Saint Arnoul de Metz in carved oak with slight... - Lot 18 - Pierre Bergé & Associés

Lot 18
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Estimation :
2500 - 3500 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 23 400EUR
Saint Arnoul de Metz in carved oak with slight... - Lot 18 - Pierre Bergé & Associés
Saint Arnoul de Metz in carved oak with slight traces of polychromy, rough back. Clad in armour, the saint is depicted standing and mitred, holding an open book in his left hand, a ring between his thumb and forefinger, and a baton of command in the other; the flaps of the cope are held to his chest by an elaborate clasp; moulded flank terrace. Brussels, attributed to Jan Borman I (active ca. 1460-1502), ca. 1480/1500. Height: 76.7 cm (possible old restoration to the right leg, small lacks and repairs) New York, 1988. This is a rare depiction of St. Arnoul of Metz, a saint under the Merovingians who was born near Nancy. Mayor of the Austrasian palace, he left power at the age of thirty and was appointed bishop of Metz from 614 to 627. It is said that he threw his episcopal ring into the Moselle, asking God to give it back to him if he could obtain the remission of his sins. As a reminder of his secular functions, he is shown here wearing a breastplate under the episcopal cope. It is not easy to distinguish between the work of Jan Borman I and his son Borman II. The comparison of the beautiful head of this Saint Arnoul with the bishop's bust attributed to his father in the Municipal Museum of Archaeology, Art and History in Nivelles seems to support the attribution to Jan I (inv. SUB23, fig.). There is a similar sensitivity in the expressions and a similarity in the rendering of the models, marked here by a certain asceticism in this Lorraine religious who ended his life as a hermit.
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