Drinking jug Baroque style, late 19th century, Germany/France. Carved ivory, composed of several parts. Cylindrical with richly cut hunting scene after Rubens (Jagd auf Nilpferd und Krokodil, ca. 1616) in the form of hunting dogs, hunters with lances and sabres, partly on horseback, fighting a hippopotamus and a crocodile. Palm trees in the background. Handle with bare-breasted female figure, with draped robes and flowing hair, being partially swallowed by a dolphin. The foot is richly decorated with mascarpones and festoons. Cap in ledges with mascarons, stylized clams, bay stick, acanthus leaves and godron ring. The lid with hinges. Thumb grip with acanthus leaf that transitions into a volute. H 35 cm. A large carved ivory tankard German or French with Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt, last quarter of the 19th century. The animals surrounded by exotic huntsmen on horseback with spears, a man with a sword partly underneath the crocodile at left, another hunter trampled by the hippopotamus in lower right.
Probably after a print by Pierre Antoine Martini/Jacques Philippe Le Bas 1772 (British Museum 1891,0414.1254).
After the painting by Rubens in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, inv. no. 4797 (Jagd auf Nilpferd und Krokodil, c. 1616).