Adam and Eve (The Fall)

This group of two figures, carved with virtuoso skill from a single piece of ivory, depicts the Fall of Adam and Eve. In contrast to conventional treatments of the theme, this one dispenses with both the serpent and the tree of knowledge. Instead we see a tortoise and a greyhound, symbols of marital love and domestic virtue as well as submission and loyalty. The facial features of Adam, and especially the hooked nose, are easily recognized as those of the young Elector Friedrich Wilhelm (1620–1680), who would be known as the Great Elector. All the signs are that this was probably a wedding gift on the occasion of the twenty-six-year-old Elector’s marriage to the Dutch Princess Louise Henriette of Orange.