Carved and (originally) polychromed. Tremolierung has been applied to the upward-sloping base. The reverse is flat. The sculpture was either originally carved as a freestanding figure belonging to a scene of the Adoration of the Magi or it formed an integral part of such a group and was sawn out at a later date.

The back corners of the base have been rounded off. The polychromy has been removed.

…; collection Charles Hubert Gérard Guillon (1811-1873), Musée Guillon, Roermond; his sale, Roermond, 30 November - 14 December 1874, p. 12, no. 20, with BK-NM-1281-B, to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague; transferred to the museum, 1885

Object number: BK-NM-1281-A

This king, likely depicting the youngest of the three magi, Caspar,¹¹The identification of the three Magi has not been consistent. The eldest king is most commonly identified as Melchior, typically representing Europe; the youngest, beardless king is usually cited as Caspar, most often representing Africa; and the third king, the middle-aged Balthasar, typically represents Asia; see E. Kirschbaum (ed.), Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie, vol. 1, Freiburg 1968, cols. 539-49; G. Schiller, Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst, vol. 1, Gütersloh 1966, pp. 105-24. originally belonged to a retable group of the Adoration of the Magi. The figure was acquired by the Rijksmuseum in 1874 at the auction sale of the Guillon Collection (Roermond), together with a bearded King Melchior (?) (BK-NM-1281-B). With the acquisition of over 800 objects from the Hermans-Smits collection (Eindhoven) one year later, the accompanying Virgin and Child (BK-NM-2492) was also added to the museum’s collection. The stylistic agreement between these figures, their comparably proportionate scale, and the upward-sloping bases, all identically accentuated with Tremolierung (wiggle-work), indicate an origin from the same ensemble. Moreover, the sculptures of the bearded king (Melchior?) and that of the Virgin and Child have both been furnished with an old label inscribed in the same handwriting and denoting almost consecutive inventory numbers (respectively nos. 455 and 457), thus providing additional confirmation of their shared provenance. Guillon may very well have purchased the two kings from Hermans-Smits, an art dealer by trade.²²B. Kruijsen, Verzamelen van middeleeuwse kunst in Nederland 1830-1903, Nijmegen 2002, p. 111. In accordance with conventional iconography, the missing third king (Balthasar?) would have been kneeling at Mary’s feet in presenting his gift to the Christ Child.

Pit and Vogelsang localized the group in the Southern Netherlands. As rightfully pointed out by Leeuwenberg, however, the compact design is more typical of Northern Netherlandish production.³³J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, p. 104. Mary’s curved forehead, her full-round face with squinted eyes, and the hood of her cloak folded back betray characteristics of woodcarving produced in Utrecht. The sculptures are similar to a group of Utrecht sculptures dated circa 1500, as established by Defoer based on their rather conservative appearance.⁴⁴M. Leeflang et al., Middeleeuwse beelden uit Utrecht 1430-1530/Mittelalterliche Bildwerke aus Utrecht, exh. cat. Utrecht (Museum Catharijneconvent)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2012-13, p. 75. For these sculptures, see ibid., nos. 43-46 and p. 263 (ill.). The Virgin's face, hair and cloak are, for instance, almost identical to those of the figure of Mary in the Rijksmuseum’s Flight to Egypt (BK-NM-11769), which also belongs to this Utrecht style group.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 92b, with earlier literature

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, King Caspar (?), from an Adoration of the Magi, Utrecht, c. 1500', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200380719