{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":22325,"auction_id":25,"set_id":44,"lot_number":"64","artist":"A Relleve / Bas-relief depicting the \nPresentation at the Temple ","title":null,"starting_price":400000,"signed_dated":"Late 17th – early 18th century \nweathered hardwood in two panels ","medium":null,"size":"61 1/4” x 37” x 5” \n(156 cm x 94 cm x 13 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Most relleves/bas reliefs depict the carved figures enclosed within a frame . This rare figural grouping is not limited by such a frame. All the figures have been sculpted in high relief and are near life-sized . Though no collection notes exist to tell us the origin of the piece, the sheer size and heft of this relleve indicate that it was a church piece. Stylistically, it is related to a large fragmentary relleve published by Fernando Zóbel in his landmark work.
\nThe subject depicted is equally rare. The Presentation at the Temple is an early episode from the life of Christ recorded in the Gospel of Luke. In the Jewish Torah, the first-born male child was presented at the temple of Jerusalem, to be consecrated and redeemed forty days after the child was born and after the mother’s ritual purification.
\nMary and Joseph are seen on the extreme right . Mary kneels in obedience before Simeon and the prophetess Anna. Simeon was a very old
rabbi , one who had been given a strange promise by God. “He should not see death before he had seen the Lord,” wrote Luke. Upon seeing the child, the old man was moved to utter the poignant words, “ Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for my eyes have now seen IMAGO DEI: In the Image of God A Selection of Large and Early Relleves and Santos from The Collection of the Late Don Benito J. Legarda Jr. by Floy Quintos the salvation, which thou has prepared before the face of all people.”
\nThis moving prayer is known as the Canticle of Simeon. In addition, Simeon uttered to Mary, the prophetic words, “ Yes, a sword shall pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
\nThe figure behind Simeon is the prophetess Anna, who after witnessing the event, went among the people at the temple to announce the coming of the savior.
\nThe sculptor has added a charming touch in the fifth figure, a kneeling attendant who holds up a lighted taper, as if to illuminate the scene. A basket of loaves/ fruit substitutes for the two turtledoves that were the standard offering of the parents of the child.
\nSadly, the central figure around which the entire scene revolves is missing. A small wooden fragment projecting from Mary’s upraised arm hows that the figure of the child Jesus was pegged in and not carved as an integral part of the relleve. The figure would have been recumbent and possibly wrapped in swaddling clothes. (Floy Quintos)","lot_group":"SCULPTURE","lot_details_html":"
A Relleve / Bas-relief depicting the Presentation at the Temple Late 17th – early 18th century weathered hardwood in two panels 61 1/4” x 37” x 5” (156 cm x 94 cm x 13 cm)