Artist: Leonhard Kern
Date: 1645
Technique: Ivory
This group of two figures, carved with virtuoso skill from a single piece of ivory, depicts the Fall of Adam and Eve. In contrast to conventional treatments of the theme, this one dispenses with both the serpent and the tree of knowledge. Instead we see a tortoise and a greyhound, symbols of marital love and domestic virtue as well as submission and loyalty. The facial features of Adam, and especially the hooked nose, are easily recognized as those of the young Elector Friedrich Wilhelm (1620–1680), who would be known as the Great Elector. All the signs are that this was probably a wedding gift on the occasion of the twenty-six-year-old Elector’s marriage to the Dutch Princess Louise Henriette of Orange.
Artist |
|
|---|---|
Download |
|
Permissions |
Free for non commercial use. See below. |
 |
This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. However - you may not use this image for commercial purposes and you may not alter the image or remove the watermark. This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.
|
Note that a few countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala and Samoa have 75 years. This image may
not be in the public domain in these countries, which moreover do not implement the
