Carved Ruby Toad by Gerd Dreher


Circa 1990Idar-Oberstein, GermanyRetailed by Asprey & Co., LondonExquisitely carved with incredibly life-like detail from a single specimen of Tanzanian ruby rough, this masterful work depicts a toad on an integral lily pad base. The skin of the crouching toad is intricately textured in a manner for which Dreher has now become famous. Inset with black and white agate eyes with 24 karat gold foil backing. The underside of the carving exhibits a fascinating hexagonal crystal pattern of the original specimen. This is a virtuoso example of this master carver's work. Inscribed with maker's mark GD for Gerd Dreher. Measuring 4 3/4 x 4 x 2 3/4 in (12.10 x 10.20 x 7.30 cm)
|Provenance: Purchased from Asprey & Co., London, England.Gerd DreherThe exquisitely detailed animal carvings of Gerd Dreher make his works among the most sought-after masterpieces of the lapidary arts. Born in 1943 in Idar-Oberstein, Gerd was a fourth generation animal figure carver. Dreher's family has been involved in the art of engraving and carving gemstones for nearly two hundred years. A long-established family tradition of producing hardstone and gem animal carvings was begun in the 19th Century and by the early 1900s their name was synonymous with that of the jeweler, Carl Fabergé. The Russian master, on his frequent trips to Idar, would provide plaster models of whimsical animal carvings, which the Dreher family would create out of jasper, agate and jade. Fabergé then sold them in his famed salons in St. Petersburg, Moscow and London. Gerd was a keenly observant naturalist who maintained a massive library of videotapes of animals in motion. His devotion to realism in muscle and animation is what sets his carvings apart. In 2004 a major retrospective exhibition of 60 works entitled The Gem Carvings of Gerd Dreher: A Fabergé Legacy, was held at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. In the words of Joel Bartsch, Curator of Gems and Minerals for the Museum, "Dreher's ability to breathe life into stone has made him one of the most famous practitioners of the craft in the world today. His work is a marriage of art and science."