Slightly domed ivory plaque carved in high relief depicting Adam and Eve expelled from paradise (Gen 2-3, 22-24). On a wooded background, Adam and Eve, their hips girded with a vine branch, are expelled under the threat of the sword brandished by the angel in the clouds at the upper left corner; in the foreground, the tempting serpent crawling on the ground. Beautifully executed. Austria, attributed to Ignaz Elhafen (Innsbruck, 1658 - Düsseldorf, 1715,) end of the 17th century H: 20.5 cm - W: 12.5 cm (slight accidents and small cracks, wooden reinforcements on the reverse) Ignaz Elhafen was an Austrian sculptor with a very personal style of which about fifty works are known. He excelled mainly in his work as an ivory carver, as shown by the two plaques in the Louvre Museum representing Jupiter and Antiope (inv. Cl 20 821 and CL 20813). He left his native Tyrol at a very young age to settle in Vienna in order to perfect his art, before staying in Rome, where his taste for Mythology would then have been confirmed. Around 1710, he entered the service of Elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz at the court of Düsseldorf. Today he is considered one of the greatest Germanic ivory sculptors of the Baroque period.