The Christ Child

Description The Christ Child wears a red robe and stands on a green mound with his arms raised and his fingers slightly extended. The partially gilded gray and brown plinth is carved with symmetrically placed rocaille scrolls. On the basis of the facial type and the detailed rendering of the hair curls, traits that can be traced ultimately to the style established in Munich by Christoph Angermair in the 17th-century, a Transalpine origin has been assigned to this piece. A paper label on the base reads: POLYCHROME IVORY AND WOOD/CHRIST CHILD? XVITH CENTURY./GRUEL COLLECTION.

Provenance Gruel Collection [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Label] On paper on the base: POLYCHROME IVORY AND WOOD/CHRIST CHILD? XVITH CENTURY./GRUEL COLLECTION

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters