Flemish School, late 17th Century
Flemish School, late 17th Century

Twelfth Night: the King drinks

Details
Flemish School, late 17th Century
Twelfth Night: the King drinks
black chalk, black ink framing lines, fragmentary watermark stick(?)
149 x 210 mm.

Lot Essay

The Catholic Feast of the Three Magi is traditionally celebrated on January 6, the twelfth night after Christ was born. During this Feast a bean, hidden in a specially made cake, would make its finder the temporary king of the festivities, assuming his power by drinking. The subject is well known from Jordaens's interpretations of it, and had moralizing connotations in Protestant circles.

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