Lot 53
53
A SMALL SOUTH GERMAN IVORY FIGURE OF THE CHRIST CHILD, or Bräutigam, depicted standing, His left hand raised in benediction, His right hand holding an apple, the hair and loin cloth heightened with gilding, on an integrally carved square plinth (minor cracks; repair to both arms and base; slight wear to gilding), 18th Century

Details
A SMALL SOUTH GERMAN IVORY FIGURE OF THE CHRIST CHILD, or Bräutigam, depicted standing, His left hand raised in benediction, His right hand holding an apple, the hair and loin cloth heightened with gilding, on an integrally carved square plinth (minor cracks; repair to both arms and base; slight wear to gilding), 18th Century
3¾in. (9.5cm.) high
Provenance
Cologne, Lempertz, Weegman Collection, 19th October 1934
Literature
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
E. Philippowich, Elfenbein, Braunschweig, 1961, fig. 175, p. 237
R. Randall, Masterpieces in Ivory from the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1985, nos. 389, 390

Lot Essay

The present figure of Christ relates to the practice in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, whereby a nun would present such a figure to her convent when she took orders. Normally carved naked or in a loin cloth, the figure was dressed in clothes fashioned by the nun herself, and was said to commemorate her mystical marriage to Christ (Randall, op.cit.).

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