This ivory statuette of Triton is Austrian, made in ca. 1685-95 and by Matthias Steinl (b. 1644; d. 1727). Triton is thought to be Matthias Steinl's earliest surviving sculpture. Triton is a mythological Greek god, the messenger of the sea. He is the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and Amphitrite, goddess of the sea. He is usually represented as a merman, having the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish.
This statuette is without doubt from a larger ivory vessel, the other elements now missing. It is remarkably finely carved and probably served as a stem for a goblet, the vine-leaves alluding to vine.
Steinl practised as an architect and designer as well as a sculptor. He probably trained in Austria and took over the workshop of the sculptor Matthias Knote in Leubus (now Lubina) in the mid-1670s.
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