Offered by EHRL Fine Art & Antique
A large-scale bronze high relief with a depiction of a young undressed woman and two old men. The scene takes place in an architectural setting inspired by antiquity, with a suggested fountain border and drinking bowl and amphora decoration. In the background, there is a corridor and a narrow section that opens up a view of a Mediterranean landscape.
The subject is reminiscent of Old Testament stories such as Susanna and the Elders, but is not tied to any other thematic template. The desperation of the young woman squatting, who is being undressed by the figure on the left and invited to dance with the tambourine, extends into the room. The undercut of the central figure is skilfully emphasised by the outstretched arm of the reclining old man, while she tries to hide from the old man behind the veil of her long hair.
The Noack foundry stamp is located at the bottom left. Signed at bottom right ‘M. Wach. Berlin 1900. v. 1909.’
Max Wach-Wacheneck was born in Wilmersdorf, Berlin in 1871 and attended the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1919, he participated in the Jury-free Exhibition of Formerly Field-grey Artists and was represented with seven sculptural works. Ludwig Lippert (1825-1918), a merchant and art collector from Hamburg, was particularly famous for his sculpture collection and in 1910 owned two works by Wacheneck - Die Sünde (Sin) and the Tanzrelief (Dance Relief). In keeping with the style of his succinct titles, the present work could be the Dance Relief. Unfortunately, the loss of the Noack foundry's casting books for the years 1897 to around 1907 makes it impossible to verify this further.
On 7 May 1919, two works were auctioned at Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus Berlin. These were the groups of figures ‘Liebe’ (Love) from 1909 and ‘Reue’ (Remorse) from 1910, both of which were also shown in the Jury-Free Exhibition of 1919 and listed in the Internationale Sammlerzeitung (International Collector's Newspaper) of the same year. This confirms an attribution of this work to Max Wach-Wacheneck, who was also listed as M. Wach at Lepke.
Wach-Wacheneck lived in Berlin-Charlottenburg and worked as a sculptor until at least 1924.
Delevery information :
The place of performance for all contractual claims is the Seller's place of business (Greding). This shall also apply if the seller sends the goods to another destination at the customer's request (sale by delivery to a place other than the place of performance). If the seller is also responsible for the assembly or installation of the goods at the customer's premises, the place of performance shall be the place of assembly or installation of the goods.
The costs of shipment shall be borne by the customer. The goods shall be shipped to the delivery address specified by the customer. The seller shall not be obliged to ship the goods abroad unless otherwise agreed.
If the customer trades as an entrepreneur and if, at the customer's request, the seller ships the goods to a destination other than the place of performance, the risk of accidental loss of the goods shall pass to the customer as soon as the seller has delivered the goods to the carrier or to the person or institution otherwise designated to carry out the shipment. The seller retains his claim to payment of the purchase price.
If the customer is acting as a consumer and if, at the customer's request, the seller ships the goods to a destination other than the place of performance, the risk of accidental loss of the goods shall only pass to the customer upon delivery of the goods to the carrier or the person or institution otherwise designated to carry out the shipment if the customer has commissioned the carrier, the freight forwarder or the person or institution otherwise designated to carry out the shipment to carry out the shipment and the seller has not previously named this person or institution to the customer. The seller retains his claim to payment of the purchase price.
If the delivery of the goods fails for reasons for which the customer is responsible, the customer shall bear the reasonable costs incurred by the seller as a result. This shall not apply with regard to the costs for the return shipment if the customer effectively exercises his right of revocation. In the event of effective exercise of the right of revocation by the customer, the provision made in the seller's revocation instructions shall apply to the return costs.
In the case of self-collection, the Seller shall first inform the customer that the goods ordered by him are ready for collection. The customer may then collect the goods from the seller's registered office by arrangement with the seller. In this case, no shipping costs will be charged.
