St. George statuette
The St. George statuette is a magnificent statuette in the form of an equestrian statue decorated with gold and precious stones in the treasury of the Munich Residence .
Description, symbolism and origin
The 50 cm high statuette of the knight George is an equestrian statue. It shows the knight Georg, a saint, in armor with a sword on his decorated, white warhorse fighting a rearing green dragon lying on the ground . The horse strides fearlessly over the kite in a calm passage. Even the knight expresses no drama. His sword stance is not aimed at the dragon and does not reflect the impending fatal blow. Rider and horse thus represent a symbolic triumphant and patron. The statuette symbolizes the general victory of good over evil in the fight of the knight against the dragon. The work is an announcement of Bavaria's political position in times of religious schism.
The box-shaped base with the reliquary box depicts knightly virtues in the form of the image of Temperantia, the allegorical person of moderation with the attribute of two pouring vessels and the sapientia, allegory of wisdom with snake and mirror, symbols of the nothingness and vanity of the world. On the front you can see a coat of arms of the Wittelsbach family with two lions on the side.
The statuette consists of gold cast figures (knight and dragon), gold enamel (coating over the gold cast structures), rolled gold sheet (saddle pad or saddle cloth), gold-plated silver (base), diamonds (on the saddle pad and knight armor), rubies (on the head and belly of the dragon , on the white saddle cloth and sword scabbard), emeralds (dragon skin), opals, agates, chalcedony, rock crystals (sword blade) and other precious stones as well as large, teardrop-shaped pearls. The tip of the lance is in the dragon's neck.
The work of art was created as a reliquary for a St. George's relic that the Archbishop of Cologne, Ernst von Bayern, gave to his brother Duke Wilhelm V in Munich in 1586 . In the 17th century, the statuette was exhibited on the altar of the rich chapel of the Munich residence on major holidays . As a model for the arms of St. George served ceremonial armor William V, he to Corpus Christi procession wore. The bearded face of the saint carved in boxwood under the movable helmet visor bears the features of the donor.
The work dates from 1586 to 1597, probably based on a design by Friedrich Sustris . The execution itself is attributed to various Munich masters. The Munich goldsmith Hanns Schwanneberg was commissioned to assess the gold used and the precious stones. The base design comes from Hans Krumper, Art Director of Maximilian I. It bears the master's mark of the goldsmith Stephan Hoetzer, who has been in Munich since 1622, who carried out the execution. He redesigned the base between 1638 and 1641.