Lot 130: A POLYCHROME WOOD FIGURE OF A PUTTO

A POLYCHROME WOOD FIGURE OF A PUTTO ATTRIBUTED TO JOSEPH THADDAUS STAMMEL (1695-1765), CIRCA 1760 standing with one foot on a jewel casket; on a later shaped plinth; stamped to underside 32 ½ in. (83 cm.) high

(83 cm.) high

CIRCA 1760

A. Mayer, Die Werke des Plastikers Josef Thaddaus Stammel in Admont und anderen Orten, Vienna, 1912.

Stift Admont (Admont Abbey), Austria, until 1865. Private Collection. Galerie Weinmüller, Munich, 16 May - 3 June 1966, no. 43.

The distinctive carving style of the present winged putto is closely comparable to the late work of the Austrian sculptor Joseph Stammel. This attribution is strengthened by the fact that the figure has a provenance from Admont Abbey, for which Stammel worked from 1726 until his death in 1765. Stammel was the son of a Bavarian sculptor but studied in Italy from 1718-25. His work represents a conflation of the Austrian tradition of wood carving and the Italian baroque with its sense of drama. In the last ten years of his life, Stammel worked on the sculptural programme for Admont Abbey library, commissioned by Abbot Matthaus Offner and completed only in 1776. It is now the largest monastic library in the world, with over 200,000 volumes and a length of 70m. The interiors are executed in a typical Austrian rococo style, decorated largely in white and gold with frescoed ceilings in an array of pastels. For the library Stammel produced 16 large sculptures, two reliefs and 68 busts which are painted to represent bronze. Among these, he is most famous for The Four Last Things - Heaven, Hell, Death and The Last Judgement. The putti at the base of the group representing Death are the closest comparable for the present figure (for an illustration see Mayr, op. cit. pl. 48). In 1865, much of the abbey was destroyed by fire and it is surely no coincidence that this figure is meant to have been at the abbey until that date. Presumably it was part of the decoration of one of the rooms too badly damaged to be saved but somehow the present figure survived and made its way into private ownership. The allegorical significance of the figure is unclear now that it is no longer in its original context, but the depiction of the jewel casket underfoot may refer to the vanity of worldly goods.