Adam

Entry

Together with a pendant figure of Eve (BK-1960-3-B), this ivory statuette of Adam depicts the moment immediately following the Fall of Man. Eve holds the apple in her right hand, while covering her pubic area with the end of a long lock of hair held in the left hand.¹ Adam, in his turn, resorts to a leafy branch. Both ivories are signed by Pieter Xaveri (or Xavery) (c. 1647-1673) and inscribed with the year 1671. This implies he carved the pair after taking up residence in Leiden, having enrolled as a student of mathematics at the university there one year prior. At this time, Xaveri is recorded in the university’s administration as being twenty-three years of age and originating from Antwerp.² This marks the start of his activity as a sculptor in Leiden, which, as confirmed by various sources, continued up until 1673, the year of his untimely death.³

Xaveri was specialized in modelling freestanding cabinet sculptures in terracotta with subjects taken from everyday life. One such example is the sculptural group originally comprising twenty-two figures depicting a tribune in a Vierschaar.⁴ Xaveri also devised works centring on religious, allegorical and mythological themes on a sporadic basis. Additionally, he is known to have produced a number of monumental statues destined for building façades, including those adorning the imposing tympanum of the facade of ‘In den Vergulden Turk’, a building on the Breestraat in Leiden.⁵ The present Adam and Eve are the only known works he carved in ivory.

Both in terms of medium and evocation, these slender, nudes and their slightly mannerist poses diverge from the more plump or muscular, caricatural or expressive genre figures belonging to the sculptor’s known oeuvre. Nevertheless, Xaveri’s authorship has never been drawn into question.⁶ Conceivably, the ivory medium’s elongated form and sensuous quality inspired the sculptor to adopt a stylistic approach unlike that of his other works. In no way is this divergence to be associated with the sculptor’s young age, as the year of the duo’s making precisely coincides with that of the earliest dated terracotta relief in Xaveri’s oeuvre, a Flagellation of Christ (1667).⁷ This work already displays all of the elements one encounters in his later oeuvre, thus suggesting the sculptor’s characteristic style had fully evolved long prior to his departure for Leiden.

Van der Giesen linked the Eve stylistically to the ivory Leda and the Swan in the Louvre which used to be attributed to the 17th century Mechelen sculptor Lucas Faydherbe (1617-1697), but is in fact more likely carved by an anonymous Dresden sculptor in the early 18th century.⁸ In any case, the agreement between these two ivories concerns only the comparable positioning of the arms, the head turned to one side, and the long, freely hanging locks of hair (though on the Louvre ivory partly pulled back). A more probable explanation for the similarity in pose are shared antique models such as the Venus Pudica and the Venus de’ Medici, which undoubtedly served as the sculptors’ inspiration.

Bieke van der Mark, 2025