Neptune with a Hippocamp

Entry

In the 1766 sale catalogue of the considerable collection of the Rotterdam merchant Michiel Oudaan, this unsigned terracotta figure of Neptune was entered as a work by Jacob Cressant (before 1685-d. after 1759/before 1766).² His authorship is confirmed by the close affinity with a terracotta in the Six Collection (fig. a) which bears the sculptor’s monogram as well as his signature.³ The latter piece is the modello of the marble figure of Neptune signed by Cressant and dated 1746 which used to be housed in the (former) Hôpital Cantonal Beau-Séjour in Geneva.⁴ The present terracotta has the same primary compositional ingredients and is probably a preliminary study for the foregoing sculpture.⁵ In his eventual version, only Neptune’s torso and the positioning of his left leg were largely left unchanged. Cressant moved the hippocamp to the other side and adjusted the pose of the figures. For instance, Neptune is no longer lifting his cloak rather weakly with his right hand, but has his trident firmly grasped in both hands. Cressant has magnified the dramatic appearance of the hippocamp by turning its head more towards the spectator, and opening its mouth further. Thanks to these slight, yet essential adjustments, he succeeded in increasing the baroque effect considerably.

French-born Jacob Cressant was working in Utrecht from around 1728. There, together with well-known sculptors like Jan Baptist Xavery and Jan van der Mast, he produced garden ornaments for the pleasure garden at the estate of Zijdebalen (cf. BK-16444-A and -B).⁶ In 1740 Cressant moved to Amsterdam, where he stayed until his return to France in 1750 to take up the appointment of professeur-adjoint at the Paris Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Nothing is known about the commissioning of the marble Neptune. In 1746, the year marked on the figure, Cressant was working in Amsterdam, where he undertook civic, ecclesiastical and private assignments. In Amsterdam his social circle included the well-known collector Gerrit Braamcamp, who owned no fewer than ten terracottas, a wax model and an ivory by Cressant.⁷ One of the terracottas in the collection was described in a sale catalogue as: ‘Height 121/2 inches. Earth. Neptune with his Triton, beside him a Hippocamp. This piece is attractively made’.⁸ The ‘121/2 inches’ works out at 32.1 centimetres – a height that corresponds exactly with the terracotta in the Six Collection and so can in all probability can be identified as such. However, the fact that Braamcamp had the model of the ultimate marble figure in his collection does not necessarily mean he can be associated with the commission of the sculpture. Braamcamp was a passionate collector of small-scale sculptures and his collection contained more models for projects which he had not initiated.⁹

Bieke van der Mark, 2025