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Lot Essay
Up until the 16th century works of art in ivory were the preserve of royalty, the aristocracy and princes of the church. However with the increased availability of ivory in the 16th and especially from the 17th century, series of decorative ivories came within the reach of wealthy bourgeois patrons as well. Among secular subjects, allegorical sets of the Four Seasons, of the Four Elements and the Four Senses all became popular, and among religious subjects, the Twelve Apostles clearly gave huge scope for an impressive display of the sculptor’s talents as an ivory carver.
Over the centuries, the fragile nature of these figures meant that many were damaged or destroyed, so the present full set of 12 is an extremely rare survival. Stylistically, they appear to originate from a German workshop of the late 17th or very early 18th century. In their sometimes theatrical poses and in the angular folds of rippling drapery, the apostles can be compared to an ivory relief of Moses Striking Water from the Rock in the collection of Reiner Winkler, catalogued as South German, probably the workshop of Dominikus Stainhart, Munich, circa or shortly after 1700’ (Theuerkauff, loc. cit.).
Over the centuries, the fragile nature of these figures meant that many were damaged or destroyed, so the present full set of 12 is an extremely rare survival. Stylistically, they appear to originate from a German workshop of the late 17th or very early 18th century. In their sometimes theatrical poses and in the angular folds of rippling drapery, the apostles can be compared to an ivory relief of Moses Striking Water from the Rock in the collection of Reiner Winkler, catalogued as South German, probably the workshop of Dominikus Stainhart, Munich, circa or shortly after 1700’ (Theuerkauff, loc. cit.).