Two finely carved pearwood panels in high relief, with certa - Lot 71

Two finely carved pearwood panels in high relief, with certain figures standing out from the background; one depicts the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, and the other the Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist: in the foreground, the decapitated body of the saint lies face down on the ground while Salome, surrounded by three women and a man, receives the head of the Forerunner from the executioner on a platter, which she is about to take to her mother Herodias; in the background on the left, Herod’s Feast: seated at a table under a canopy, accompanied by two male guests, the king watches his stepdaughter Salome dancing before him; the background features architectural elements including arcades, a balustrade, a staircase, and houses. The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria: in the foreground, the saint, kneeling, is about to receive the fatal blow from an executioner seen from behind, an axe in his right hand; surrounding them are numerous soldiers on horseback or on foot, some clad in ancient-style armor, others of Eastern origin wearing turbans; in the background, the wheels of her torture are miraculously shattered by lightning before her executioners. Austria, attributed to Ignaz Elhafen (Innsbruck, 1658, Düsseldorf, 1715), circa 1680/1690 H. 8.3 cm and 9 cm - W. 14.3 cm and 14.9 cm - Thickness: 2.2 cm and 2.3 cm Former label on the back of the Beheading plate and pencil inscriptions in Roman numerals. In black-painted hanging bases (one soldier’s head missing, slight damage) Provenance: - Sotheby’s London, April 22, 1993, lot 110 (the second scene interpreted as The Sacrifice of Jephthah’s Daughter) - Christie’s Paris, November 24, 2020, The Collector: Le Goût Français, lot 52 Ignaz Elhafen worked successively in Innsbruck, Italy, Vienna, and then Düsseldorf in the service of the Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm II from 1703–1704. Specializing in relief sculpture, he drew his compositions from engravings, notably from works illustrated by Matthaüs Merian (Iconum Bibliae, 1625/27), but also from Pierre de Cortone, Tempesta, and Charles Lebrun; later, he would also draw inspiration from pictorial motifs found in works by Rubens, Titian, or Jordaens, to which he had access in the Elector’s collection in Düsseldorf. Of the two subjects depicted here, the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist is inspired by an engraving that was later reproduced in the Bible published by Gérard Jollain in 1703 (fig. a), while the Martyrdom of Saint Catherine is taken from a drawing by Federico Zuccari (1540/41–1609) (fig. b), of which an engraved interpretation by Aliprando Caprioli (1574–1600) is known. The style of these two plaques still belongs to the 17th century, as evidenced by the restraint in the figures’ gestures and the drapery, which lacks any Baroque flair. They can be compared to the biblical-themed works that the young Elhafen created in 1685 in cedar wood at the request of the Austrian Benedictine Abbey of Kremsmünster, one illustrating King Adoni-Bezek having his thumbs and toes cut off (fig. c). Another scene of martyrdom, that of Saint Paul based on an engraving by Martin de Vos, which appeared in a 1990 Sotheby’s auction, also enriches this group of carved wooden panels from the same period. We know that at the beginning of his career, Elhafen worked in wood before ivory took center stage following his stay in Vienna in the late 1690s. These two plaques therefore appear to belong to the sculptor’s earlier period of activity, dating from after his time in Rome, which is estimated to have been between 1673 and 1675, hence his familiarity with details drawn from antiquity, as evidenced by these reliefs in the architecture and the soldiers’ costumes. Reference: - Frankfurt am Main Exhibition 2011, Elfenbein: Baroque Splendor at the Viennese Court, pp. 183–187.