ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Estimated at $80/120,000, a circa 1550 oil on panel by Master H.B. of the Griffin Head rose to the forefront of Brunk Auctions’ January 25–26 sale as it sold for $192,000 including buyer’s premium. The work, measuring 42 by 36 inches, depicts the scene of and is inscribed with Matthew 19:14: “Let the Children come to me, forbid them not, for such is the Kingdom of God.” It shows Jesus receiving and blessing children against the wishes of his disciples, who wished to protect him from the crowds of followers as he left Galilee and walked to Judea.

Marked with the artist’s griffin head cypher, only two other signed and authenticated works by the artist are known: one in the collection of the Episcopal Cathedral and Diocesan Museum in Mainz, Germany, and the other in the Louvre, Paris. Master H.B. of the Griffin Head is identified as someone working in the workshop of German Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach The Elder (1472–1553). Cranach is known to have painted two scenes focused on the same verse.

The work was consigned by a private American collection and was bought by another. The new owner plans on having it restored.

A further report of this sale will appear a future issue.