Johann Georg Platzer

Anonymous sale, Berlin, Lepke, 5 February 1929, lot 54.

G. Agath, "Johann Georg Platzer, ein Gesellschaftsmaler des Wiener Barocks (1704-1761)," in Belvedere, vol. VIII, 1929, p. 83.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is on a large copper panel, which is remarkably free of dents or even the faintest bend at the corners or edges. The overall condition is exceptionally immaculate, with scarcely any hint of imperfection or trace of wear. Perhaps a tiny scratch in the top left corner and one or two individual minute retouches hardly noticeable under ultra violet, where only an occasional unevenness in the varnish can be seen. Every detail of the riches displayed, the minutiae of dress or expression in each figure is preserved with its colour and finish intact. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Both the subject of this painting as well as that of its former pendant, which is signed (see below), allegorise the vanity of earthly riches. In the present scene Croesus, king of Lydia is shown pointing to his piles of riches while the Athenian sage Solon, with a white beard and dressed in rags behind him, advises him that the humble, when blessed with good fortune, achieve greater happiness than Croesus with all his riches. When his lands were later conquered by the Persian king Cyrus, Croesus was placed on a pyre to be burned alive but, suddenly remembering Solon and his wisdom, he shouted his name three times. So intrigued was Cyrus that he had Croesus' life spared.

The signed ex-pendant depicts Manius Curius Dentatus and the Samnite Ambassadors (fig. 1). Manius Curius Dentatus was a three-time Roman consul during the Republic. His enemies the Samnites sent a retinue of ambassadors to earn his favour and influence by proffering gold and other riches. Manius, whom they discovered roasting turnips by the hearth, refused their bribes saying he preferred ruling over the possessors of gold rather than possessing the gold itself. The pair seem likely to have been first split up at the 1929 Lepke sale (see Provenance) while, more recently, the pendant was sold New York, Sotheby's, 19 May 1995, lot 188, for $215,000. In that sale catalogue a 19th-century Russian provenance was listed for Manius Curius Dentatus and the Samnite Ambassadors stating that it was once in the Russian Royal collection and thence by descent to Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918) in St. Petersburg. The present painting may share a similar early provenance but has yet to be proven.

The copper plate is amongst the largest that Platzer used. Only those that he used for The dedication of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem are substantially larger (64 by 95 cm.) and much more common are his works on a far smaller scale, on copper plates measuring approximatelty 40 by 60 cm. or less.¹

1. Sold New York, Sotheby's, 14 January 1998, lot 167.