A FRUITWOOD, EBONY AND EBONISED WOODEN CRUCIFIXION GROUP

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

Details

A FRUITWOOD, EBONY AND EBONISED WOODEN CRUCIFIXION GROUP
BY JACOBUS COPPENS, 1718

The figure of the Virgin signed on the reverse 'J coppens F.'; the figure of Christ signed and dated on the reverse 'J. coppens. 1718.'; the base with a niche enclosing a silver figure holding a sword, indistinctly inscribed 'VIVE (?) EMP..ROR (?)', and a martyr's palm; below the figure is a foil banner indistinctly inscribed 'HILDEBERT REGNA.....'; the base also with scagliola inlay and four oval compartments with relics of SS. Lucy, Anastasia, Apollonia, and Cecilia.
One finger from Christ's left hand and part of one toe lacking; the superscription and the skull and bones below possibly later; minor cracks; several minor damages and restorations to base.
16½in. (41.9cm.) high, the figure of Christ
38 3/8in. (97.4cm.) high, overall

Lot Essay

Jacobus Coppens was born in Ghent in 1695 and died there in 1737. The son of Arnold Coppens, he became a master in 1719, and in the same year, together with Jean Hebbelyuck, he completed the choir stalls for the church of St. James in Ghent, which are no longer in situ, having been sold off and sent to England in the 19th century. The present group may well be his only extant signed work.

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