Sleeping Infant

Description The subject of a sleeping infant in ivory was popular with collectors as an amusing response to Greek or Roman statues of a sleeping Cupid that were known in the Renaissance. The Antwerp collector Nicholas Rochox treasured a fragment of a Roman "Sleeping Cupid" among his antiquities. Ivory is perfect for suggesting the soft, smooth skin of a baby. The piece is signed and dated by Artus Quellinus the Elder. His ability to work on an intimate as well as large scale was considered as evidence of his ingenuity. The Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1576-1640) owned ivories by him.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
6/01/1950	Treatment	cleaned; other
6/03/1986	Treatment	cleaned
6/03/1986	Examination	examined for exhibition
10/13/1992	Examination	other

Exhibitions

• World of Wonder. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1971-1972.
• Ivory: The Sumptuous Art. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1983-1984.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1900, by purchase [in Amsterdam]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Signature] A. Quelinus; [Date] 1641

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1900