Hans Jacob Erhart, The Rothschild Oliphant, Strasbourg, c. 1645. Ivory and fire-gilt silver. H. 51 cm (20.1 in.). Master maker’s mark and town mark. Courtesy KUNSTKAMMER GEORG LAUE at TEFAF Maastricht 2023

The Rothschild Oliphant is a masterpiece of ivory sculpture fitted with a high-quality mount of fire-gilt silver by the Strasbourg master goldsmith Hans Jacob Erhart around 1645. Removable from its stand, the oliphant can be used as a hunting horn. In seemingly endless succession, its wall and base display elaborately carved reliefs and fully sculpted depictions of intertwined animals and mystical creatures. The artist who created this fascinating sculpture is Johann Michael Egner, one of the most important Strasbourg sculptors of the 17th century who was long forgotten and is now being rediscovered as a virtuoso ivory master due to new research and to an archival find. Egner did not only conceived the Rothschild Oliphant, but also a whole group of stylistically related works of art depicting entwined animals, which have been preserved, among others, in the Kunstkammer of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, in the Green Vault in Dresden, in the Royal Danish Treasury of Rosenborg Palace in Copenhagen, and in the Landesmuseum Württemberg in Stuttgart.

Both the masterfully executed ivory sculpture by Johann Michael Egner and the refined goldsmith s work by Hans Jacob Erhart distinguish the Rothschild Oliphant as a first-rate Kunstkammer object of princely rank, captivating by its splendid appearance, the preciousness of the materials used as well as the artistic standard. Hence, the Rothschild Oliphant is an artistic testimony to the unjustly forgotten sculptor Johann Michael Egner, whose virtuosity and ingenuity take shape in this unique work of art.

This magnificent work of art will be presented to the public for the first time at TEFAF Maastricht 2023 and will be discussed in detail and lavishly illustrated in an accompanying publication, volume 10 of the Kunstkammer Edition entitled The Rothschild Oliphant.