A Fine Italian Baroque Ivory of Christ ‘Christo Vivo’

A Fine Italian Baroque Ivory of Christ ‘Christo Vivo’
Attributed to Giovanni Antonio Gualterio (active Rome 1582 - 1620)
Old inventory number in ‘black ink’ to reverse ‘21153’
Fine colour and patina
One finger missing to right hand, part left hand and four fingers a 19th century replacement
Ivory
Italy
Early 17th Century / Circa 1610

SIZE: 28.5cm high 18.5cm wide - 11¼ ins high, 7¼ ins wide

CITES permit: 2025/BE01015/CE

SEE: For a figure of Christ attended by the Virgin Mary and Saint John signed by Giovanni Antonio Gualterio dated 1613 see Finch and Co item no. 20, catalogue number 29, Winter 2017

CF: A fragmentary statuette of Christ in the Victoria and Albert Museum by Gualterio A. 68 - 1927 and another in Dresden Grünes Gewölbe dated 1599

Gualterio’s muscular form of his ‘Corpus Christi’ carvings have a similarity to the late drawings of Michelangelo (1475 - 1564). He made a speciality of ivory crucifixes, and the carving of Christ’s loincloth is typical of his work, together with the treatment of the hair and the tender carving of the open mouth revealing Christ’s upper teeth. Gualterio is known to have carried out commissions for Cardinal, later Grand Duke, Ferdinand de' Medici (1548 - 1608) who ordered a crucifix from him and then immediately sent it as a diplomatic gift to Spain. Two surviving crucifixes both have Spanish provenances, and perhaps because he partially polychromed his ivories, Gualterio’s work was favoured and in demand in Spain.