Southern German, 17th century

with a painted miniature portrait of a nobleman on the interior of the central orb

Anthony Embden, Paris, 1990

Brussels, Musée Maison d'Erasme, Anatomie des Vanités, 2008

A. Vanautgaerden (ed.), Anatomie des Vanités, exh. cat., Musée Maison d'Erasme, Brussels, 2008, p. 92

Overall the condition of the ivory is very good with minor dirt and wear to the surface consistent with age. There is minor stable splitting to the ivory consistent with the material, including a split to a section of the upper orb; There are some slightly visible restored breaks and glue residues to the undulating balcony-like section between the two upper orbs; some of the balusters are lost and some breaks slightly open. There is a small loss to the moulding of the foot of the section below this. The turned end of one of the sticks running into the main orb is lost. There may be a minor loss the foot where it screws into the stem (visible to the underside). The object is made in sections which screw together.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Perhaps the highest accomplishment of the art of turning ivory are the hollow spheres containing internally-turned capsules and nesting spheres known as contrefait.  These were among the most difficult forms in the turner's repertoire, with almost eggshell-thin ivory walls and complex forms turned within through a small aperture. The attempt to understand the technique by which these spheres are created is baffling to the viewer, and in this astonishment lies their intellectual appeal.

The practice required a highly sophisticated and perfectly calibrated lathe operated by a master turner. The earliest known example is a sphere turned by Giovanni Ambrogio Maggiore of Milan in 1582 now preserved in the Museo degli Argenti in Florence (Schmidt and Sfameli, op. cit., pp. 112-113, cat. no. 17). Egidius Lobenigk of Dresden was another innovator of the form, and in the Grünes Gewölbe there are four signed spheres of the early 17th century by Georg Friedel (Syndram and Scherner, op. cit., 2004, p. 197, no. 91). 

The present contrefait features an internally-turned circular box with thin bars pierced through either side of the sphere: this mechanism allows the viewer to open and close the internal compartment in which is contained a tiny portrait. An engraving accompanying Doppelmayer's Historisches Nachricht of 1730 describes a contrefait of similar form with the same internal circular hinged box and opening mechanism by Lorenz Zick (Maurice, op. cit., p. 111, no. 119). Another of very similar form, containing a portrait of Empress Maria Theresia, is in the Kremsmünster monastery collection (Philippovich, op. cit., p. 417, no. 368). 

RELATED LITERATURE
E. v. Philippovich, Elfenbein, Munich, 1982 (rev. ed.); K. Maurice, Der drechselnde Souverän, Zurich, 1985; Joseph Connors, "Ars Tornandi: Baroque Architecture and the Lathe," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, LIII, 1990, pp. 217-36; E. Schmidt and Maria Sfameli (eds.), Diafane Passioni Avori barocchi dalle corti europee, Florence, 2013, cat. no. 17 ; D. Syndram and A. Scherner (eds.) Princely Splendour: the Dresden Court, 1580-1620, Dresden, 2004, p. 197, no. 91