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A 17th century carved alabaster figural group allegorical of America probably Flemish image 1
A 17th century carved alabaster figural group allegorical of America probably Flemish image 2
A 17th century carved alabaster figural group allegorical of America probably Flemish image 3
A 17th century carved alabaster figural group allegorical of America probably Flemish image 4
A 17th century carved alabaster figural group allegorical of America probably Flemish image 5
Lot 14

A 17th century carved alabaster figural group allegorical of America
probably Flemish

Important Design
27 November 2019, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£6,000 - £8,000

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A 17th century carved alabaster figural group allegorical of America

probably Flemish
formed as a maiden her head turned to dexter, adorned with a feathered headdress, sitting astride an armadillo, her feet crossed, holding a quiver,

armadillo tail lacking, the quiver possibly once containing an arrow, 28cm high, 20cm wide, 7cm deep

Footnotes

In the late sixteenth-century images of the Four Continents became fashionable subjects with the general public becoming synonymous with the exoticism and excitement of far flung countries. The New World, in particular, captured the public's imagination aided by the rise in popularity in atlases and topographical articles.

The present lot represents America as an allegorical warrior goddess or queen seated on an armadillo, depicted as a fierce and wolf-like armoured beast. This striking and dynamic group is directly modelled after a print (detail to the left) by Adriaen Collaert (Flemish, Antwerp, 1560–1618) itself taken from a original work by Maerten de Vos (Flemish, Antwerp, 1532–1603). Like the offered sculpture, the allegorical figure wears an elaborate headdress, holds a bow and arrow and sits on a larger than life armadillo with her feet crossed. It is likely that the tail (now lacking) was originally cast in metal, most likely iron or bronze, rather than alabaster due to the fragility of the soft stone.

Additional information

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