Carved in relief. Three holes for securing can be discerned on the reverse, as well as a groove on the narrow side of the relief for framing purposes.

A crack traverses the medallion, along the hat down to the left elbow.

…; ? sale collection Simon Wolf (‘Sim’) Josephus Jitta (1818-1897, Amsterdam), Paris (Drouot), 5-22 March 1883, no. 351 (as a portrait of Van Mieris) (bought in);¹¹J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, p. 201. his sale, Amsterdam (Frederik Muller), 9-10 November 1897, no. 230, fl. 300;²²Copy RMA. …; sale collection A.O. van Kerkwijk (1873-1957, Doorn), Amsterdam (Frederik Muller), 10-16 December 1957, no. 388 (as by Rombout Verhulst), together with its pendant (BK-1958-2-B) fl. 4,368 for both, to the museum

Object number: BK-1958-2-A

These two ivory medallions (for the other portrait, see BK-1958-2-B), each bearing the portrait of a young man and unquestionably conceived as a pair (although the ivories have not always remained together),³³Compare the individual ‘Provenance’ sections. were made around 1660 in the Northern Netherlands. The high quality of the carving and the unusual, highly evolved spatial depth – with the elbows of both men projecting dramatically outward – betray the work a sculptor possessing remarkable skill. Rombout Verhulst (1624-1698) has been proposed as the possible artist. While originating from the Southern Netherlandish city of Mechelen, Verhulst was active in the Dutch Republic. His standing as the leading sculptor in the Northern Netherlands after 1650 is aptly illustrated by his inclusion in Jan Vos’s Zeege der schilderkunst from 1654.⁴⁴C. Hofstede de Groot, Quellenstudien zur holländische Kunstgeschichte, The Hague 1893, pp. 446-47, and G.J.M. Weber, Der Lobtopos des ‘lebenden’ Bildes, Jan Vos und sein “Zeege der Schilderkunst” von 1654, Hildesheim/Zürich/New York 1991. By this time, Verhulst had been in the Northern Netherlands since 1646, four years prior to his joining the team charged with the sculptural decoration on the new Amsterdam town hall, a massive enterprise overseen by his fellow countryman Artus Quellinus I (1609-1668). Verhulst is known to have made a number of key contributions as well, with a number of the marble reliefs adorning the palace arcades even bearing his signature. Not only does this suggest he enjoyed a status working as an independent artist within Quellinus's team, but it also reflects the high level of esteem he must have already acquired in the Dutch Republic by this time.

Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century sources mention cabinet sculptures by Verhulst no more than incidentally. Prior to the Rijksmuseum’s acquisition of an ivory Virgin and Child signed RVHulst (BK-2002-28), however, only one other documented example of cabinet sculpture attributable to his name was still known to exist: the carved wooden mantelpiece frieze in the Oranjezaal at Huis Ten Bosch Palace – since 1805 incorporated above a doorway – depicting a triumphal procession of putti.⁵⁵B. Brenninkmeyer-De Rooy, ‘Notities betreffende de decoratie van de Oranjezaal in Huis Ten Bosch’, Oud Holland 96 (1982), pp. 135-36. F. Scholten, Sumptuous Memories: Studies in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Tomb Sculpture, Zwolle 2003, fig. 16. Rembrandt’s insolvent estate inventory of 1656 includes a rather enigmatic entry listing a small gilded bedstead by Verhulst,⁶⁶W.L. Strauss and M. van der Meulen, The Rembrandt Documents, New York 1979, p. 369, no. 197. with a small number of carved picture frames cited elsewhere.⁷⁷P.J.J. van Thiel and C.J. de Bruyn Kops, Framing in the Golden Age: Picture and Frame in 17th-century Holland, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1984, chapter II, appendix 1, (under Verhulst), pp. 49, 50 cites: Noch twee gesneen lysten van Verhulst gesneen, voor ses en dartich gulden (another two carved frames carved by Verhulst, for thirty-six guilders), and Aen Van der Hulst voor lysten 350 gulden (To Van der Hulst for frames 350 guilders) is declared in an annotation made by the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, Ryklof van Goens. The sculptor’s name also appears in connection with ivory- and wood-carved statuettes mentioned in Northern Netherlandish collections and sales of the eighteenth century.⁸⁸An ivory group of Hercules and Cacus by Verhulst is listed at the sale of the collection of Pieter Locquet on 22-24 September 1783; the collection of John Hope also included a work by Verhulst, together with other works by De Keyser, Quellinus, Bossuit, Vinckenbrinck, Algardi and Giambologna. See J.J.W. Niemeijer, ‘De kunstverzameling van John Hope (1737-1784)’, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 32 (1981), pp. 127-232, esp. pp. 216-17, nos. 445-49, 452, 454 and 455-58. The ivory Virgin and Child therefore serves as an important core work, pivotal in gauging the few known cabinet sculptures attributed to the sculptor.⁹⁹For example, the attribution of a palmwood-carved Venus to Verhulst (Hannema-De Stuers Fundatie, Heino) can no longer be sustained, despite its close compositional similarity to Verhulst’s marble Venus relief in the Amsterdam city hall, see F. Scholten, Sumptuous Memories: Studies in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Tomb Sculpture, Zwolle 2003, pp. 113,-14. One work, however, that can convincingly be attributed to Verhulst is a small marble Venus that appeared on the Amsterdam art market around 1990, see F. Scholten, ‘Twee vroege statuettes van Rombout Verhulst’, Antiek 25 (1991), no. 7, pp. 345-53. Two reliefs – Joseph and the Wife of Potiphar and Isaac Who is About to Bless Jacob – in the former Reiner Winkler collection and now in the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt have also been attributed to Verhulst on convincing stylistic grounds.¹⁰¹⁰C. Theuerkauff, Elfenbein: Sammlung Reiner Winkler Band II, Munich 1994, nos. 48-49; M. Bückling (ed.), White Wedding: Die Elfenbein-Sammlung Reiner Winkler jetzt im Liebieghaus: Für immer, exh. cat. Frankfurt am Main (Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung) 2019, nos. 180, 181.

