The now lost arms were carved separately; there are securing holes in both shoulders. A securing hole for a (now missing) crown of thorns or halo can be discerned in the back of the head. The reverse is flat.

…; from the dealer J. Hageraats & Zoon, Amsterdam/The Hague, fl. 175, to the museum, 1943

Object number: BK-15499

According to the Gospel of St John (19:30), upon his death Christ ‘bowed his head’. This ivory Corpus Christi shows such a Christus patiens: the head resting on his right shoulder – the side of the Elect on the day of the Last Judgment – and the closed eyes symbolize Christ’s reflection in death. His loincloth, or perizonium, is tied on the right hip, as recorded by Georgius Florentius Gregorius (c. 538-594) in his treatise De gloria martyrum (first published in 1563).¹¹L. Bordier (ed. and transl.)Les livres des miracles et autres opuscules de Georges Florent Grégoire évêque de Tours, vol. 1, Paris, 1857, pp. 25-27. Christ’s right knee is slightly bent, so that the right foot slides over the left. One missing nail was used to pierce his superimposed feet. The Savior is therefore depicted according to the teaching of the Jesuits, who established the superiority of this pose in the mid-sixteenth century at the Council of Trent.

The carving of the present ivory statuette is fairly rudimentary and rigid. Christ’s body lacks the usual, s-shaped curve, and the perizonium folds are executed without finesse. The face is slightly more detailed, but here too, refinement is lacking. In general, the ivory follows the model of the baroque Southern Netherlandish corpora from the second half of the seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth century²²Cf. 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, esp. nos. 314-16. and can be regarded as a work of provincial folk art from the eighteenth or nineteenth century. The figure’s reverse side is completely flattened, indicating it was at some point mounted on a cross. The securing hole in the back of the head confirms there was originally a crown of thorns or halo. The crucifix to which the corpus belonged was intended for private devotional use and undoubtedly hung in a private home.

Sophie Brinkerink, 2025

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 908

S. Brinkerink, 2025, 'anonymous or , Corpus Christi, Northern France, c. 1700 - c. 1900', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20036343