Virgin and Child Enthroned

The elongated Mannerist proportions and the Christ Child's coiffure reveal a debt to the style brought from Italy by the Munich court sculptors Hubert Gerhard and Hans Reichl. Although they both worked primarily in bronze, they influenced the noted ivory carver Christoph Angermair, who specialized in small-scale carvings for the Kunstkammern of wealthy princes and merchants. Beginning in 1613 Angermair served as court sculptor to Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria, himself a proficient ivory turner. Substantial quantities of ivory were brought to Europe from Africa by merchants such as the Fugger family to be worked into statuettes. Archduchess Margaret of Austria, who frequently shared her collection of man-made and natural treasures with visiting artists and scholars (anticipating the later advent of Kunstkammern), owned tiny ivory carvings and caskets. The statuette here, made decades after her death, is attributed to Christoph Angermair, court sculptor to Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria, who was himself an enthusiastic amateur ivory turner.