Southern German, Upper Rhine or Franconia, circa 1500-1510

Private collection, Westphalia;

Lempertz, Cologne, 22 November 2016, lot 1208;

Where acquired.

The present relief with the Baptism of Christ is derived from a print by the Alsatian engraver Martin Schongauer. The same composition appears in a low relief from the workshop of Veit Stoss at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 12.130.1). Further reliefs following this graphic model are illustrated in Guillot de Suduiraut, op. cit., including one from the circle of Tilman Riemenschneider at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (p. 133, fig. c) and an Upper Rhenish example from circa 1510 (no. 30A). While it is possible that the present relief originated in Franconia, on stylistic grounds - particularly the appearance of the Angel - an origin in the Upper Rhine region is perhaps more likely.

RELATED LITERATURE

Spätgotik am Oberrhein: Meisterwerke der Plastik und des Kunsthandwerks, 1450-1530, exh. cat. Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, 1970, figs. 61, 66 and 96; S. Guillot de Suduiraut (ed.), Sculptures allemandes de la fin du Moyen Age dans les collections publiques françaises 1400-1530, exh. cat. Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1991, pp. 132-136