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Lot Essay
Though German in origin van Baurscheit the Elder worked predominantly in Antwerp, where he was the pupil of Peter Scheemakers the Elder. Scheemaker's style clearly impressed the young Baurscheit, who seems to have adopted his master's understanding of Baroque art by incorporating both classically inspired compositions and great freedom of form and sensitivity of detail. The majority of Baurscheit's recorded work is in ecclesiastical commissions, although later in life he is known to have made a small body of portrait busts and garden statuary.
The current urn is attributed to Baurscheit because of its close similarity to two sandstone vases in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Leeuwenberg, loc. cit.) which are signed with the same Baurscheit monogram, 'IPVB.F.', that can also be seen on lots 17 and 207 by Baurscheit in the current sale (lots 17 and 207). The large figures on the vase, grouped in pairs, the complex and dynamic drapery that twists over the figures' bodies and the delicate carving of the background in both high and low relief, with the sculptor's subtle use of the chisel evident, are characteristic of Bauscheit's relief work. These attributes are present in both the Rijksmuseum vases and also examples at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, that are attributed to Baurscheit (Hodgkinson, loc. cit.).
The current urn is attributed to Baurscheit because of its close similarity to two sandstone vases in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Leeuwenberg, loc. cit.) which are signed with the same Baurscheit monogram, 'IPVB.F.', that can also be seen on lots 17 and 207 by Baurscheit in the current sale (lots 17 and 207). The large figures on the vase, grouped in pairs, the complex and dynamic drapery that twists over the figures' bodies and the delicate carving of the background in both high and low relief, with the sculptor's subtle use of the chisel evident, are characteristic of Bauscheit's relief work. These attributes are present in both the Rijksmuseum vases and also examples at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, that are attributed to Baurscheit (Hodgkinson, loc. cit.).