Carved and attached to the cross with nails.

The titulus on the cross is missing as well as the original base, which was 35 cm high.¹¹Verslagen 1878. A smaller, mountain shaped base (BK-NM-4243-1) was probably added only after the sculpture came into the museum’s collection.

…; donated to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, by J.H. Gunningh, The Hague, 1878; transferred to the museum, 1885

Object number: BK-NM-4243

Christ, who is nailed to the cross, is already deceased, his head sags on his right shoulder. An old photograph shows a titulus attached to the cross with the letters I.N.R.I. in Hebrew, Greek and Latin which has been lost.²²Cf. photo in Object File RMA. In stylistic terms, the finely and skilfully carved crucifix evokes examples in ivory and boxwood from the Southern Netherlands, by such artists as François du Quesnoy (1597-1643) and Mattheus van Beveren (1630-1690).³³Cf. E. Dhanens (ed.), De beeldhouwkunst in de eeuw van Rubens in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden en het prinsbisdom Luik, exh. cat. Brussels (Museum voor Oude Kunst) 1977, pp. 321-38. This boxwood crucifix was a gift to the museum in 1878 from a certain J.H. Gunningh from The Hague. According to a note in the inventory file, the object was made by a watchmaker named De Bije, around 1858.⁴⁴Note RMA. However, no mention is made of this artisan in literature relating to the watchmaking industry.⁵⁵Cf. E. Morpurgo, Nederlandse klokken- en horlogemakers vanaf 1300, Amsterdam 1970. The original base with which the object came into the collection, is missing. A smaller, mountain shaped base (BK-NM-4243-1) was probably added later.

Bieke van der Mark, 2026

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 459

B. van der Mark, 2026, 'De Bije, Crucifix, The Hague, c. 1850 - c. 1860', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20035890