Closeup view
Grotesque as this sculptured scene may appear—men and women trampled under a rush of mounted riders on horses, accompanied by dogs on leads—the collector believes that this antique ivory carving is a fox hunt, not a war scene, because of the dress, dogs, and accouterment. He has asked Jaynie Spector at Dog and Horse Fine Art in Charleston, South Carolina to offer this carving.
Ms. Spector has studied with Sotheby’s in London, worked as an art advisor, worked at Christie’s Contemporary Art Department, and spent years at a Soho art gallery in New York before starting her own art gallery in Charleston. While the carving boasts provenance from a gallery in Paris, Spector believes it is the work of a German sculptor.
Entire carving
“I located one from the eighteenth or nineteenth century that was very similar,” writes Spector. “The emotions and the high drama were the style of artists from that part of the world.”
The carving is 4 x 9 inches. It is framed in wood from the Renaissance Era measuring 9 x 14 inches. It is signed on the back with initials AV or VA, and the gallery price is $2,900.00.
We bring this to FHL readers as an arresting and unusual work of (hunting) art. If anyone has knowledge of carvings of this sort that adds to our information here, we would very much like to hear of it.
Posted April 9, 2014
Carving as framed