Death as a drummer
- Object:
- Place of origin:
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
Henne, Joachim, born 1630 (probably, artist)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
Sculpture, room 111, case 9
- Download image
This exceptionally fine example of a freestanding ivory statuette has been convincingly attributed to the German artist Joachim Henne on the basis of its realism, drapery style, and technique of carving. Comparatively little is known of Henne’s life, including when and where he was born or died, or where he was trained. He worked in different centres in Germany and Denmark, specializing in small portrait reliefs and busts in ivory, though he also executed figure groups, and reliefs depicting mythological scenes. Although possibly from Jutland or North Germany, he may have trained in South Germany, in Ulm or Augsburg, and was active in Hamburg (1663-5), Gottorf (1665-7), and Copenhagen at the court of King Frederick III, and then under that of Frederick’s successor, King Christian V, from 1667 until 1691. He is thought to have travelled to Rome in 1691-2. From 1702-7 he is recorded as court miniature painter at the Brandenburg Court in Berlin, and he is also known to have worked in wood. This figure might date from c.1673, when Henne was in Copenhagen, although the dating is problematic, and it could be somewhat later. It is in a tradition which flourished particularly strongly in Germany from medieval times onwards, and especially in the 16th and 17th centuries. Figures of Death as mementi mori tied in with suggestions of the Fall of Man, and the fate of sinners. Henne was most active as a portraitist, although he also carved reliefs of religious and mythological subjects.
Physical description
Carved ivory statuette of a skeleton or emaciated corpse-like figure, probably representing Death, wearing a plumed hat and beating a drum, which no longer survives.
Place of Origin
Germany (Northern, made)
Date
ca. 1670-1680 (made)
Artist/maker
Henne, Joachim, born 1630 (probably, artist)
Materials and Techniques
Carved elephant ivory
Dimensions
Height: 27.5 cm including base, Width: 13 cm, Depth: 10 cm, Height: 2.7 cm Base, Width: 12.2 cm Base, Depth: 10 cm Base
Descriptive line
Ivory statuette of the skeletal figure of Death as a drummer, probably by Joachim Henne, northern German, ca. 1670-1680
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Weber, Frederick Parkes. Aspects of death and correlated aspects of life in art, epigram and poetry; contributions towards an anthology and an iconography of the subject; illustrated especially by medals, engraved gems, jewels, ivories, antique pottery, &c. London : T.F. Unwin, ltd.; B. Quaritch, ltd., 1918, p.63, fig. 6.
Kuhn, Dr. Katalog für die Ausstellung der Werke aelterer Meister. München : C. Wolf & Sohn, [1876]. Part 2: Katalog der Kunst und Kunstindustrie-Ausstellung alter und neuer deutscher Meister
Catalogue no. 562
Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1856. In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 32.
Trusted, Marjorie, ed. The Making of Sculpture. The Materials and Techniques of European Sculpture. London: 2007, p. 121, plate 220
Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. Part II. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1929, p. 88.
Kuhn, Dr. Katalog für die Ausstellung der Werke älterer Meister. Part II: Katalog der Kunst und Kunstindustrie-Ausstellung alter und neuer deutscher Meister. Munich, Glaspalast, 1876, cat.no. 562.
Exhibition History
Dem Tod ins Auge sehen (Schnütgen-Museum, Köln 07/09/2006-26/11/2006)
"Kunst und Kunstindustrie-Ausstellung alter und neuer deutscher Meister" (Glaspalast 01/01/1876-31/12/1876)
Durers Verwandlung in der Skulptur zwischen Renaissance und Barock (Liebieghaus, Museum alter Plastik (Frankfurt) 01/01/1901-31/12/1982)
Production Note
Previously considered to be Flemish.
Materials
Ivory
Techniques
Carving
Subjects depicted
Hats; Death; Mortality; Drumsticks
Categories
Sculpture; Death
Collection code
SCP
