Ceiling design with an eagle surrounded by putti

Details

Jan Erasmus Quellinus (Antwerp 1634-1715 Mechelen)
Ceiling design with an eagle surrounded by putti

graphite, pen and brown ink, watercolour, brown and grey wash, heightened with white (partly oxidized), on light brown paper
10¼ x 21 1/8 in. (26.2 x 53.6 cm.)

Provenance

Guichardot collection, Paris (according to an inscription ‘Collection Guichardot Paris, 1894’ recorded in the 2004
auction catalogue).
Anonymous sale; Christie’s, Paris, 15 December 2004, lot 250.

Special notice

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Brought to you by

Lucy Cox

lcox@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2243

Lot Essay

Despite its old attribution to Erasmus II Quellinus, this drawing can be confidently given to his son, Jan Erasmus. Entirely similar in technique, and also comparable in the way the putti are drawn is a design for an altarpiece, signed and dated 1667, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 62.147). The design cannot be related to a known ceiling, but the commission appears to have been a rather prestigious one; the regal bird of prey holding a sceptre and sword appear to be the Prussian eagle.

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