Beschreibung:

The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian: an important German engraved glass panel attributed to the master 'H I', late 17th centuryThought to be Heinrich Jäger, of octagonal shape with bevelled edges, finely wheel-engraved in intaglio with the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, the wounded semi-nude saint bound to a gnarled tree, his right arm tied at the wrist with rope to a branch above his head, further rope wrapped around the base of the trunk, his body impaled with three arrows including two to his chest and one to his leg, a bow with a broken string together with two broken arrows at his feet, traces of silvering to the reverse, in a carved and ebonised pine 'ripple' frame, the panel 22.2cm high, 16.4cm wideFootnotesProvenance Desmond Coke Collection, Sotheby's, 22 July 1931, lot 14 (part) Private Swiss Collection, Bern Previously thought to be Venetian, this remarkable panel depicts the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian after an original engraving of circa 1600 by Jan Harmensz. Muller (Dutch, 1571-1628), in turn based on the 1594 altarpiece by Hans van Aachen (German, 1552-1615) in St. Michael's Hofkirche, Munich. In the late 3rd century AD Sebastian had been a member of the Praetorian Guard, the personal security detail for Roman emperors. Christians were militantly persecuted by Rome at this time, and Sebastian was caught actively trying to convert several prominent individuals. As punishment, he was stripped and tied to a tree before being shot with arrows, as depicted on the present panel. He was rescued by St. Irene of Rome after being wrongly presumed dead. Unfortunately for Sebastian, he was clubbed to death by order of the emperor shortly after his recovery. The distinctive style of the figure of Sebastian himself, with his square jawline and heavily marked facial features, together with the rendering of his body with a series of soft curved depressions seamlessly merging into one another without the need for much further detailing in the musculature, are characteristics seen in many pieces attributed to the monogrammist 'H I'. His work is discussed in detail by R J Charleston, 'The Monogrammist 'H I': A Notable German Engraver', Journal of Glass Studies, Vol.4 (1962), pp.67-84, who states that this master ranks amongst the best German glass engravers of the Baroque period, particularly in his rendering of the human figure. Figures by this engraver are typically slightly androgynous in appearance, and almost always shown holding their heads in exact profile and their bodies frontally, as is the case here. This characteristic style deviates slightly from Sebastian's pose in the original source print. Two beakers engraved with semi-nude figures of Vulcan and Venus and of Meleager and Venus respectively in a very similar style to the present lot are illustrated by Rainer Rückert, Die Glassammlung des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums München, Vol.2 (1982), p.161, nos.564 and 565. The identity of the monogrammist 'H I', sometimes interpreted 'I H', has been the subject of considerable debate but is traditionally thought to be Heinrich Jäger, a glass cutter and engraver from Reichenberg in northern Bohemia who was active from at least 1690 or earlier. Little is known about Jäger, but he worked in Berlin throughout the 1690s until about 1706, then subsequently in Central Germany. He finished his career at Arnstadt, Thuringia, from circa 1715-20. His engraving style shows little Bohemian influence but has much in common with Gottfried Spiller's Brandenburg works. In 1696 Spiller's wife was recorded as the godmother to one of Jäger's children in Berlin, and he is known to have supplied glass to Charlottenburg circa 1705-06, so he was clearly moving in high circles. No other panels attributed to this engraver would appear to be recorded, but it is possible that it represents an early work undertaken prior to his more complex vessel forms.