Lot 55: GIOVANNI ANTONIO GUALTERIO (ACTIVE LATE 16TH CENTURY), ITALIAN, ROME, 1600

GIOVANNI ANTONIO GUALTERIO (ACTIVE LATE 16TH CENTURY), ITALIAN, ROME, 1600 CHRISTO MORTO signed and dated: G.A.G.F.1600. partially gilt and polychromed ivory 28.5cm., 11¼in.

E.D. Schmidt, 'Christ in the counter-reformation. A signed and dated ivory by Giovanni Antonio Gualterio', in: Storia dell'Arte, 2008, pp. 5-20

The present fine ivory crucifix is the largest known version of four signed and dated examples of this model. It is also the only one that retains its original gilding. Published by Dr. Eike Schmidt in 2008, it was probably made as a diplomatic gift for the Medici.

Giovanni Antonio Gualterio was a specialist carver of ivory crucifixes active in the wake of the Counter Reformation. In 1582 he sold an ivory crucifix to Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici which indicates that he was already well established. In keeping with the Medici's use of works of art as diplomatic gifts, Cardinal Ferdinando sent Gualterio's ivory crucifix to the Duke of Rivas. That crucifix remains in the Spanish Duke's collection and measures 23cm high. There is a further ivory version, initialled and dated 1600, in a Spanish private collection and a small (h.13.2cm) example, lacking both arms, in the Grünes Gewölbe in Dresden. The Dresden ivory must surely also have been a diplomatic gift to the Electoral Dukes of Saxony and the initial appearance of the present ivory in Spain would indicate that this most sumptuous version would have been a similar high level gift.