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Lot Essay
This beautifully detailed relief of the Adoration of the Magi is based upon a woodcut engraving executed by Albrecht Durer in circa 1503 for a series he did of scenes from the Life of the Virgin. Although the author of the relief has followed Durer's composition quite closely, it is still clearly carved in the style of sculptors active in the Upper Rhine region - especially Colmar - in the early years of the 16th century.
The freshness and the rigidity of the carving of the architectural background of the present relief has caused some to question the actual dating of its production. However, it was purchased by the grandfather of the present owner from Galerie Heinemann of Wiesbaden, who also owned a relief of the Flight into Egypt (also after Durer) of the same dimensions. The two reliefs were subsequently split up and the Flight into Egypt was purchased by the Augustiner Museum in Freiburg, Germany. That relief has most recently been published in 1995 where it was attributed to the circle of Hans Weiditz (or Wydyz) who was principally active in nearby Colmar, France (Zinke, loc. cit.). In 1958, Professor Theodor Mueller, then director of the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich, wrote that it was his impression that the present relief of the Adoration of the Magi was similar to the work of Hans Bongart, who was based in Colmar and whom he associated with the Kaysersberger altarpiece (private communication in the possession of the vendor).
The freshness and the rigidity of the carving of the architectural background of the present relief has caused some to question the actual dating of its production. However, it was purchased by the grandfather of the present owner from Galerie Heinemann of Wiesbaden, who also owned a relief of the Flight into Egypt (also after Durer) of the same dimensions. The two reliefs were subsequently split up and the Flight into Egypt was purchased by the Augustiner Museum in Freiburg, Germany. That relief has most recently been published in 1995 where it was attributed to the circle of Hans Weiditz (or Wydyz) who was principally active in nearby Colmar, France (Zinke, loc. cit.). In 1958, Professor Theodor Mueller, then director of the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich, wrote that it was his impression that the present relief of the Adoration of the Magi was similar to the work of Hans Bongart, who was based in Colmar and whom he associated with the Kaysersberger altarpiece (private communication in the possession of the vendor).