Attributed to Jan Claudius de Cock (1667-1735) Flemish, circa 1700

Overall the condition of the marble is very good. There is some minor wear consistent with age. There are minor chips to the proper left side of the truncation, collar and medallion, lips, nose and ears. There are some naturally occurring inclusions to the surface particularly to the proper right cheek.
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In the 18th century Jan Claudius de Cock was famous for the high quality of carvings like the present bust of a boy. Johannes van der Sanden, the poetic biographer of Flemish art, repeatedly mentions the sculptor's knack for creating 'kindekens'. The biography also lauds the beautiful execution of large decorative commissions that incorporated children. His work for the maze of William III's now destroyed Prinsenhof in Breda being the most important of them.

Just before 1700 De Cock set up a thriving workshop in Antwerp. The bust of a page seems to have been a particular success of the enterprise as the sculptor made several versions of it. There are examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum (A18-1913) and the Temple Newsam House in Leeds. Another was sold at Sotheby's Monte Carlo on 27 May 1980 (lot 1167a) and a plaster version of the present bust was in the Estate of Sir Martin Wilson sold here on 1 November 1991 (lot 331). The sculptor gave each bust its own character and, interestingly, every bust has a different relief on the large medallion that hangs from the boy's neck. The cardinal's hat on the medallion of this figure suggests that the boy represents a cleric's page and was therefore probably carved for a cardinal.

Although these busts are unsigned they are securely attributable to Jan Claudius de Cock. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam holds a signed and dated full-length marble of an African boy (RBK 1972-134) which is stylistically similar to the group.

RELATED LITERATURE
H. Bussers, 'Enkele gegevens over de Antwerpse beeldhouwer Joannes Claudius de Cock (1667–1735)', Bulletin de Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, i–iii (1992), pp. 331–42; J. Leeuwenberg and W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum/ Catalogus, Amsterdam 1973, pp. 253-4, no. 339A; J. van der Sanden, Oud konst-toneel van Antwerpen, 1775, Hs. im Stadsarchief Antwerpen, PK 171-73; La Sculpture au siècle de Rubens dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux et la principauté de Liège, exh. cat. Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels 1977, p. 39, no. 6