A carved ivory figure of Cleopatra - Lot 110

A carved ivory figure of Cleopatra Leonhard Kern (1588-1662), German, circa 1640-1650 Standing on an integrally carved ivory with the monogram LK ; on a stained wooden later socle L: 6.5 cm x l: 4.5 cm x h 19.5 cm 0.327kg, including the base Provenance : French aristocratic private collection since the beginning of the 20th century, then by descent to the current owner. Leonhard Kern (1588-1662), from Forchtenber, began his apprenticeship with his father Michael Kern the elder. He continued his training in Italy, moved to Rome in 1613 for two years, where he devoted himself to 16th-century Italian sculpture, before continuing his travels in North Africa and Slovenia. In 1614, he married Amalia Zollner, with whom he had fourteen children, most of whom died in infancy. He first worked in his brother Michael's workshop, before being appointed to the court of the Elector Palatine Frederick V. in Heidelberg. The Palatinate's involvement in the Thirty Years' War forced him to leave Heidelberg, and in 1620 he moved to the imperial town of Schwabisch Hall. There, he set up his own workshop, specialising in the production of small, often nude figures with elaborate hairstyles and a wide range of themes for the Kunst- und Wunderkammern, or art and curiosity cabinets, of the courts of Europe. In 1648, he was appointed sculptor to the court of Brandenburg, thus ensuring his reputation and security. One of the most singular and important sculptors of the 17th century, Leonhard Kern's statuettes are often nude, voluptuous and intensely expressive, giving them a modernity that brings him closer to the work of Aristide Maillol or Fernand Botero than to his contemporaries. It is probably for this reason that Kern's work has been so attractive to collectors over the last century. Kern's preferred materials were wood and ivory, and he drew inspiration from figures in the Old Testament, Antiquity and mythology. Stylistically, Kern represents both the realism and classicism of German Baroque sculpture. Our figure depicts the Queen of Egypt (51-30 BC), famous for her seductive beauty, Cleopatra is shown ending her life by the bite of a poisonous snake. Writhing in pain, she embodies the Baroque taste for luscious feminine beauty and intense emotion. Ivory's unique appeal to the sense of touch expresses the vulnerability of her flesh. The calm, solid stance, substantial anatomical representation and subtle movement of this figure are characteristic of the work of Leonhard Kern (1588-1662). Finely sculpted, with beautiful modelling and wonderfully precise detail in the hair and facial expression, this figure is an autograph by the master himself, and forms part of the limited corpus of thirteen works signed LK listed by Elisabeth Grünewald, of which only six are in ivory. An ivory figure similar to ours, representing Cleopatra, is kept at the Bode museum in Berlin (Inv.-N° 5244). There are also several female figures conserved in institutions that are similar to ours in terms of the modelling of the body, the treatment of the hair and the expressions. These include Hebe (Inv.-N° 716) at the Bode museum in Berlin, Eve at the Kaiser Firedrich museum, Berlin (Inv.- N° 715 ) and Abondance at the Germanishes Nationalmuseum in Nürnberg (Inv.- N° PLO 789). This ivory comes from a French private collection and has not been presented to the market for over 100 years. It is a perfect illustration of Leonhard Kern's ability to depict the modelling and anatomical composition of the human body. Its provenance, signature and the quality and whiteness of the ivory make it a rare opportunity to acquire an autograph piece by Leonhard Kern, a master of German Baroque sculpture from the 1640s-1650s.