Carved in relief.

Very worn.

…; from Baron Franciscus Gijsbertus Staaskin van Brakell tot den Brakell (1809-1878), Arnhem, bequeathed to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, 1878; transferred to the museum, 1885

Object number: BK-VBR-193

Credit line: F.G.S. Baron van Brakell tot den Brakell Bequest, Arnhem

The identity of the man in the portrait is unknown. He is portrayed in profile, facing to the right. He wears an allonge wig and is clad in a cloak draped over an open-neck shirt. In view of the informal nature of the open shirt, this is probably a portrait or self-portrait of an artist.¹¹Compare, for instance, with the ivory self-portrait of Nicolaas Seuntjes in the Rijksmuseum who also depicted himself in an open-neck shirt (BK-1966-18). The wear on the surface indicates that the medallion has been used intensively. Perhaps the original owner kept it in his pocket.

The style of the portrait is reminiscent of the work of the Huguenot Jean Cavalier (1650/60-1698/99), whose clientele included the British court. He was one of the most successful and internationally-orientated ivory carvers of his day. Although the poor condition makes it impossible to assess the quality of the carving satisfactorily, the composition and detailing do, however, appear too simple for this to be considered a work by Cavalier himself. The medallion was probably made in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century in France or Britain, but, in view of the provenance – the piece was bequeathed to the museum by the Dutch Baron Franciscus Gijsbertus Staaskin van Brakell tot den Brakell (1809-1878) – we cannot exclude the possibility that it was created in the Northern Netherlands by an artist who was familiar with Cavalier’s work.

Bieke van der Mark, 2025

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 395