A BOTTGER RED STONEWARE PLAQUE OF JUDITH WITH THE HEAD OF HOLOFERNES
A BOTTGER RED STONEWARE PLAQUE OF JUDITH WITH THE HEAD OF HOLOFERNES

CIRCA 1713, PROBABLY MODELLED BY PAUL HEERMANN AFTER AN IVORY BY FRANCIS VAN BOSSUIT

Details
A BOTTGER RED STONEWARE PLAQUE OF JUDITH WITH THE HEAD OF HOLOFERNES
Circa 1713, probably modelled by Paul Heermann after an ivory by Francis van Bossuit
Modelled as a three-quarter portrait of Judith wearing a beaded diadem and loose drape, holding the severed bearded head of Holofernes in the crook of her right arm, her left arm resting on a ledge, pierced for hanging
4½ x 3½in. (11.5 x 9cm.)

Lot Essay

The present model was perhaps one of the most popular of the sculptural works produced by Böttger in the early years of the factory. The inventory of 1711 records no less than 75 as unfired, 24 in the kiln and a further 12 in the pottery room or Töpferstube. Yet of these, the location of only six can currently be confirmed: those in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Kunstewerbemuseum, Berlin; Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen; the Porzellansammlung, Dresden; the Schlossmuseum, Gotha; and the present example.

See Malcolm Baker, "Francis van Bossuit, Böttger Stoneware and the 'Judith' Reliefs," Feschrift Schädler, 1998 for a detailed discussion of these casts and their relationship to a carved ivory relief of the same subject identified by Alfred Schädler as by the Dutch sculptor Francis von Bossuit now in the collection of the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.

This ivory was likely used by Böttger as the prototype for reliefs in his newly developed red stoneware. The Böttger examples are also related to a group of five ivory reliefs of the same subject, two of which are signed PH. These were traditionally ascribed to the hand of Peter Hencke of Mainz. However, recent scholarship now points to Paul Heermann of Dresden as the more likely carver, a sculptor recorded as working for Böttger as of 1708 and the likely modeller of the red stoneware reliefs.

The present relief is sold with certificate no. 904222 dated 22 April 1999 from the ASA Laboratory Francine Maurer & Partners, Paris noting the date of its last firing as earlier than the 19th century ("... Conclusion: La dose archéologique est suffisament élevée pour éliminer l'hypothèse d'une cuisson moderne, la dernière cuisson est inférieure au 19o siècle.")

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