DEVOTIONAL PLAQUE. IVORY, WOOD. CIRCA LAST THIRD 16TH CENTURY, AFTER JAN SADELER I

Devotional plaque; Last Supper, Christ on the Mount of Olives. Wood, stained ivory and engraving. Towards the last third of the 16th century, following models by Jan Sadeler I (active 1550-1600). A rectangular carved wooden plaque with a ring and a hole on the back, featuring two ovals on the front with biblical themes enhanced by dark wood frames decorated with square diamond points at the top and bottom and rectangular ones on the sides, and winged angel heads in the corners left open by these two compositions. On the left, the Last Supper appears at the top, with Christ under a canopy and accompanied by Saint Peter and the other Apostles on either side; below, Judas receives the bag of coins; the space is completed by a series of architectural elements, angels, fabrics, plant motifs, scrolls, etc., clearly influenced by classicism. On the right, the theme of Christ on the Mount of Olives, with Jesus raising a hand towards the chalice offered to him by an angel and accompanied by two sleeping Apostles and two soldiers; below, through a door, the Arrest of Christ. The composition is completed and organized by a series of bands ending in volutes, architectural and plant motifs, etc., of classicist influence. Both scenes are closely inspired by two engravings from the series “Passio Verbigenae Quae Nostra Redemptio Christi,” published by Jan Sadeler I (active 1550–1600) between 1575 and 1600 and inspired by Marcus Gheeraerts I (Bruges, 1516/21–London, c. 1590). Many prominent museums worldwide hold engravings from this series (British Museum, London; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; etc.). According to experts, around 1580, Marcus Gheeraerts designed this series of the Passion of Christ, framed, highlighted, hierarchized, and structured through an elaborate and delicate system of grotesques and other classical elements applied to the iconographic themes it presents. During the period when engravings were created, and later, during the Baroque period, it was common to use engraved (or carved) ivory or bone plaques on furniture, lecterns, personal devotional altars, devotional plaques, etc. Compare, for example, with Flemish school desks, Neapolitan school desks, etc., such as the one dated around 1600 in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (workshop of Iacobus Fiamenco, Flemish; active in Naples, Italy, between 1594 and 1602; with scenes based on engravings by Dirk Volkertsz; Coornhert, Netherlandish, 1522 – 1590; following designs by Maarten van Heemskerck (active in Haarlem and Rome, 1498-1574)). It is also necessary to mention pieces such as the reliquary altarpiece of the Brotherhood of the Blood of Christ of the Church of Santa Isabel de Portugal (San Cayetano) of Zaragoza, which presents religious scenes based on engravings by Antonius Wieris (1555/9-1604).

· Size: 12x1,5x13 cms.