Elderly Peasant Woman with a Milk Kettle on her Head

Entry

When the Rijksmuseum acquired the Elderly Peasant Woman with a Milk Kettle on her Head in 1969, it was accompanied by a Peasant Holding a Bird (BK-1969-7). This pairing was a mismatch: as was later discovered, the museum already held a cast of the actual pendant figure in its collection: Elderly Peasant with a Basket (Spice-Gatherer?) (BK-NM-7206). Judging by the large number of known casts (at least four pairs and twelve individual figures), the two models are certain to have been quite popular.¹

Bronzes depicting rustic themes of this nature are frequently presumed to be Dutch in origin. A modest tradition, however, also existed in France,² where the sculptor Barthélemy Prieur (1536-1611) laid the basis. Works falling under this category include Prieur’s Maiden Milking a Cow and a Peasant Girl Dressed for the Market (BK-1954-42).³ The decision to produce sculptures centring on profane subjects along with other scenes of daily life was likely motivated by Prieur’s Protestant faith and clientele. In developing these works, the sculptor showed great interest in the customs and traditional attire of people from every layer of society. As a Huguenot, Prieur was required to leave Paris in the years 1585-91. Settling in the city of Sedan, a Protestant enclave in north-eastern France, he likely received very few commissions during this period of exile. It was presumably for this reason that during this period he focused largely on the making of small bronze sculptures that were readily sellable on the free market.

In 1909, Migeon linked the peasant pair to the Maiden Milking a Cow – attributed to Prieur only later – that he believed were Flemish works of the seventeenth century.⁴ In 1923, Bange subsequently attributed the Elderly Peasaant with a Basket (Spice-Gatherer?) to the Nuremberg ‘Master of the Goose-Man’, named after the fountain statue on the Obstmarkt in that city.⁵ In 1967, Weihrauch reverted back to the Flemish localization, ascribing the pair and several other compositions today decisively attributed to Prieur, together with a number of other more or less related bronzes, to the Flemish ‘Master of the Genre Figures’.⁶ In retrospect, however, the quality and style of the works grouped under this sobriquet varied to such a degree that describing them all as works made by one and the same hand had simply become untenable.

For the present pair, however, a number of characteristics, especially evident in the treatment of the drapery folds, are very similar to those encountered on other works by Prieur.⁷ The hem on the ends of the headdress on the Elderly Peasant Woman with a Milk Kettle on her Head meanders down her back in a manner much like the ends of the sash on Prieur’s Gentleman (BK-NM-8042) fall over his left buttock. Furthermore, the superficial folds at the back of her dress – albeit in a simplified form – match the same detail on Prieur’s Peasant Girl Dressed for Market and his Maiden Milking a Cow. Striking is the virtually identical woven basket found on both the Elderly Peasant with a Basket (Spice-Gatherer?) and the Peasant Girl Dressed for Market, even if finished with less detail in the former case. Despite these noted similarities with a number of Prieur’s bronzes, which normally depict youthful figures, their attribution to his name have not gained general acceptance.⁸ The statuettes lack the flowing design, the charming radiance and almond-shaped eyes typically encountered in Prieur’s work. Particularly weak, for example, is the modelling of the front of the dress on the present bronze. Naturally, the scarcely flattering poses and deep-furrowed, somewhat surly-looking faces were perhaps meant to evoke the appearance of old age on both figures. More probable, however, is that the pair were not designed by Prieur himself, but by an assistant or follower of lesser skill.

The assumption that the present pair is indeed French in origin,⁹ for some a finding open to question,¹⁰ is supported by the existence of a version of the female with an original, deep cherry red lacquer patina.¹¹ In the seventeenth century, this type of patina was chiefly applied in France. Furthermore, small-scale sculptural works produced in Nuremberg during this period, e.g. in the Labenwolf and Wurzelbauer workshop, have brass alloys quite consistently containing substantially higher quantities of nickel and lower values for silver, when compared to the alloy of the Elderly Peasant Woman with a Milk Kettle on her Head and the Elderly Peasant with a Basket (Spice-Gatherer?).¹² Alloys used by Prieur, his workshop and his followers show a greater agreement, with lower zinc, lead and nickel values.¹³ X-ray analysis also shows that in terms of their casting technique and internal structure both peasant figures differ only minimally from a Gladiator and Acrobat after a model by Prieur in the Fitzwilliam Museum.¹⁴ In every case, the cast is fairly thick-walled with essentially solid limbs. The core armature consists of a number of separate, vertical iron wires, which probably extended through the wax layer into the outer mould, thus holding the core in place during casting. Individual core pins, frequently used in Italian and southern German bronzes, are completely absent.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024