Modelled in relief and fired. Measuring points (small dashes) incised in the edge left of the arched form next to the hyacinth; in the middle above the ‘Y’ in Xavery and on the right, at the level of the elbow of the putto right.

Jaarverslag Nederlandse Rijksmusea 1983, p. 19

The relief has been broken in 13 pieces, which are reassembled with glue.

Made by the artist as a model for a marble overmantel relief commissioned by Theodoor van Snakenburg, 1742;¹¹For the marble overmantel relief, see BK-1974-109. ? the artist’s widow, Maria Christina Robart, The Hague, 1742; ? sale of the artist’s workshop inventory, The Hague (Mattheus Gaillard), 24 September 1755;²²Sale catalogue mentioned L.J. van der Klooster, ‘Jan Baptist Xavery (1697-1742): Documentatie over enkele van zijn werken’, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 21 (1970), pp. 99-138, esp. pp. 103-04 and note 19. …; from the dealer Rémion-Samary, Paris, Frcs 3,800, to Adolph Staring (1890-1980), Vorden, 1930; his widow J.H.M. Staring-de Mol van Otterloo, Vorden, 1980; from whom, fl. 15,000, to the museum, 1983

Object number: BK-1983-21

The present terracotta relief is the scale model for the marble overmantel relief – likewise in the collection of the Rijksmuseum (BK-1974-109 – that Jan Baptiste Xavery (1697-1742) executed in 1742 for a monumental mansion on the Steenschuur in Leiden owned by the solicitor and dilettante poet Theodoor van Snakenburg (1695-1750). The house itself was built in the years 1738-40 according to the design of architect Jacob van Werven (1697-c. 1743-63). The marble is certain to have been carved in the first half of the year 1742, prior to Xavery’s premature death on 19 July 1742 while in Antwerp on a family sojourn, the result of an accident occurring some time before during the placement of a monumental statue of Mars at Breda Castle.³³L.J. van der Klooster, ‘Jan Baptist Xavery (1697-1742): Documentatie over enkele van zijn werken’, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 21 (1970), pp. 99-138, esp. pp. 104-05. Following her husband’s death, Xavery’s widow, Maria Robart, took over the operation of his sculpture workshop. The present terracotta, had it indeed remained in her possession, would then likely have been sold with the rest of Xavery’s workshop inventory in 1755. As announced in an advertisement published in the ’s-Gravenhaegse Woensdagse Courant on 21 April of that same year, the sale of ‘…the esteemed Cabinet or Hall with modelli, Plasters, Drawings and Prints, left behind by den Heer Jan Batist Xavery, of which a majority modelled by his Honourable himself’ was to take place on 24 September.⁴⁴het vermaerde Kabinet of Zael met Boetzeersels, Pleyster-Goed, Teekeningen en Prenten, door den Heer Jan Batist Xavery Nagelaten, het welke meest door zyn Ed. zelfs is Geboetseerd. The only known surviving copy of the accompanying catalogue was unfortunately lost during the Second World War.⁵⁵L.J. van der Klooster, ‘Jan Baptist Xavery (1697-1742): Documentatie over enkele van zijn werken’, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 21 (1970), pp. 99-138, esp. p. 104 (note 19).

The present allegorical relief shows three putti: one sitting on a cloud suspended in the air, and two below sitting on a rock, frolicking together with a cat. The right putto rests his hand on the end of a standing sheaf of arrows. The putto left rests his right hand on the cat at his side; unclear is whether he once held some kind of object – perhaps an arrow or something for the cat? – in his raised left hand. The third, winged putto blows on the trumpet clasped in his right (i.e. the good) hand, while clasping a spray of flowers in the other. The three putti can be identified by their attributes as the personification of Fama (Fame), Libertas (Freedom) and Concordia (Solidarity).⁶⁶For the interpretation of this unconventional iconography, see De Koomen in R. Baarsen et al., Rococo in Nederland, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2001-02, no. 98. For elements of his allegorical scene, Xavery turned to Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia. In summary, the chimney piece may possibly represent an allegory on the theme of ‘freedom in unity’, a grave concept but here presented in an airy and playful form.

A comparison between the marble chimney piece and the present modello reveals that Xavery enlarged the terracotta by a factor of 2.5: undoubtedly first in the form of a plaster modello in grande, which he subsequently transferred to the marble. A comparison shows that, during this process, Xavery scarcely deviated from his scale-model design. He did slightly adjust the height-to-width ratio, however, with the marble version therefore being somewhat narrower in form, possibly to meet the fireplace dimensions or in response to limitations posed by the marble slab then available to him.

Frits Scholten, 2026

F. Scholten, 2026, 'Jan Baptist Xavery, Model for an Overmantel Relief with Three Putti and a Cat _, The Hague, 1742', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), _European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20046962