ATTRIBUTED TO HANS JUNCKER (CIRCA 1582-1624), GERMAN, FRANCONIA, EARLY 17TH CENTURY | PAIR OF PUTTI WITH THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE PASSION

With Heinemann, Wiesbaden, 1914;

private collection, southern Germany, circa 1970s;

the present owner

I. Lühmann-Schmid, 'Ein Unbekanntes Schnitzwerk von Hans Juncker' in Mainzer Zeitschrift 67/68, 1972/73, pp. 195-200 and figs. 24a-c

This charming pair of putti, one holding the Column of the Flagellation, was the subject of a 1972 article (op. cit.), in which the figures were attributed to Hans Juncker, the leading sculptor of the early Baroque in Franconia, who excelled in the representation of corpulent cherubs. With their contorted contrapposto poses and abundant locks of hair, the present putti find a direct comparison in a pair of winged putti carved by Juncker for the High Altar of the Schlosskirche in Aschaffenburg (op. cit., figs. 24d,e). Their rather more sketchy appearance suggests that the present pair may have been bozzetti for another altarpiece.