P
reserving ancient art in all its
glory is a noble act as well as
a big step toward unfold-
ing the mystery around
what life used to be like during those
periods. In fact, one piece of art can
bring us closer to the entire civilization.
The artifacts tell stories about the artists
and craftsmen who made them includ-
ing the style of that particular moment
they were inspired by and the ma-
terials and techniques they were
bound by depending on their
availability where they lived.
All in all, it’s an eye-opener.
This is what’s exactly at the
heart of Bruil & Brandsma
Works of Art (art gallery) founded
by Rob Bruil and Marieke Brandsma
in the 1990s. They began their journey
with the collection of Dutch folk art
at first. As time went by, their collec-
tions became more diverse keeping
antiques from as far as the 14th to the
18th century, ranging from applied
arts and artifacts to unique works of
art. One such great work of art it has
in its collection is “a pottery figure of
a boy holding a basket with two young
birds” made by a famous German artist
Johann Matthias Jansen between 1780
and 1785 in Potsdam. Materials that he
used in the making of this beautiful sculp-
tural figure were terracotta, mother-of-pearl,
glass, lime wood and shells. Elegantly mod-
eled in pottery, the figure is standing on a
low and painted wooden stand. His coat,
pants and the top part of the stand are
adorned with mother-of-pearl and
various types of shells. The boy has
been shown holding a basket with
two birds that are looking towards
his right hand with which he feeds
them fondly.
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PAN Amsterdam
Born in 1751 in Potsdam, Jansen initially studied art
under the tutelage of Andreas Ludwig Kruger. In 1770,
he visited Vienna, and then passed through Rome
before his travels coming to an end in Paris in 1773.
However, he returned to Germany and started work-
ing in Berlin where he created a number of paintings,
portraits and encaustic works whilst working on the
interior decoration of the Dobbelsches Theater.
As his prominence grew, he was appointed the
Director of the School of Art and Design in 1790
in Konigsberg where he was handed over the
baton to complete the interior decoration of the
theater including the stage curtain. In the 16th
and 17th centuries, it was common practice that
objects made with shells and paintings of shells
were displayed in cabinets of curiosities and were
highly prized by the princely courts.
Good news for the art connoisseurs is that they
can see the sculptures (dating back to the 17th
century) decorated with shells at the Museo degli
Argenti in Florence. Back then, palaces were
decorated with the costly and exotic material: For
example, the Gottorf Palace in Schleswig had an
entire room devoted to shell collections.
The type of dress and the manner in
which the shells and the small plaques
of mother-of-pearl are applied in rows of
overlapping fiches are, in fact, executed
in the same fashion. Christie’s states that
the two relief panels