Lot 100: ATTRIBUTED TO JOHANN GEORG KERN (1622-1698)GERMAN, KOBLENZ, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY AND LATER

TANKARD WITH THE WISE AND FOOLISH MAIDENS with seated putti on the lid, the mounts marked thrice, on the cover, body and foot, for Adolf Zethelius, Stockholm, 1816 ivory, with silver-gilt mounts 21cm., 8¼in.

The elegant classicising frieze, which wraps around the present tankard, has the same composition as one found on a tankard in the Grünes Gewölbe in Dresden, which dates to 1661 and has been attributed to Johann Georg Kern (inv. no. II 399). Both sleeves portray the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins from the Gospel of Matthew 25:1-13. The parable, which is an allegory for the Last Day of Judgement, tells of ten maidens who are given the honour of waiting to greet a bridegroom prior to his marriage feast. As the event takes place at night, they each hold lamps to welcome their visitor. The five wise virgins take the precaution of bringing additional oil in case the bridegroom arrives late, but the five foolish virgins are unprepared. When it becomes clear that they face a long wait, the foolish virgins go in search of oil, but are still absent when the bridegroom finally arrives and so are excluded from the feast. Johann Georg's idealised nudes show the influence of the work of his uncle, the celebrated ivory carver Leonhard Kern (1588-1662). Compare, for example, the women in the present frieze with the three graces in Leonhard's stone relief in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg (Möller, op. cit., p. 75, fig. 2). It is due to the conceptual similarity with Leonhard's work that the Dresden sleeve has been attributed to the elder Kern in the past, though this theory is today considered unlikely (Möller, op. cit.p. 76). The present sleeve is particularly refined, notably in the superb carving in the hair, the subtle, swirling, drapery, and the flickering flames in the lamps. The virtuoso quality of the carving and the similarity with the Dresden example, provide a strong case for the present sleeve having also been carved by Johann Georg Kern. RELATED LITERATURE R. Berliner, Die Bildwerke des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums. IV. Die Bildwerke in Elfenbein, Kochen, Hirsch-und Steinbockhorn, exh. cat. Bayerischen Nationalmuseums, Munich, 1926, pp. 55 and 113, no. 194; L.L. Möller, 'Trinkgeschirre von Johann Georg Kern and Johann Jacob Betzoldt', Leonhard Kern (1588-1662). Meisterwerke der Bildhauerei für die Kunstkammern Europas, exh. cat. Hällisch-Fränkisches Museum, Schwäbisch-Hall, 1988, p. 77, fig. 5