Attributed to The Master of the Reliefs of the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian Austrian, circa 1655

This highly detailed and vigourous rendition of a struggling captive is undoubtedly by the same hand as a relief in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna of the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian (inv.no.3654) dated 1655; note the pose, the treatment of the muscles in the arms and legs, and most notably the left foot with the distinctive arched and elongated big toe. Other ivories by this anonymous master that have so far been indentified include: a relief with the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian in the Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum, Linz, dated 1657, where figures in high relief are attached to a background in low relief; the figure of a Captive and the figure of a Man struggling with a serpent both in the Liechtenstein collection and the Hercules and Antaeus in the Metropolitan New York (Linsky Collection). The Vienna relief was attributed by Philippovich to the hand of Johann Caspar Schenck from the Bodensee region. However Theuerkauff and Draper have argued that although Schenck was certainly a member of the Sebastian master's circle, the virtuosity of the carving with bolder movement and a more intimate understanding of anatomical details suggests a different hand - a hand which for the moment remains anonymous.   

RELATED LITERATURE
C.Theuerkauff, "Zum Werk ders Monogrammisten B.G." in Aachener Kunstblätter, 1973, pp.245-86
E.Philippovich, Elfenbein, Munich 1982, pp.299-306, fig.255
J.D.Draper, The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, New York 1984, no.93, pp.175-6
Liechtenstein: the Princely Collections, Exh.cat. Metropolitan Museum, New York, 26 October 1985 - 1 May 1986, nos.65 and 66
Christoph Daniel Schenk 1633-1691, Exh.cat. Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart, Sigmaringen 1996, fig.8