A monumental walnut group by Johann Huggler (1834–1912), the pre-eminent master of the Brienz carving tradition, conceived as a meditation on the three ages of man within an Alpine chamois hunt. It carries two forms of the master's signature: the stamped J. HUGGLER on the plinth edge, and his cursive autograph scratched into the underside of the base — a personal mark, distinct from the workshop stamp, that speaks to what this work meant to its maker.
The composition rises 48 inches as a vertical narrative. At the summit, a young hunter stands triumphant, arms crossed, feathered hat, game bag full of birds; below to the left an older bearded figure crouches with pipe and rifle, watching upward with a lifetime's experience; a second younger figure completes the generational triangle; and at the base the chamois lies fallen among rocks, scattered equipment and a carved woodcock. Each surface takes its own tool treatment — the knitted stocking of the elder's leg, the chamois fur, the feathers, the rock grain — and the carved rosette-and-scrollwork plinth signals exhibition-level ambition. The subject was personal: Huggler was known in Brienz not only as the master carver but as an unapologetic poacher, and he is believed to have cast himself and his companions in the group, the figures glancing outward with the alertness of hunters who remain aware of authority even in triumph.
The carving was purchased directly from the family firm, Huggler Huggler of Interlaken, on 14 March 1925 by Herr Walter Ords of Remscheid, and the original receipt survives with the work: catalog number H.H. 468, Jägergruppe 3 Jäger, 1,000 Swiss Francs, the Canton Bern revenue stamp intact. It then passed by descent through three generations of the same family — among the most complete provenances recorded for any Swiss Black Forest carving.
Huggler exhibited at the great international exhibitions, the Exposition Universelle in Paris and the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, where Brienz work was judged not as craft but as sculpture. Large figural groups of this ambition, doubly signed and documented to the day of sale, stand at the summit of the tradition.
Condition: Very good for the scale and age; warm original patina, all figures complete and crisp, both signatures legible, minor wear consistent with age, no significant losses or restorations noted.
Provenance: Purchased from Huggler Huggler, Interlaken, by Walter Ords, Remscheid, 14 March 1925 (original receipt, H.H. 468); thence by direct descent through three generations.
Literature: Jay Arenski, Simon Daniels, and Michael Daniels, Swiss Carvings: The Art of the Black Forest, 1820–1940 (2006).
A monumental walnut group by Johann Huggler (1834–1912), the pre-eminent master of the Brienz carving tradition, conceived as a meditation on the three ages of man within an Alpine chamois hunt. It carries two forms of the master's signature: the stamped J. HUGGLER on the plinth edge, and his cursive autograph scratched into the underside of the base — a personal mark, distinct from the workshop stamp, that speaks to what this work meant to its maker.
The composition rises 48 inches as a vertical narrative. At the summit, a young hunter stands triumphant, arms crossed, feathered hat, game bag full of birds; below to the left an older bearded figure crouches with pipe and rifle, watching upward with a lifetime's experience; a second younger figure completes the generational triangle; and at the base the chamois lies fallen among rocks, scattered equipment and a carved woodcock. Each surface takes its own tool treatment — the knitted stocking of the elder's leg, the chamois fur, the feathers, the rock grain — and the carved rosette-and-scrollwork plinth signals exhibition-level ambition. The subject was personal: Huggler was known in Brienz not only as the master carver but as an unapologetic poacher, and he is believed to have cast himself and his companions in the group, the figures glancing outward with the alertness of hunters who remain aware of authority even in triumph.
The carving was purchased directly from the family firm, Huggler Huggler of Interlaken, on 14 March 1925 by Herr Walter Ords of Remscheid, and the original receipt survives with the work: catalog number H.H. 468, Jägergruppe 3 Jäger, 1,000 Swiss Francs, the Canton Bern revenue stamp intact. It then passed by descent through three generations of the same family — among the most complete provenances recorded for any Swiss Black Forest carving.
Huggler exhibited at the great international exhibitions, the Exposition Universelle in Paris and the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, where Brienz work was judged not as craft but as sculpture. Large figural groups of this ambition, doubly signed and documented to the day of sale, stand at the summit of the tradition.
Condition: Very good for the scale and age; warm original patina, all figures complete and crisp, both signatures legible, minor wear consistent with age, no significant losses or restorations noted.
Provenance: Purchased from Huggler Huggler, Interlaken, by Walter Ords, Remscheid, 14 March 1925 (original receipt, H.H. 468); thence by direct descent through three generations.
Literature: Jay Arenski, Simon Daniels, and Michael Daniels, Swiss Carvings: The Art of the Black Forest, 1820–1940 (2006).
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