1532 - Curiosities - Baroque relief panel depicting a cityscape. Southern Germany, 16th/17th century; travelers arriving on camels against the backdrop of an Oriental city—likely depicting the search for a bride for Isaac, one of the best-known stories from the Book of Genesis (Genesis 24). Carved from oak, showing signs of age. Dimensions: approx. 51 x 25 cm.

Curiosities - Baroque relief panel depicting a cityscape. Southern Germany, 16th/17th century; travelers arriving on camels against the backdrop of an Oriental city—likely depicting the search for a bride for Isaac, one of the best-known stories from the Book of Genesis (Genesis 24). Carved from oak, showing signs of age. Dimensions: approx. 51 x 25 cm. Abraham does not want Isaac to marry a woman from Canaan. He makes his oldest servant (often identified as Eliezer) swear to seek a wife from among his own relatives in Abraham’s homeland of Mesopotamia. Upon arriving in the city of Nahor, the servant prays at the well for a divine sign: the woman who not only gives him water but also, of her own accord, offers to water his ten camels is to be the chosen one. Before he has even finished praying, Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel (a nephew of Abraham), arrives. She is beautiful and fulfills the requested sign exactly by willingly drawing buckets full of water for the camels. - The panel may originally have been part of a casket or box as a decorative inlay; the movable tongue of the lion’s head likely served as a keyhole. A Baroque townscape relief panel. Southern Germany, 16th/17th century; a caravan of travelers arrives on camels against the backdrop of an oriental town—probably a scene from the Book of Genesis—in which Abraham’s servant seeks a wife for Isaac. Carved from oak, with signs of age. Dimensions: approx. 51 x 25 cm.