figure is South German in origin.
Although such figures are not uncommon, the present example is carved so finely, and with such an attention to the details of the armour, that a more precise dating is possible. Elements such as the pointed lower breast plate, for example, are common in suits of armour produced shortly after the middle of the 16th century. A closely comparable example can be seen on the statue of Moritz, Elector of Saxony, on his monument in the Marienkirche, Freiburg, completed in 1563 (Chipps Smith, op. cit., fig. 140).
The stone used here is an extremely fine limestone which holds the details of the carving very well and which can be polished to produce a soft shine. It appears to be the same as stone quarried in the mountains north of Augsburg which was mainly used locally, thereby suggesting that the present figure is South German in origin.
Although such figures are not uncommon, the present example is carved so finely, and with such an attention to the details of the armour, that a more precise dating is possible. Elements such as the pointed lower breast plate, for example, are common in suits of armour produced shortly after the middle of the 16th century. A closely comparable example can be seen on the statue of Moritz, Elector of Saxony, on his monument in the Marienkirche, Freiburg, completed in 1563 (Chipps Smith, op. cit., fig. 140).