A pair of North German stone figures of Ceres and Bacchus

CIRCA 1620

Details

A pair of North German stone figures of Ceres and Bacchus
Circa 1620
Each figure standing against a pilaster, Ceres looking to her right, with drapery around her shoulders and held in her right hand, her left hand resting on a fruit cornucopia, on a shaped base inscribed CER..., Bacchus wearing the Herculean lion-pelt across his shoulders and held in his left hand, his right hand holding grapes
44 in. (112.5 cm.) high (2)

Provenance

Formerly in the collection of HRH Princess Christina of the Netherlands, at Eikenhorst, Wassenaar, The Netherlands, sold Sotheby's Amsterdam, 19 & 20 November 1996

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
A. Feulner, Die Deutsche Plastik des Siebzehnten Jahrhunderts, Munich, 1926, nos. 39, 43

Lot Essay

These figures, probably from a set of four which represented the Four Seasons, were no doubt originally architectural elements from a larger iconographical ensemble. Stylistically, they represent a transition from the attenuated proportions of mannerist sculpture to more robust forms, and can be directly compared to the work of such sculptors as Ludwig Mnstermann (circa 1575-1637), whose sandstone Hercules (illustrated in Feulner, loc. cit.) of around 1620 displays numerous similarities to the present figures, including the treatment of the torso, in the case of the Bacchus, and the somewhat mannered poses.

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