The two medallion portraits discussed here are admittedly fairly dissimilar to the Madonna statuette, a work in many ways as yet conveying the classical spirit of the Amsterdam city hall. When turning to Verhulst’s life-size portraits in marble and terracotta, however, some commonalities can be discerned, specifically in terms of the ‘warm’, fleshy treatment of the skin. What the double portraits share with the ivory Madonna is the expressive interplay of small folds and large planes in the treatment of the clothing. The stylized treatment of the hairlocks, on the other hand, is completely different from the characteristic ‘impressionistic’ way in which Verhulst depicts hair, both in ivory and other media. The calligraphically carved wavy locks of the two portrayed are rather reminiscent of the work of South-German ivory carvers, for example from Augsburg or from the Kern family. ¹¹¹¹Cf. H. Siebenmorgen, M. Akermann and E. Gru¨nenwald, Leonhard Kern (1588-1662): Meisterwerke der Bildhauerei für die Kunstkammern Europas, exh. cat. Schwäbisch Hall (Hällisch-Frankisch Museum) 1988, nos. 58, 62, 65, 67, 78, 83, 106; M. Bückling (ed.), White Wedding: Die Elfenbein-Sammlung Reiner Winkler jetzt im Liebieghaus: Für immer, exh. cat. Frankfurt am Main (Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung) 2019, nos. 125, 127, 141, 146. Obviously, that stylistic similarity is insufficient to justify an attribution to an ivory carver from that region, but such a South-German influence in the Republic cannot entirely be excluded. For example, Leonhard Kern is known to have stayed in Cleves in 1648 and probably in the neighbouring Netherlands as well, while he maintained contacts with collectors and a merchant in Amsterdam. According to the generally well-informed Joachim von Sandrart, Leonhard’s son Hans Jakob Kern – of whom no certain works are known – would have worked on Amsterdam’s new town hall in the early 1660s, in the immediate ambiente of Artus Quellinus I.¹²¹²H. Beutter, ‘ “Ein kunstlicher schwinder Bildhauer, alles Lobs und Ehren werth”: Biographical Notes zu Leonhard und Amalia Kern’, in H. Siebenmorgen, M. Akermann and E. Gru¨nenwald, Leonhard Kern (1588-1662): Meisterwerke der Bildhauerei für die Kunstkammern Europas, exh. cat. Schwäbisch Hall (Hällisch-Frankisch Museum) 1988, pp. 15-30, esp. pp. 23-25; Joachim von Sandrart, Teutsche Academie der edlen Bau- Bild- und Mahlerey-Künste, Nuremberg 1675, vol. 2, Book 3, p. 343.

Exceedingly daring is the pride with which the two men extend their bent elbows outward, as if the sculptor had drawn his inspiration from contemporaneous Northern Netherlandish portrait painting, where the elbow motif quite commonly appears. Starting in the early seventeenth century, seated and standing individuals are portrayed with an elbow rendered at an angle, as if liberated from the painted canvas, to be observed most notably in painted portraits of the militia companies (schuttersstukken). Illustrative examples include Van den Valckerts’s Schutters van de Compagnie van Albert Coenraetszn Burgh (1625), Nicolaes Pickenoy’s Compagnie van Kapitein Jacob Bakker, Thomas de Keyser’s Compagnie van Kapitein Jacob Symonszn de Vries (1633), the Magere compagnie by Frans Hals and Pieter Codde, and portraits of the aldermen of the Handboogdoelen (1653) and the Kloveniersdoelen (1655) by Bartholomeus van der Helst.¹³¹³N. Middelkoop (ed.), Kopstukken: Amsterdammers geportretteerd 1600-1800, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Amsterdams Historisch Museum), nos. 70-72 and 75-76.

