Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries

Jacob Jordaens

A study of three men, one wearing a turban, another holding a censer

Auction Closed

January 25, 04:44 PM GMT

Estimate

7,000 - 9,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Jacob Jordaens

Antwerp 1593 - 1678

A study of three men, one wearing a turban, another holding a censer

Black and red chalk and brown wash, within red and black chalk framing lines;

bears old attribution in brown ink, lower right: j. Jordans

and numbering in pencil to the decorative backing, lower right: 614

170 by 148 mm; 6¾ by 5⅞ in.

Sale, London, Sotheby's, 9 July 2008, lot 17

Although this group of figures does not relate to any extant painting, the censer held by one of the men suggests that they could be a study for the Three Magi. The geometric execution of the drapery is comparable to a black chalk study of a seated woman in the Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden, which was made in preparation for Jordaens' Descent from the Cross paintings of circa 1650.¹

1. R.-A. d'Hulst, Jordaens Drawings, 4 vols., Brussels 1974, vol. II, p. 355, cat. no. A275, reproduced vol. IV, fig. 291