Carved in the round.

The figure was excavated in fragments, some of which were pieced together again. Today it still consists of three parts, which are kept separately. There is damage in several places, including to the headgear, the cornucopia and the base. Pinholes have been drilled in the stone at various fracture surfaces.

…; excavated in Wijk bij Duurstede, by 1842;¹¹L.F.J. Janssen, ‘Oudheidkundige aanteekeningen over de opdelvingen te Wijk bij Duurstede’, Oudheidkundige Mededeelingen 1 (1842), pp. 1-72, esp. 8-11. With thanks to Heikki Pauts. J.C. van der Veur, Zoelmond; Mr P.A. Brugmans, Amsterdam; presented by the heirs of P.A. Brugmans to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, 1868; transferred to the Nederlands Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, 1875; transferred to the museum, 1885

Object number: BK-NM-1606

This alabaster statuette was excavated around 1840 near Wijk bij Duurstede.²²It was found together with a white marble group comprising two figures, the heads of which are missing, which is also in the Rijksmuseum (BK-NM-1607), see also L.F.J. Janssen ‘Oudheidkundige aan teekeningen over de opdelvingen te Wijk bij Duurstede’, Oudheidkundige Mededeelingen 1 (1842), pp. 1-72, esp. pp. 14, no. 8. The allegorical female figure has various attributes, two of which are derived straight from the allegory of Africa in Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia: the scorpion on the dish in her right hand and the horn of plenty in her left (fig. a).³³Cesare Ripa, Iconologia overo descrittione dell’imagini universali cavate dall’Antchità et da altri lughi. The first edition was published in Rome in 1593, after which many editions followed, in Italy as well as abroad. On Ripa’s Africa see also Jonathan Spicer, ‘The Personification of Africa with an Elephant-Head Crest in Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia (1603)’, in W.S. Melion and B. Ramakers (eds.), Personification: Embodying Meaning and Emotion, Leiden 2016, pp. 677-715. However, the form of the headgear is more reminiscent of a lion’s head than that of an elephant with which Ripa dressed his Africa, and the armadillo (dasypus) at her feet is associated with the continent of America rather than Africa. Moreover, Ripa’s Africa holds a horn of plenty filled with ears of corn, while flowers once featured in the present piece, as is the case with the cornucopia held by Ripa’s Europe. Therefore, it is not possible to tell for certain which continent the female figure personifies, though it is very clear that she must relate to one or other.

That is also apparent from a group of stylistically kindred alabaster statuettes in public collections in the Netherlands, Belgium and France, several which, according to the inscriptions on the accompanying socles, represent the four continents, including a complete series in the Musée de la Chartreuse at Douai.⁴⁴Les Quatre Continents, h. from 44 to 45 cm (incl. socles), Douai, Musée de la Chartreuse, inv. nos. A.818 to A.821; America (= Asia), h. 30.3 cm, Ghent, Museum Bijloke (STAM), object no. 10005 10005); America, Europe, h. 34 cm, Utrecht, Museum Catherijneconvent, inv. nos. ABM bs632a and -b. Several are not on the correct socles, meaning the titles do not tally. The Amsterdam statuette probably also once stood on a similar small socle. Apart from the abundance of attributes (whether or not applied randomly) the figures have several other features in common with the Amsterdam statuette. For instance, the vast majority belong to series with (semi-) secular themes (the four continents, the four seasons, the seven virtues, etc.), have a ‘closed’ composition with many openwork parts, a frontal viewing perspective with little depth to the form and negligible detail on the reverse, stand on small square bases, are more or less the same size, have narrow faces looking obliquely upward or downward, eyes with heavy lids (both upper and lower), narrow hands with long, thin fingers, striking headgear, often gowns with deep slits leaving the slightly bent leg uncovered (cf. fig. b), and pleated sashes and other textilia which are draped around the figures and look as if they had been dipped in starch.⁵⁵Cf. the statuettes mentioned in the foregoing footnote, as well as Faith and Hope, h. 34 and 35 cm, Ghent, STAM, inv. nos. 10001 2/3 and 10001 3/3, see KIK-IRPA object nos. 108935 and 108938; Woman with Accordion, Winter, Summer (?), Europe, h. 30 cm, Verviers, Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Céramique, inv. nos. 36-39 (KIK-IRPA object nos. 10105510- to 13): Hope, h. 30 cm, Mechelen, Groot Seminarie, inv. no. 134, KIK-IRPA object no. 138390; Flora, h. 34 cm, Utrecht, Centraal Museum, inv. no. 4869. Similar garments and poses often occur in Ripa’s personifications (e.g. the split in Africa’s dress, Dignity’s draperies), suggesting that for these statuettes his Iconologia served as a source of inspiration in more than one respect.

