{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1194437"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1194437/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011EU1875/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011EU1875/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2011EU1875","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EU1870","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EU1874","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1194437/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1194437","accessionNumber":"A.2:1, 2-2011","objectType":"Relief","titles":[{"title":"Unknown Lady","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This ivory relief medallion is made by Joachim Henne in ca. 1666. It depicts an unknown lady as a half-length portrait. She stands holding a book before a draped curtain, with a vase of flowers half-visible at her left. Her hair is worn in ringlets with a central parting, and she is dressed in fashionable attire, her Flemish bobbin lace collar typical of the 1660s. The ivory is carved extremely sensitively; the attention to detail, seen for example in the fine openwork lace collar, and the naturalistic facial features of this solemn woman, are typical of Joachim Henne. Exceptionally this ivory still has what must be its original contemporary octagonal wood frame, veneered in ebony with remains of gilding. Its distinctive fan-construction, typical of the 17th century, is to be seen at the back. Analogous frames are to be found in the Rosenborg collection in Copenhagen.\n\nJoachim Henne (active 1663-1707) was a renowned ivory carver, who worked in Denmark and Northern Germany, specialising in small portrait reliefs and busts. He also executed figure groups, and relief depicting mythological scenes. Comparatively little is known of Henne’s life, including when and where he was born or died, or where he was trained. Although possibly from Jutland or North Germany, he may have trained in South Germany, in Ulm or Augsburg, and was active in Hamburg (1663-5), Gottorf (1665-7), and Copenhagen at the Court of King Frederick III, and then under that of Frederick’s successor, King Christian V, from 1667 until 1691. From 1702-7 he is recorded as court miniature painter at the Brandenburg Court in Berlin, and he is also known to have worked in wood.","physicalDescription":"This ivory relief depicts an unknown lady as a half-length portrait. She stands holding a book before a draped curtain, with a vase of flowers half-visible at her left. Her hair is worn in ringlets with a central parting, and she is dressed in fashionable attire, her Flemish bobbin lace collar typical of the 1660s. A painted portrait dated 1663 by van der Vliet  in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, shows an unknown lady with comparable ringlets, wearing a strikingly similar costume (Levey 1983, pl. 150).\r\n\r\n","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Henne, Joachim","id":"A11262"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"x43862"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"},{"text":"ebony","id":"AAT12055"},{"text":"oak","id":"AAT12264"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved ivory in a contemporary ebony and oak frame, partly gilt","categories":[{"text":"Reliefs","id":"THES49035"},{"text":"Medallions","id":"THES49034"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2011EU1875","2011EU1870","2011EU1874"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES395607"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES395607"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"medallion","id":"x31798"}],[{"text":"frame construction","id":"AAT111619"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Germany","id":"x28873"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":"north, probably"},{"place":{"text":"Germany","id":"x28873"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"north, probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1666","earliest":"1661-01-01","latest":"1670-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with the assistance of the Murray Bequest and the Horn Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"ivory alone","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"25.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"whole","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The present ivory is unsigned, but comparisons with known portraits by Henne mean that it is virtually certain to be by him. The material is carved extremely sensitively; the attention to detail, seen for example in the fine openwork lace collar, and the naturalistic facial features of this solemn woman, are typical of the artist. A closely comparable piece in the Thomson Collection, currently in the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, shows a half-length portrait of a seated man, resting his hand on a skull. That ivory is signed by Henne and dated 1666, and it has been suggested that it may be a pendant to the present portrait, perhaps representing the husband of the sitter seen here. However Jorgen Hein (Rosenborg, Copenhagen) has also proposed the sitter could be identified with the dowager duchess of Gottorp, Marie Elisabeth (1610-1684), who had been widowed in 1659. The apparent age of the mature woman seen here could accord with this, if the ivory dates from the 1660s.\r\n\r\nExceptionally the V&A ivory still has what must be its original contemporary octagonal wood frame, veneered in ebony with remains of gilding. Its distinctive fan-construction, typical of the 17th century, is to be seen at the back. Analogous frames are to be found in the Rosenborg collection in Copenhagen.\n\nBought from Ted Few, London in 2011. Formerly sold at Phillips Son &amp; Neale, London, 14 December 1998, lot 66A; said to have been formerly in a private British collection. \r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Relief and frame, ivory and wood, portrait of a lady, by Joachim Henne, North Germany, ca. 1666","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Trusted, Marjorie, <u>Baroque & Later Ivories</u>, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2013, cat. no. 15"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"women","id":"AAT25943"},{"text":"book","id":"AAT28051"},{"text":"vase","id":"AAT132254"},{"text":"flowers","id":"x35571"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.2:1-2011","A.2:2-2011"],"accessionNumberNum":"2","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":2011,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","relief","frame"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-06-27","recordCreationDate":"2011-04-15","availableToBook":true}}