The Rape of the Sabines
Tankard
ca. 1697-1704 (made)
ca. 1697-1704 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
A number of other versions of this composition survive in both ivory and wood. This tankard was made for display, rather than for use, and its virtuoso carving indicates it was to be valued as a work of art above all. The artist Ignaz Elhafen often worked from engraved sources, and this is almost certainly based on a contemporary print. Although dating is difficult, the earliest known provenance for one of the other versions being Vienna suggests that the present ivory may have been carved there; Elhafen had left that city by 1704. The later silver mounts, gilded on the inside, bear a Vienna hallmark of 1792, also indicating that the ivory may well have been produced originally in Vienna.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | The Rape of the Sabines (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Ivory carved in high relief, with silver-gilt mounts |
| Brief description | Tankard, ivory, the Rape of the Sabine Women, by Ignaz Elhafen (1658- ca. 1715), German, probably carved in Vienna, ca. 1697-1704 (mounts dated 1792) |
| Physical description | A continuous frieze of half-naked women struggling with men of varying age, some in armour and helmeted, others draped and bare-headed. The ground is on different levels with flowers and foliage; a helmet lies to the right of the signature I.E. At the top a border of foliage and beads. The silver mounts bear Vienna hall-marks of 1792 and unidentified maker's marks. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | 'I - E' (The ivory is signed 'I - E' on the ground beneath one of the figure groups near the (now missing) handle fixings.) |
| Credit line | Given by Rosenberg & Stiebel Inc. |
| Object history | Given by Messrs Rosenberg & Stiebel Inc., New York, in 1959. Formerly in the collection of Freiherr Anselm von Rothschild, Vienna, 1866, then in the Carl Mayer von Rothschild Collection, Frankfurt am Main. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | A number of other versions of this composition survive in both ivory and wood. This tankard was made for display, rather than for use, and its virtuoso carving indicates it was to be valued as a work of art above all. The artist Ignaz Elhafen often worked from engraved sources, and this is almost certainly based on a contemporary print. Although dating is difficult, the earliest known provenance for one of the other versions being Vienna suggests that the present ivory may have been carved there; Elhafen had left that city by 1704. The later silver mounts, gilded on the inside, bear a Vienna hallmark of 1792, also indicating that the ivory may well have been produced originally in Vienna. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | A.3-1959 |
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| Record created | January 15, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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