A pair of stained glass panels with scenes from the life of Joseph
With enamel colours, tracing black, silver stain, and blue, green, and red slips. The leading replaced. Rectangular panels showing scenes from the book of Genesis beneath a Mannerist canopy:
1. The arms of the Voit von Rieneck und Paumgartner family to the spandrels beneath a depiction of Joseph as vizier of Egypt (Gen. 42:6).
2. The arms of the Löffelholz von Kolberg and von Giech families beneath a depiction of Joseph with his brother Benjamin (Gen. 45:14). Some secured cracks. 32.5 x 22 cm.
Attributed to Christoph Murer, probably 1590s, for patrons in Nuremberg.
The Zurich born Christoph Murer (1558 - 1614) was one of the most famous Swiss glass painters of the late 15th century. Among many other works, he produced panels for the cloisters of Wettingen and a series of panels for the council halls of Lucerne. The present two panels bear the coat-of-arms of the patricians of Nuremberg. Several other works by Murer can be found in Nuremberg, dated 1597 and 1598, one with the judgement of Solomon can be found in the Fembohaus.
Provenance
1954 with Eberhard Giese, Berlin.
Private ownership, Switzerland.
Literature
Rahn, die Glasgemälde Christoph Murers im Germanischen Nationalmuseum zu Nürnberg, in: Anzeiger für die Schweizerische Alterthumskunde, vol. 4, 4/1883, p. 465 ff.
Mensger, Die Scheibenrisse der Staatlichen Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Cologne 2012, p. 299.
Further panels attributed to Murer in the collection of Lord Sudeley, Toddington Castle (auctioned by Hugo Helbing, Munich, on 4th October 1911, Schweizer Glasmalereien des 16. u. 17. Jahrhunderts, lot 24 ff).