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Waring, John Burley; Tymms, William Robert [Ill.]
Masterpieces of industrial art & sculpture at the international exhibition, 1862: in three volumes (Band 2) — London, 1863

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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1398#0035
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PLATE 110.

IVORY CARTINGS,

BY E. BOHLEK, OE FEANKEOET, AND H. EAMPENDAHL, OE HAMBURG.

A MONG the exhibitors of furniture and fancy articles in antlers, horn, and ivory, F. Bohler,
-£-*- of Frankfort-on-the-Maine, stood pre-eminent; though prize medals were awarded to both
the exhibitors whose works we have illustrated. Bohler's complete snite of furniture for a
hunting-box showed much ingenuity and taste in the application of antlers and horns to that
purpose; and his horn shades for lamps, &c, were cleverly carved, so as to produce transparent
effects; but, among a variety of subjects, these carved ivory cups were of most remarkable
workmanship. The best composed of the two, carved with a copy of Sir E. Landseer's "Deer-
stalkers " round the body of the cup, was executed by J. Laut, and the more elaborate one,
with the stags running through a forest, by Hartmann, both of whom are in the employ of
Mr. Bohler.

The drinking-horn exhibited by Mr. Rampendahl was fixed in a stand of buck-horn, relieved
by dogs, &c, in ivory.

Whenever the art of sculpture flourished, Germany has always held a prominent position, and
in no branch of the art more, perhaps, than works in ivory. In the second half of the 16th
century, although the great names of Adam Kraft, Michael Wohlgemuth, the Vischers, Ludwig
Erug, Peter Flotner, and Veit Stoss, are mostly connected with works in bronze, stone, and
wood, yet a great number of articles for domestic and personal use were executed in ivory;
the handles of swords, daggers, and knives, powder-flasks, caskets, work-cases, &c, being richly
carved in that material. Nor did princes disdain to exercise their artistic talent on it; and
some very beautiful pieces executed by Augustus the Pious (1553—1586), the founder of the
" Griine Gewolbe" at Dresden, are still preserved in that museum. This celebrated collection
boasts of no less than 484 artistic works in ivory, the most notable of which are due to Jacob
Zeller, whose magnificent ship of war, supported on a pedestal, representing Neptune driving
sea-horses, is dated 1620. Other famous workers in this material are Leo Pronner, of Nuremberg
(b. 1630), celebrated for his microscopic delicacy of carving; Christoph Harrich (b. 1630), who
originated the double figures of a youth and skeleton, or a head one side and a skull the other,
now so commonly seen in all collections. George Weckhard and Egidius Lobenigke, natives of
the Netherlands, did most of the turned work, in which the museum is rich, and which exercised
also the ability of several of the Saxon princes. Melchior Barthel (b. 1674) was famous for
figure-subjects and animals ; and the family of the Zicks produced most elaborate and curious
turned work. There are also statuettes of such beauty and excellence that they have been
ascribed, from their style, to Michael Angelo and Cellini respectively; but Francois du Quesnoy
and Piamingo executed such works as might well be mistaken for those of the greatest masters.

The best German ivory-carvers flourished at the beginning of the 17th century. Balthasar
Permoser, born at Cammern, in Bavaria (1732), studied, in his youth, in Italy for many years,
and produced works of notable merit : magnificent specimens of this sculptor's manner are
amongst the treasures of the museum. His group of Jupiter and the Eagle, and a Lion
attacking a Horse, are of the highest style of art. Simon Troger, of Haidhausen, near Munich
(b. 1769), besides his fame as a sculptor, is noted for the manner in which he combined different
coloured woods and ivory, forming a kind of naturally coloured sculpture, which became very
prevalent in the 18th century. His follower, Krabensberger, carried out the practice still
further, and several of his groups of lazzaroni, gipsies, &c, have their eyes painted in enamel.
At the end of this century, Michael Dilbler executed a great number of highly-finished cane-
handles, small groups, bonbonnieres, &c.; and Krueger was noted for his grotesque figurines of
hunchbacks, beggars, &c, studded with jewels. With these the art of ivory-carving, except as
ornament, died out, but has been revived during the present century; the principal works,
besides those produced in Germany, being executed at Turin, Paris, and Dieppe, at which
last-named place very beautiful works are produced by Depoilly, whose mirrors, book-covers,
&c, are of rare excellence. Brunei, Alard, and Ouvrier, exhibited good statuettes. Nor should
we forget to mention J. Jaques & Son and T. R. Dutton, of London, as exhibitors of carved
ivory, especially some very good open-cut book-covers in the Renaissance style.
 
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