A large-scale bronze high relief with a depiction of a young undressed woman and two old men. The scene takes place in an architectural setting inspired by antiquity, with a suggested fountain border and drinking bowl and amphora decoration. In the background, there is a corridor and a narrow section that opens up a view of a Mediterranean landscape.

The subject is reminiscent of Old Testament stories such as Susanna and the Elders, but is not tied to any other thematic template. The desperation of the young woman squatting, who is being undressed by the figure on the left and invited to dance with the tambourine, extends into the room. The undercut of the central figure is skilfully emphasised by the outstretched arm of the reclining old man, while she tries to hide from the old man behind the veil of her long hair.

The Noack foundry stamp is located at the bottom left. Signed at bottom right ‘M. Wach. Berlin 1900. v. 1909.’

Max Wach-Wacheneck was born in Wilmersdorf, Berlin in 1871 and attended the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1919, he participated in the Jury-free Exhibition of Formerly Field-grey Artists and was represented with seven sculptural works. Ludwig Lippert (1825-1918), a merchant and art collector from Hamburg, was particularly famous for his sculpture collection and in 1910 owned two works by Wacheneck - Die Sünde (Sin) and the Tanzrelief (Dance Relief). In keeping with the style of his succinct titles, the present work could be the Dance Relief. Unfortunately, the loss of the Noack foundry's casting books for the years 1897 to around 1907 makes it impossible to verify this further.

On 7 May 1919, two works were auctioned at Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus Berlin. These were the groups of figures ‘Liebe’ (Love) from 1909 and ‘Reue’ (Remorse) from 1910, both of which were also shown in the Jury-Free Exhibition of 1919 and listed in the Internationale Sammlerzeitung (International Collector's Newspaper) of the same year. This confirms an attribution of this work to Max Wach-Wacheneck, who was also listed as M. Wach at Lepke.

Wach-Wacheneck lived in Berlin-Charlottenburg and worked as a sculptor until at least 1924.