A SWISS BLACK FOREST CARVED WALNUT MODEL OF A WILD BOAR
BY Johann Huggler (1832–1915), BRIENZ SCHOOL, CIRCA 1870
RETAILED BY Peter Buri
Powerfully modeled striding with head raised and jaws open, this finely carved walnut sculpture displays a richly textured, deeply undercut coat and a muscular naturalism characteristic of the finest productions of the Brienz workshops. The animal is set upon a crisply carved rocky base, signed J. HUGGLER, and retains an applied retailer’s plaque for Peter Buri.
A rare and important example of a 19th-century Swiss Black Forest animal carving, the present work embodies the technical ambition and expressive realism that defined the Brienz/Interlaken region, the historic center of Swiss woodcarving production. Johann Huggler is widely regarded as the pre-eminent master of the Swiss Black Forest tradition, and his works were exhibited at the great international exhibitions and World’s Fairs of the late 19th century, where they played a decisive role in establishing the global reputation of Brienz carving. Works by Huggler remain among the most desirable of all Swiss Black Forest carvings to appear on the market.
Models of this scale and refinement, particularly those bearing both the carver’s signature and retailer’s label, are exceptionally rare and represent the pinnacle of 19th-century alpine animal sculpture.
Literature
Swiss Carvings: The Art of the Black Forest, by Jay Arenski, Simon Daniels, and Michael Daniels, p. 57, where a closely related exhibition model of a wild boar is illustrated.
A SWISS BLACK FOREST CARVED WALNUT MODEL OF A WILD BOAR
BY Johann Huggler (1832–1915), BRIENZ SCHOOL, CIRCA 1870
RETAILED BY Peter Buri
Powerfully modeled striding with head raised and jaws open, this finely carved walnut sculpture displays a richly textured, deeply undercut coat and a muscular naturalism characteristic of the finest productions of the Brienz workshops. The animal is set upon a crisply carved rocky base, signed J. HUGGLER, and retains an applied retailer’s plaque for Peter Buri.
A rare and important example of a 19th-century Swiss Black Forest animal carving, the present work embodies the technical ambition and expressive realism that defined the Brienz/Interlaken region, the historic center of Swiss woodcarving production. Johann Huggler is widely regarded as the pre-eminent master of the Swiss Black Forest tradition, and his works were exhibited at the great international exhibitions and World’s Fairs of the late 19th century, where they played a decisive role in establishing the global reputation of Brienz carving. Works by Huggler remain among the most desirable of all Swiss Black Forest carvings to appear on the market.
Models of this scale and refinement, particularly those bearing both the carver’s signature and retailer’s label, are exceptionally rare and represent the pinnacle of 19th-century alpine animal sculpture.
Literature
Swiss Carvings: The Art of the Black Forest, by Jay Arenski, Simon Daniels, and Michael Daniels, p. 57, where a closely related exhibition model of a wild boar is illustrated.
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