When comparing the two young men portrayed on these ivory medallions to each other, one is struck by the undeniable similarity of the facial features, as if depicting the one and the same man in two different phases of his life. Perhaps the two are brothers. The clothing and rapier of the hatless figure (BK-1958-2-B) alludes to a (quasi-) military function, possibly conveying membership in a militia. The projecting elbow is also a detail commonly encountered on depictions of men of military rank.

The ivory with the hatless man may have been part of the collection of Pieter Locquet which was sold at auction in 1783.¹⁴¹⁴Sale collection Pieter Locquet, Amsterdam, 22 September 1783, no. 82: Een ovaal medaljon, zynde de beeldnis van David Vlugh, Schout by Nacht van Holland; h. 5, br. 3 ½ duim. His sales catalogue lists two ivory portrait medallions by Rombout Verhulst, one of which supposedly represented the Dutch Rear-Admiral David Vlugh (1611-1673) and had about the same dimensions as BK-1958-2-B.¹⁵¹⁵H. 5 x w. 3 ½ duim (about 12.8 x 9 cm). The other ivory portrait medallion by Rombout Verhulst listed in the 1783 Locquet sale (no. 83) represented Admiral Jacob Baron Wassenaar van Obdam. The much smaller size of that piece, h. 2 ½ x w. 2 duim (about 6.4 x 5 cm), indicates the two ivories did not form a pair. As the features of the portrayed man bear some resemblance to Vlugh’s portrait print by Hendrik Bary (RP-P-1884-A-7722), the ivory might be one and the same as the Locquet medallion. However, the resemblance with Vlugh’s portrait print is too superficial for a firm identification of the ivory portrait with this naval hero.¹⁶¹⁶Cf. J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 261.

The meaning of the finger gesture made with the right hand by the same man proves enigmatic. The pendant figure (shown here) in fact makes the same gesture, albeit in a somewhat diluted form. By no means does it belong to the standard repertoire of seventeen-century ‘manual’ rhetoric.¹⁷¹⁷In any event, the gesture is not found in John Bulwer, Chirologia, or, the Naturall Language of the Hand & Chironomia, or, the Art of Manual Rhetoricke, London 1644. A somewhat similar positioning of the figures, however, can be seen on an early-seventeenth-century painted portrait from Hoorn, in which case, according to Ripa’s Iconologia, the gesture conveys steadfastness.¹⁸¹⁸E. de Jongh, Portretten van echt en trouw: Huwelijk en gezin in de Nederlandse kunst van de zeventiende eeuw, Zwolle/Haarlem 1986, pp. 209-10. Another possibility is that the man is using his fingers to indicate a certain length – spanning the thumb and index finger – perhaps admonishing the beholder to moderation.

Noteworthy is the appearance of the same hand gesture in a painted portrait of the German sculptor Georg Pfründt (1603-1663) by Nicolaes de Helt Stockade (1614-1669).¹⁹¹⁹Sale New York (Christie’s), 30 October 2018, no. 8 (Portrait of Georg Pfründt). Another version of this portrait by De Helt Stockade is preserved in the collection of the Staatsgalerie im Neuen Schloss, Oberschleissheim. The portrait is certain to have been made shortly before 1640 in Paris, where both artists then worked and resided. From 1652 on, however, De Helt Stockade was in Amsterdam, where he was involved in the decoration of the new town hall. He was also related to the painter Jan Asselijn by marriage and a friend of Artus Quellinus.²⁰²⁰K. Fremantle, The Baroque Town Hall of Amsterdam, Utrecht 1959, p. 196 (under ‘Asselijn’). In a poem by Jan Vos from 1654, dedicated to the Amsterdam painters’ guild,²¹²¹Jan Vos, ‘Strydt tusschen de Doodt en Natuur, of Zeege der Schilderkunst’, in Jacob Lescaille (ed.), Alle gedichten van den poëet Jan Vos, Amsterdam 1662-71, vol. 1, pp. 123-41. See K. Fremantle, ‘Cornelis Brisé and the Festoon of Peace’, Oud-Holland 69 (1954), pp. 222-28. De Helt Stockade is named in the same breath with Quellinus, Verhulst and other artists. It is therefore conceivable that through the work of De Helt Stockade the unknown maker of the two ivories came across this rare and elusive gesture of the hand.

Frits Scholten, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 261, with earlier literature; F. Scholten, Gebeeldhouwde portretten/Portrait Sculptures, coll. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1995, no. 20

F. Scholten, 2024, 'circle of Artus (I) Quellinus and circle of Rombout Verhulst, Portrait Medallion of a Young Man, Amsterdam, c. 1660', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200115908