Lot 171: Attributed to Conrad Faber, called Faber von Creuznach (Creuznach 1500-1552/3 Frankfurt am Main)

Attributed to Conrad Faber, called Faber von Creuznach (Creuznach 1500-1552/3 Frankfurt am Main)
Portrait of Clara Burckhardt, half-length, in a gold-embroidered white bonnet and a red dress with a lace collar, and a gold belt and necklace, in a sculpted niche
inscribed and dated 'CLARA · · 1532 · XXX IAR' (upper centre)
oil on panel
19¾ x 15 3/8 in. (50.2 x 39.1 cm.)
with the armorial red wax seal of von Erdenfels (on the reverse of the panel)

W. Brücker, Conrad Faber von Creuznach, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1963, pp. 72-3 and 198-9, no. 42, illustrated (judged only from a reproduction in the Witt Library, London, the sitter's age therefore misread as 20, rather than 30, under 'Nicht überprüften Zuschreibungen').

(Probably) Baron von Erdenfels, Austria (according to the armorial seal on the reverse).
Loeb Collection, New York.
with French Art Galleries, Inc., New York.
Henry Rogers Benjamin, New York; (+), Parke-Bernet, New York, 8 May 1947, lot 19, sold with a note reading 'endorsed verbally by Dr. Max J. Friedländer and accompanied by certificates by Dr. Herman Voss, Dr. Gustav Glück, Dr. Ludwig Baldass and Dr. Robert Eisenberger' (sold for $950).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 27 May 1987, lot 3 (£3,000 to Yves Mikaeloff, Paris).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 6 July 2000, lot 7.

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium
Brücker (op. cit.) compares this portrait to two other portraits of noble ladies from Frankfurt, Katharina Knoblauch (dated 1532, no. 40) and Margarethe von Rheim (dated 1533, no. 19).
The pendant to this portrait was on the art market in Switzerland, also dated 1532 and inscribed 'PHILIPPVS BVRCKHART DOCTOR AETATIS SVE 44' (K. Löcher in Sotheby's, 2000, loc. cit.). We are grateful to Mr. Jan van Helmont for identifying the von Erdenfels arms on the reverse.