611 - Albert Jansz Vinckenbrinck

Albert Jansz Vinckenbrinck An exceptionally significant prayer bead featuring the Seven Works of Mercy in micro-carving Two-part boxwood prayer bead shaped like a fruit (apple or quince), carved in the round. Both halves hollowed out, with partially separately inserted miniature scenes. Height/width approx. 5 cm. In an older octagonal leather case, height 7.5 cm, diameter 10 cm. Monogrammed ‘AV’, presumably for Albert Jansz Vinckenbrinck (1604 – 1665). Salvation in a Nutshell Smaller and smaller! Downsizing became a major preoccupation in craftsmanship, and particularly in carving, at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Miniatures and miniature carvings pushed the boundaries of technical possibility, a source of great fascination in the Renaissance age, with its obsession with what could be achieved. At the same time, the development of optical lenses was gaining rapid momentum. They could be used to correct impaired vision, but, more importantly, the improved magnifying glasses made it possible to work on a scale that had previously been barely accessible to the human eye. The unprecedented works of miniature painting and micro-carving that emerged from this development found an audience among the old nobility and wealthy townspeople, whose desire for prestigious objects was challenged by these tiny marvels. These possibilities and needs converged with the movement known as the Devotio Moderna. This spiritual reform movement had spread during the course of the fifteenth century in the Netherlands and, in particular, in the regions of what is now Germany, advocating a concentrated and inward-looking form of religious devotion. The individual believer’s personal reflection increasingly took precedence over the academic debates of the previously dominant Scholastic tradition. Contemplative prayer and private devotion consequently assumed greater importance. The objects suited to this purpose and easily carried in everyday life were often miniature versions of an altar, symbolising the presence of Christ, or were crafted on an even finer and smaller scale: In a prayer bead, also known as a prayer nut, often attached to a rosary. Creating these precious objects required the utmost skill, attainable by only a few woodcarvers. These exquisite miniature objects were accessible only to the most high-ranking and wealthiest people of their time, and accordingly, examples are exceedingly rare. The collections of art-loving kings and princes therefore contained - and continue to contain - examples of these remarkable achievements in micro-carving. One famous example is the prayer bead given to King Henry VIII as a gift by the English Cardinal Wolsey. Another, from the highest echelons of the nobility, is the prayer bead of Mary of Burgundy, wife of the future Emperor Maximilian I, and one of the most significant examples of its kind. It took seven years to complete and is now in the Mining and Gothic Museum in Leogang. The master Hieronymus Faber is said to have taken as many as eighteen years to complete the celebrated example in the Treasury of the Munich Residenz. Most of the other surviving examples of prayer beads are held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the British Museum in London, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and many other institutions. Only a small number of such objects remain in private hands. Microscopic worlds unfold within the two halves of the prayer nut presented here. Two magnificent architectural interiors, populated by numerous figures, provide the settings for scenes depicting the works of mercy. At the smallest scale imaginable, a lofty late Gothic church and the staircase of a Renaissance palace have been accommodated. Here, the hungry are given bread, the thirsty water, the homeless are given shelter, clothing is distributed, the sick and prisoners are cared for, and a dead man is carried to his grave. In the journal Oud Holland of 1887, almost twenty pages are devoted to the object. Concerning its provenance, the author writes: “The apple, into which the works of mercy are engraved, and which in 1835 was in the possession of a Mr V.C. in Spaarndam, is described in the Nederlandsch Magazijn of 1835, p. 83. It is now in the collection of the honourable Mr C. Becker in Frankfurt. I remember that around 1848 a certain Coenraad Reckers or Reekers from Haarlem travelled around with this apple and displayed it for a small fee. (...)” (p. 86, translated from the Dutch.) This brief passage alone attests to the great fascination that this miniature work of art has always inspired. How proud the woodcarver was of his creation is also demonstrated by the tiny monogram he placed on the central front column of the church. Albert Jansz. Vinckenbrinck, born in Spaarndam in 1605, came from a family of artists. His father, Jan Albertsz. Vinckenbrinck, was a joiner, while the painters Jan and Andries Both were close relatives. From 1624 onwards, he ran a joinery workshop and a sculptor’s studio on the Singel in Amsterdam, which were taken over by his son Abraham after his death in 1664. Parts of the architectural sculpture of the former Amsterdam Town Hall are attributed to him. His principal work, however, is the oak pulpit of the Nieuwe Kerk, carved in 1649. Further works, including miniature carvings, are held in the Rijksmuseum and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, as well as the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. Contemporary Dutch prayer beads depicting scenes from the Passion, for example, are held in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Schnütgen Museum in Cologne. Provenance According to the Nederlandsch Magazijn (1835), in the possession of a Mr V.C. in Spaarndam. In the collection of Consul Carl Becker, Frankfurt am Main and Gelnhausen, until 1898; sold at auction by M. Heberle (H. Lempertz' Söhne), Cologne, on 23 - 24 May 1898, lot 249, as “Kunstapfel in Palmenholz” (“artistic apple in palm wood”). From the “Collection of an old Rhenish family and other property”, auctioned by Math. Lempertz, Cologne, on 28 - 29 November 1941, lot 586. South German private collection. Literature Mentioned by D. Franken, “Albert Jansz. Vinckenbrinck”, Oud-Holland 5 (1887), pp. 73 ff., in the inventory drawn up after the artist’s death.