Knife Hilt with a Monk (St Dominic?)

Jan Deijcker, c. 1550 - c. 1620

Messenheft van hout in de vorm van een monnik, met rozenkrans, karwats en in de rechterarm een Christusfiguur.

  • Artwork typemessenheft
  • Object numberBK-KOG-2642
  • Dimensionsheight 17.8 cm x width 3.5 cm x depth 3 cm
  • Physical characteristicsboxwood

Identification

  • Title(s)

    Knife Hilt with a Monk (St Dominic?)

  • Object type

  • Object number

    BK-KOG-2642

  • Description

    Messenheft van hout in de vorm van een monnik, met rozenkrans, karwats en in de rechterarm een Christusfiguur.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    inscription, on the reverse, incised: ‘Ian∙deijcker // ch’nonier∙heft // dht∙belt∙ // gemackt∙’

  • Part of catalogue

Creation

  • Creation

    sculptor: Jan Deijcker, Netherlands

  • Dating

    c. 1550 - c. 1620

  • Search further with

Material and technique

  • Physical description

    boxwood

  • Dimensions

    height 17.8 cm x width 3.5 cm x depth 3 cm

Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    On loan from the Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    …; first recorded in the Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap in 1875; on loan to the museum, since 1970

Documentation

Persistent URL

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  • Knife Hilt with a Monk (St Dominic?)
  • Knife Hilt with a Monk (St Dominic?)

Jan Deijcker

Knife Hilt with a Monk (St Dominic?)

Netherlands, c. 1550 - c. 1620

Inscriptions

  • inscription, on the reverse, incised:Ian∙deijcker // ch’nonier∙heft // dht∙belt∙ // gemackt∙(Jan Deijcker canon made this statue)

Technical notes

Carved.

Condition

Minor abrasions.

Provenance

…; first recorded in the Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap in 1875; on loan to the museum, since 1970

Object number: BK-KOG-2642

Credit line: On loan from the Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap

Entry

This boxwood knife hilt shows a bearded monk with tonsure. In his left hand he holds a whip, in his right a crucifix. A rosary with cross hangs from the cord around his waist. If the creature standing at his feet is a dog, then he can probably be identified as St Dominic. The rather clumsy design points to a lay craftsman, whose identity is conveyed by the inscription on the reverse: Ian deijcker ch’nonier heft dht belt gemackt (Jan Deijcker canon made this statue) (figs. a and b). Given the material – boxwood – and style, this object was carved in the second half of the sixteenth or early seventeenth century. As such, it is one of the few surviving examples of an object of applied art from this period made by a clerical dilettante.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

Literature

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 213

Citation

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'Jan Deijcker, Knife Hilt with a Monk (St Dominic?), Netherlands, c. 1550 - c. 1620', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20035638

(accessed 3 augustus 2026 04:54:41 UTC+0).

Figures

  • fig. a Inscription on the present knife hilt (top part)

  • fig. b Inscription on the present knife hilt (lower part)