Lot 220: A GERMAN IVORY RELIEF OF CHRIST BEFORE ANNAS**

A GERMAN IVORY RELIEF OF CHRIST BEFORE ANNAS**
SOUTH GERMAN, ATTRIBUTED TO THE WORKSHOP OF DOMINIKUS STAINHART (1655-1712), MUNICH, CIRCA 1700, POSSIBLY ORIGINALLY PART OF A CABINET
Depicting Jesus, surrounded by his Apostles on the left, the Virgin and Mary Magdalen kneeling in the center and a crowd and the towers of Jerusalem in the background, with deeply carved trees framing the composition
4½ in. (11.5 cm.) high, 11 in. (28 cm.) wide

COMPARABLE LITERATURE:
C. Theuerkauff, Elfenbein, Sammlung Reiner Winkler, vols. I and II, 1984 and 1994.

The Margraves of Baden; sold Sotheby's House Sale, Baden, 5 October, 1995, lot 293.

The two following lots are both from the Kunstkammer of the Dukes of Baden and are dazzling examples of 17th century ivory carving.

The partial dispersal of the collections of the Grand Dukes of Baden was one of the most exceptional series of house sales of the 20th century. Pictures, furniture, porcelain and silver were auctioned, alongside thousands of other objects used in the daily life of the family's great estates scattered across Germany.

One of the most exciting aspects of the sale was the opening up of the Baden Kunstkammer, traditionally where only the most private and precious of the family treasures were held, which contained beautifully worked objects of semi-precious stone, amber, ivory and other rare materials.

PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED COLLECTION
(LOTS 207-223)

This ivory is noted in the Inventory of the Grand Ducal Kunsthalle, Carlsruhe, 1854, no. 32.

The composition, from the Passion of Christ depicting the bound Christ taken before the high-priest Annas, is based on a copper engraving by Pietro Aquila after Ciro Ferri. For similar relief carvings in ivory, specifically one of Moses and another of Constantine, see Theuerkauff, Op. cit, vol. I, no. 71 and vol. II, no. 33, respectively. Theuerkauff also notes Stainhart's influence on -- and similarity to -- a relief of the Passion by Matthias Loth (1675-1738).