Maquette du Saint Sépulcre

Model of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, Model of the church of Calvary Olive wood, mother of pearl, bone. Bethlehem, second half of the 17th century. H. 22 - W 41 - D 35 cm H. 8.5 - W. 10 - D. 8.5 cm Worn, missing, accidents. Provenance : Philip Gillès (Amsterdam 1685-1750) Then by descent Urbs beata Jerusalem... It is the most sacred monument of the Christian world. More than a place of stone and wood, it is an eminently holy building for all believers since the ancient world. The "Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre", also called the "Church of the Resurrection", gathers within its walls Golgotha - the place of Christ's torture; the Stone of the Unction - where his body was laid; his tomb and thus the place of his Resurrection called the Anastasis. A living symbol of Christianity in the Holy Land, the Holy Sepulchre is today divided into six churches. In protocol order, the three main ones are the Greek Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church. A Statute Quo established under the Ottoman Empire has precisely regulated the distribution of the holy place among these communities since 1852. Only about thirty examples of these models are known to this day, and the vast majority are kept in museums or private institutions. The context in which these pieces were made tells us a great deal about the organization of pilgrimages and the Hierosolymite craft. The excessively small number of these art and devotional objects attests to their rarity as well as to the privilege, as early as the 17th century, of owning one. Such a model was also known in the collections of Louis XIV. This is why the discovery of a new model in a private collection and its appearance on the market is a remarkable event. Each model reveals, by a clever and precise nesting, different chapels, crypts and other parts hidden under the dome of the building. All of them are represented in our model, including the aedicula of the Anastasis, which is however absent from some copies. The fleur-de-lys in marquetry is a remarkable element of ours. The fleur-de-lys or fleur de Loys is the most distinguished piece of furniture of a coat of arms. It has accompanied the arms of France since 1147, when Louis VII crossed himself and left for the Holy Land. The French fleur-de-lys differs from the fleur-de-lys known as "Florencée". The latter has buds between its florets. Only a few families have the fleur-de-lys on their coat of arms. Unfortunately, we have no element that could explain the presence of this fleur-de-lys on our model, which nevertheless makes this example unique. State of preservation : Held in the same family since its acquisition, our model shows several missing pieces and accidents, with jumps in the marquetry. These numerous small original elements are preserved and will be delivered to the buyer with the piece. A quality restoration by an experienced professional is still to be expected. An event on the Art market: For the past forty years, only a few examples have been presented on the market. . Christies, King Street, London. Sale on December 5, 1995, lot 64. Sold for £14,950 . Bonhams, New Bond Street, London. Sale of July 6, 2011, lot 28. Sold for £46,800 . Millon, Hôtel Drouot, Paris. Sale on July 6, 2021, lot 57. Sold for €42,000 When the history of a family joins the great History ... Provenance : Philip GILLES (1685-1750) Squire Lord of Menquedorne Born on November 23, 1685 in Amsterdam. He obtained the degree of "Utriusque juris Doctor" at the University of Utrecht. In 1723 he married Maria van der Hooch. In 1725 he became Regent of the Catholic poor of Amsterdam. He died in 1750 and is buried in the Oude Kerk (Old Church) in Amsterdam. Models .... Of all sizes: All over Europe, there are replicas of much larger sizes than the wooden models. They are real architectures, and are based on the original. Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre (Indre, France) Vion (Sarthe, France) Torres del Rio (Spain) Görlitz (Germany) Ruccelai Chapel, Saint Pancras Church, (Florence, Italy) (1467) Some figures : 30: the number of models of the Holy Sepulchre known to date 1192 : since this date, the keys of the Church are under the custody of a Muslim family in charge of its opening and closing. 250 : the number of meters that separate the Holy Sepulchre from the Gates of the Old City