Description
Lime wood panel carved in high relief and monochrome representing the Nativity. In the centre of the lower part, the Child is lying naked on a piece of his Mother's cloak lying on the ground; he is framed on the left by Mary, with her hands clasped, and by Joseph, on the right, with a candle in his hands; above the Child, two adoring angels are kneeling; in the background, the stable with the ox and the donkey looking at the scene from behind a plessis; in the background on the right, a shepherd accompanied by his dog and by three sheep Upper Rhine, Basel? ca. 1520 Height: 50.5 cm - Width: 57 cm - Depth: 15 cm (small accidents, fixing holes, old but later monochrome) This iconography of the Nativity with the naked Child lying on the ground, resting on a flap of his Mother's cloak, is typical of the mid-15th century. It is illustrated in the Book of Hours of Katherine Gentille (Chicago, The Art Institute, inv. Ms.1915-540, vel 182ff, folio 83 Vo). Martin Schongauer, an engraver from Colmar, used this composition in the 1470s in one of his most famous works. Works consulted: M. Blanc, Emaux peints de Limoges XVe-XVIIIe siècles - La collection du musée des arts décoratifs, Paris, 2011, cat. 3 and 8; S. Guillot de Suduiraut, Sculptures allemandes de la fin du Moyen Âge dans les collections publiques françaises 1400-1530, Paris, 1991
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Lime wood panel carved in high relief and monochrome representing the Nativity. In the centre of the lower part, the Child is lying naked on a piece of his Mother's cloak lying on the ground; he is framed on the left by Mary, with her hands clasped, and by Joseph, on the right, with a candle in his hands; above the Child, two adoring angels are kneeling; in the background, the stable with the ox and the donkey looking at the scene from behind a plessis; in the background on the right, a shepherd accompanied by his dog and by three sheep Upper Rhine, Basel? ca. 1520 Height: 50.5 cm - Width: 57 cm - Depth: 15 cm (small accidents, fixing holes, old but later monochrome) This iconography of the Nativity with the naked Child lying on the ground, resting on a flap of his Mother's cloak, is typical of the mid-15th century. It is illustrated in the Book of Hours of Katherine Gentille (Chicago, The Art Institute, inv. Ms.1915-540, vel 182ff, folio 83 Vo). Martin Schongauer, an engraver from Colmar, used this composition in the 1470s in one of his most famous works. Works consulted: M. Blanc, Emaux peints de Limoges XVe-XVIIIe siècles - La collection du musée des arts décoratifs, Paris, 2011, cat. 3 and 8; S. Guillot de Suduiraut, Sculptures allemandes de la fin du Moyen Âge dans les collections publiques françaises 1400-1530, Paris, 1991
