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Lot Essay
The terracotta figure of Bacchus offered here bears very close similarities to a number of works from the oeuvre of German sculptor Balthasar Permoser. In terms of modelling and composition it is very close to the male Bacchic figure by Permoser formerly in the Schlosspark, Friedrichsfelde, dated to circa 1720 but missing since the 1950s (op. cit., pls. 264-5). With both figures there is a virtually identical treatment of the anatomy with broad shoulders, muscular arms and legs and slightly pot-belly although the facial features are quite different. The very relaxed, casual, posture, however, is also comparable as is the idealised, striated, modelling of the tree-trunk. The most interesting comparisons, however, can be made with the caricature-like facial types seen on many of Permoser's small-scale works in ivory. Consider, for example, the 1695 ivory figure of Summer in Harewood House, the similarly dated ivory figures of Spring and Summer in the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunswick, and the 1680 ivory of Marsyas in the same museum (ibid, pls. 93a, 90, 89 and 41 respectively), where in each instance one will see the same small rounded face, with narrow almond shaped eyes, large nose and protruding chin. Taking into account the dating of these ivories and the move Permoser made to a more robust muscular male form as on the male Bacchic figure it is likely that the present lot was executed by him or someone in his circle sometime in the first quarter of the 18th century.