Striking differences in quality indicate that the statuettes come from different workshops and periods, but since, in that context, no specific research has been carried out as yet, attributions and dates vary considerably: from the Southern (Mechelen) and Northern Netherlands to Italy (Sicily, Naples, Volterra), and from the early sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth century, with exceptions even in the nineteenth century. Wustrack for instance (who is one of the few to mention some of the examples quoted here), attributes part of the work in this genre to Mechelen workshops in the first half of the seventeenth century,⁶⁶M.K. Wustrack, Die Mechelner Alabaster-Manufaktur des 16. und frühen 17. Jahrhunderts (Europäische Hochschulschriften Reihe 28, Kunstgeschichte 20), Frankfurt am Main 1982, nos. 465, 477-79, 482-85, 487-87a, 501, 508-11. but also sees parallels with German work and, im weitesten Sinne (in the widest sense), Italian influences.⁷⁷M.K. Wustrack, Die Mechelner Alabaster-Manufaktur des 16. und frühen 17. Jahrhunderts (Europäische Hochschulschriften Reihe 28, Kunstgeschichte 20), Frankfurt am Main 1982, p. 63. The latter certainly applies to the Amsterdam figure. Although, in view of the location where it was found, it has always been thought to have originated in the (Southern) Netherlands, stylistically it has far more in common with alabaster figures which were being made from the late seventeenth until well into the eighteenth century in workshops in Southern Italy, particularly the port town of Trapani in Sicily, but Naples as well, with which Sicily had long maintained close artistic ties. In terms of quality they range from delicately carved statuettes⁸⁸For example Alberto Tipa, St Sebastian, 1760, h. 53 cm (with socle), private collection Switzerland. to highly simplified figurines, which are also generally considerably smaller.⁹⁹For example The Four Seasons, alabaster, late 17th/ early 18th century, h. 18.5-19.5 cm, Ghent, Museum Bijloke (STAM), inv. nos. 10006.0 to 4, KIK-IRPA object nos. 108930 to -33. Striking drapery, like that of the Amsterdam allegory, is a recurring feature.

The statuette in the Rijksmuseum is clearly one of the better examples in the genre. The proportions are good and a fair number of details have been added, like the decorative pattern that has been carved into the robe. In stylistic terms, there are remarkable similarities with statuettes attributed to the Trapanese brothers Andrea (1725-1766) and Alberto (1732-1783) Tipa,¹⁰¹⁰Cf. G. Bongiovanni, ‘Scultura trapanese nel Museo dei Cappaccuni a Caltagirone’, in D. Caccarelli, F. Failla (eds.), Francescanesimo, fede e cultura nella diocesi di Caltagirone: Atti del convegno di studio, Caltagirone, 16-18 dicembre, 2011, Palermo 2015, pp. 12-14 and pl. 4. as well as the influential Neapolitan sculptor Lorenzo Vaccaro (1655-1706).¹¹¹¹Circle of Lorenzo Vaccaro, Archangel Michael Casting out the Devil, 1700-25?, alabaster. However, the similarity with the Allegory of Fortune in the Musée de la Chartreuse in Douai (fig. c) is even more striking.¹²¹²Douai, Musée de la Chartreuse, inv. no. A.829, see S. Leroy and M. Wagon, Catalogue du Musée de Douai (Section d’Archéologie), coll. cat. Douai 1937, no. 522. With thanks to Cyril Demineur, Musée de la Chartreuse, Douai. The proportions, faces and folds of the drapery are identical, the cornucopias have the same shape and are filled with the same spherical flowers (most of which are missing in the Amsterdam figure), the billowing ‘sail’ formed by Fortune’s drapery is also enhanced with a decorative pattern, and she, too, has an animal at her feet, in her case a dolphin. The attribution of_ Fortune_ to an Italian (‘possibly Trapanese’) alabaster carver is supported by the inscription FORTUNA GI VVOLE on the banderole above her right hand, and by the fact that the figure was purchased in Florence in the middle of the nineteenth century.¹³¹³The buyer was Pierre-Amédée Foucques de Wagonville (1807-1877), a collector of Italian statuary living in Florence. He bequeathed his collection to the museum at Douai. This is also the case with the Four Continents in Douai mentioned earlier which are thought to have originated in Italy as well. The pale colour and structure of the alabaster, the striking drapery and the frolicsome putti also point in that direction. The latter were used lavishly for Sicilian statuettes of the period, around the principal figure itself and/or integrated in the accompanying richly-carved socles.

Yet there are some important differences between the statuettes in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Mechelen, Douai, Ghent and Verviers on the one hand, and comparable Trapanese material on the other. The latter is always of a religious nature, the figures are more slender and lithe on the whole, and are often gilded in places. Further research will have to determine whether the Amsterdam allegory and kindred pieces might represent an insufficiently explored aspect of Sicilian (Trapanese) statuette production – possibly intended specifically for export –,¹⁴¹⁴Professor M.C. Di Natale (University of Palermo) does not see a direct connection with Sicilian sculpture known to her, written correspondence, 12 January 2018. or whether we should look elsewhere in Italy as well, for example in Naples (though admittedly not renowned for its alabaster sculpture), or perhaps even farther north, like Volterra in Tuscany. Like Trapani, it too had long been an important centre for the alabaster industry, and it is close to Florence, where the Fortuna in the Douai museum was purchased.

Titia de Haseth Möller, 2025

L.F.J. Janssen, ‘Oudheidkundige aanteekeningen over de opdelvingen te Wijk bij Duurstede’, Oudheidkundige Mededeelingen 1 (1842), pp. 1-72, esp. pp. 14-15, no. 9; J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 399

T. de Haseth Möller, 2025, 'anonymous, Allegory of Africa, Zuid-Italië, c. 1700 - c. 1750', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20017602