A rare sculpture of Christ of the Flagellation, carved in ro - Lot 61

A rare sculpture of Christ of the Flagellation, carved in rock crystal in the round. Standing with his legs slightly apart and slightly bent, he holds his hands bound behind his back; his body is powerful, with his hips wrapped in a loincloth tied on one side; rectangular pedestal. Milan, Saracchi workshop, circa 1580 H. 18.3 cm Mounted on a base of tortoiseshell veneer, ebony, and blackened wood with stepped sections and a 17th-century doucine upper section (cracks restored with gold and minor damage to the base) Provenance: - Julius Hummel Collection, Vienna - Edric van Vredenburgh Collection, London - François Antonovich Collection (1934–2023), Paris - Presented at TEFAF Maastricht 2022, Royal Provenance stand, Paris Statuettes of Christ of the Flagellation or at the Column made of hard stone are rare. Only two appear to be related: one in translucent agate attributed to Giovanni Antonio Dosio (1533–1610), on view at the Museo del Tesoro di San Lorenzo in Florence (inv. 139, fig. a) and the more famous one in bloodstone from the collections of Louis XIV (inv. MR 153, fig. b). This latter small Christ, 13 cm tall, and the one in rock crystal are clearly of a very similar design, with their legs firmly planted on the ground, their heads tilted toward the chest and left shoulder, and especially the drapery of the cloth girding the hips, which has a similar crumpled texture. The craftsmanship, however, is quite different; the one in the Louvre, attributed to an Italian artist, long dated to the mid-17th century and now dated to the 1600s in the museum catalog entry, is the work of a skilled stone carver. His face, of great nobility, bears the mark of the Florentine style disseminated by Jean de Bologne while foreshadowing classicism (fig. c). The facial features of the Christ in the Antonovitch collection are very different, with a less idealized physiognomy, prominent cheekbones, a small, tight mouth, and a pointed goatee. The more compact proportions of the figure, as well as the less softened anatomy of the torso, suggest that this version dates earlier, still within the 16th century. These characteristics allow us to associate this Christ of the Flagellation with other depictions of the Savior carved from rock crystal. Thus, two crucifixes associated with the Milanese Saracchi workshop—one housed at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, circa 1585 (inv. E 43, fig. d), and the other from the late 16th century belonging to a private collection, presented at the "Renaissance Jewels" exhibition at the Kugel Gallery in 2000 (fig. e), display a very similar style: the chin almost resting on the upper chest, stocky legs, and a perizonium with identical pleating featuring a diagonal line across the pelvis. The description of the Christ at the Column in blood jasper from the Royal Collections indicates Milan as the place of creation. One might hypothesize that its creator, an excellent lapidary, found his source of inspiration in the crystal Christ, refining the silhouette, ennobling the face, and accentuating the slight contrapposto, while keeping the heel of the left foot off the ground. The Saracchi family headed a major stone-carving workshop in Milan, renowned in particular for its rock crystal carving, which fulfilled commissions from the great European courts. Its activity began in the early 1570s, under the direction of Giovanni Ambrogio and his brothers, and continued into the early 17th century. Bibliography: - F. Antonovich, Art at the Court of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor: Prague and Its Influence, Paris, 1992, cat. 206. - León 2014 Exhibition, Giambologna: From the Flanders of Charles V to the Florence of the Medici and the Prague of Rudolf, Museum of the Biblical and Oriental Institute, cat. F. Antonovich, pp. 666–667. Works consulted: - A. Kugel, Renaissance Jewels, Paris, 2000, cat. 25. - Paris 2001 Exhibition, The Gems of Louis XIV, Louvre Museum, cat. 262, pp. 502–504. - D. Alcouffe, The Crown Gems, Louvre Museum, Paris, 2001, cat. 262, pp. 502–504. - D. Alcouffe, The Gem Collection of Louis XIV, Paris, RMN, 2001, pp. 40–41. - R. Distelberger, The Art of Stone Carving, Vienna, 2002, cat. 114, pp. 200–201. - S. Castelluccio, The Royal Collections of Art Objects from Francis I to the Revolution, Paris, 2002, pp. 39, 46, 56, 216, ill. 64. - S. Castelluccio, "From the Crown’s Furniture Repository to the National Museum of Natural History" in Versalia. Journal of the Society of Friends of Versailles, no. 20, 2017, pp. 97–116. - P.-Y. Lacour, "The Place of Things: Specialized Collections, Ambiguous Objects, and the Sharing of Knowledge. Paris, 1789–1804" in Dix-huitième siècle, 2024, 56(1), 299–320.