Bronze, with slight patina
Laur 485. Schult 383. With name and number 2/11 in left below chin, with foundry mark "H. Noack Berlin" in right. One of 15 unnumbered copies. The number "2/11" was presumably accidentally placed by the foundry. 15,5 x 12,2 x 8,4 cm (6,1 x 4,8 x 3,3 in)
Cast from a posthumous edition after 1947, made after he clay model from 1931.

We are grateful to Mr. Ernst Barlach, Lizenzverwaltung GmbH & Cio. KG Ernst Barlach, Ratzeburg, for his kind oral information.

PROVENANCE: Private collection Baden Württemberg.

Based on a design with portrait-like features, Ernst Barlach created 11 variations of the 'Christusmaske' around 1931, which were entirely modeler in clay. Some of them, including this one, were cast in bronze at a later point. The strictly stylizing modelation of the face is the same in all variations, eventually attaining a design that emphasize the archaic. Barlach sees in his 'Christusmaske' less the prophet and rather the clairvoyant, which he portraits much older than it has actually been passed down. [KD].