Naiad

Adrian de Vries (about 1560–1626)

1560–1626

Object PlaceThe Netherlands

Medium/TechniqueCeramic

Dimensions35.56 cm (14 in.)

Credit LineH. E. Bolles Fund

Accession number56.144

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsSculpture

Collections

Europe

Provenance1938, Oscar Bondy (b. 1870 - d. 1944) and Elisabeth Bondy, Vienna; 1938, confiscated from Oscar and Elisabeth Bondy by Nazi forces (no. OB 946) [see note 1]; stored at the Central Depot, Neue Burg, Vienna and selected for the Führermuseum, Linz [see note 2]; removed to the monastery of Kremsmünster (no. Kku 384) and subsequently to Alt Aussee; July 4, 1945, recovered by Allied forces and taken to the Munich Central Collecting Point (no. 2458) [see note 3]; March 15, 1948, released to the United States Forces in Austria for restitution to Elisabeth (Mrs. Oscar) Bondy, New York [see note 4]; probably sold by Mrs. Bondy to Blumka Gallery, New York; 1956, sold by Blumka to the MFA for $800. (Accession Date: March 8, 1956)

NOTES:
[1] With the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany in March, 1938, the possessions of Oscar and Elisabeth Bondy were seized and expropriated almost immediately by Nazi forces. This sculpture is included in a Nazi-generated inventory of his collection (July 4, 1938; Vienna, BDA-Archiv, Restitutions-Materialen, K 8/1), no. 946 ("Tonbozzetto, Nereide mit Muschel, italienisch? 18 Jr. H=41"). Also see Sophie Lillie, "Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens" (Vienna, 2003), p. 244, where it is listed in a later inventory of his possessions as well (April 3, 1939; Vienna, BDA-Archiv, Restitutions-Materialen, K 8/3).

[2] The Führermuseum, the art museum Adolf Hitler planned to build in Linz, Austria, was given right of first refusal over the confiscated collection. This sculpture was selected for inclusion.

[3] Many works of art stored elsewhere by the Nazis were moved to the abandoned salt mines of Alt Aussee in Austria, to be kept safe from wartime bombing. Allied troops recovered the artwork ar the end of World War II and established collecting points where the art could be identified for restitution to its rightful owners. This sculpture came to the Munich Central Collecting Point in 1945 from Alt Aussee (no. 1802/3) and was numbered 2458.

[4] Mr. Bondy and his wife left Europe and emigrated to the United States, where he passed away in 1944. In the years following World War II, much of his collection was restituted to his widow and subsequently sold on the New York art market, particularly through Blumka Gallery. At the time of the sculpture's acquisition, the gallery was said to have acquired it "at the end of the war" from the Bondy collection. For further on Oscar Bondy, see Lillie, 2003 (as above, n. 1), pp. 216-245.