Assembly of the Gods in Olympus
Ignaz Elhafen (1658–1715)
c. 1680/90
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One of the greatest ivory carvers of the period around 1700, Ignaz Elhafen is above all admired for his sculptural reliefs. While he was often perfectly content to derive the compositions of these works from earlier prints, which were not infrequently derived in their turn from celebrated paintings, only a very narrow conception of artistic originality would hold this against him. What makes Elhafen a major artist is the transforming virtuosity by means of which his finest carvings effortlessly surpass their prototypes.
No print sources have thus far been identified for the pair of plaques “Assembly of the Gods in Olympus” (SK 510) and “Orpheus and Hercules in the Underworld” (SK 496), which may be dated on stylistic grounds to the early part of his career and were very probably executed in Vienna. The two scenes are composed in a similar fashion, with a select number of large-scale foreground figures set against a packed and claustrophobic backdrop of supporting players. In the former, the armed figure of Pallas Athene is identifiable beyond, but the principal focus of narrative attention is upon – reading from left to right – Vulcan (the smith of the Olympian gods with a hammer in his right hand), his wife Venus (trying to keep her son Cupid under control) and her lover Mars. The second relief shows both Orpheus (with his lyre) and Hercules (with his club) in the underworld, presided over by Pluto with a single-headed Cerberus. It is less clear which of the female figures in the foreground are to be identified as their respective loves, Eurydice and Alcestis, though the woman on the extreme left may well be the former, and the woman seen from behind the latter.
- Material/technique
- Ivory (relief)
- Measurements
- 12.5 × 17.5 × 3.7 cm
- Acquisition
- presumably acquired in 1712 by Prince Johann Adam Andreas I von Liechtenstein
- Artists/makers/authors
- Ignaz Elhafen
- Inventory number
- SK 510
- Provenance
- presumably acquired in 1712 by Prince Johann Adam Andreas I von Liechtenstein
- Place of origin
- Vienna
- Iconography
- Assembly of the Gods , Olympus
Vincenzio Fanti, Descrizzione completa di tutto ciò che ritrovasi nella galleria di pittura e scultura di Sua Altezza Giuseppe Wenceslao del S.R.I. Principe Regnante della casa di Lichtenstein, Wien 1767, S. 42, Kat. 194 oder 198
Christian Theuerkauff, Studien zur Elfenbeinplastik des Barock, Matthias Rauchmiller und Ignaz Elhafen, Dissertation Freiburg im Breisgau 1964, S. 101f., 135f., Nr. 65, Abb. 173
Ch. Theuerkauff, Der "Helffenbeinarbeiter" Ignaz Elhafen, in: Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte, Bd. XXI 1968, S. 99-100 u. 133, Nr. 65, Abb. 85
Johanna Hecht, Ausst.-Kat. Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections, New York 1985, S. 106-108, Kat. 69
Ausst.-Kat. Princely Taste. Treasures from Great Private Collections, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem März–Juni 1995, erschienen Jerusalem 1995, S. 37
Mareike Bückling, Meisterwerke der Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein. Skulpturen – Kunsthandwerk – Waffen, Bern 1996, S. 82-83 u. 293, Kat. 25
Ausst.-Kat. "Götter wandelten einst..." Antiker Mythos im Spiegel alter Meister aus den Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein, Uwe Wieczorek, Liechtensteinische Staatliche Kunstsammlung (Hg.), Liechtensteinische Staatliche Kunstsammlung, Vaduz 11.9.1998, erschienen Bern 1998, S. 98-100, 147, 168, Abb. 99, Kat. 41
