Cf. Tardy, Les Ivoires: Evolution décorative du Ier siecle a nos jours, Paris, 1972, p. 269, figs. 104-106 and E. von Philoppovich, Elfenbein, Munich, 1982, pp. 156-157, figs. 130, 131.

Born in Antwerp in 1595, van Opstal was called to Paris in 1643 by Cardinal Richelieu. Five years later, he was elected to the French academy and given the title sculpteur du Roi. He died in 1668.

Although a few carvings of religious subjects by this artist are known, he is best remembered for his exuberant depictions of bacchic and other mythological scenes portrayed against a naturalistic background. Several such carvings, originally executed for Louis XIV, are now in the collection of the Louvre.