CIRCLE OF CHRISTOPH DANIEL SCHENK (1633-1691), SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY

Several reliefs which are clearly from the same hand as the present piece have appeared on the international art market in recent years, among them a relief of the Penitent Mary Magdalen (Christie's New York, 14 January 1992, lot 114 ($9,000)). These are often associated with Christoph Daniel Schenk on stylistic and iconographic grounds. However, the differences in the carving between these reliefs and signed works by Schenk (for example, a double-sided ivory relief of Mary Magdalen sold in these Rooms 10 December 1991, lot 28, and a pair of wood reliefs sold from the collection of the Margrave of Baden; Sotheby's, Baden-Baden, 5 October 1995, lot 439) are significant enough to make a full attribution to him inadvisable.