This oval medallion carved in relief, depicting an unknown man, was made by Joachim Henne in Germany in ca. 1665. Portraits in ivory were fashionable in the 17th and 18th centuries. Generally elephant or walrus ivory was used. Since the pieces were limited in size the portraits tended to be small, yet they could still be monumental in form.
Joachim Henne (active 1663-1707) was a renowned ivory carver, who worked in Denmark and Northern Germany, specialising in small portrait reliefs and busts. He also executed figure groups, and relief depicting mythological scenes. Comparatively little is known of Henne’s life, including when and where he was born or died, or where he was trained. 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. 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.