Flemish or Mexican School. 18th Century.

Flemish or Mexican School. 18th Century. Micro carving boxwood travel triptych with gold leaf in the interior. Exterior lacquered in black and gold. Closed measurements: 15 x 8 x 2 cm. Open measurements: 15 x 16 x 2 cm. Exquisite, and curiousdevotional travel altar depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ. For private use, it transposes the characteristic format of large altar triptychs, both carved and painted, into a small and compact, meticulously detailed format. Its lobed Gothic arches enclose the Mystery of the Death of Jesus Christ in 7 windows that inspire deep devotion. The central window is presided over by Christ on Golgotha at the moment of his death, crucified between the thieves Dismas and Gestas, the good and the bad. In the scene, the worshipper standing before it can feel in their heart those words: 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.' And Jesus (will) say to them, 'Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.' Below him, Mary Magdalene is in the heart of the massif and grotto of Sainte Baume (a typical Provençal village with a Romanesque church from the 11th century with a natural cave dedicated to the Saint). Six scenes of the Passion on each door contain the central mystery of the Crucified Christ: on the left, Jesus praying in Gethsemane, the Arrest, and the Flagellation, and on the right, the Presentation of Jesus before the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas, the Via Dolorosa or Way of Calvary, and the moment of Crucifixion. The exterior is lacquered in black and gold, the colours of mourning, with a jug of lilies, as symbols of the Virgin Mary, representing her deepest femininity, her purity when she conceived her Son, withinthis devotional and mysterious altarpiece. Other triptychs for domestic use and of small dimensions can be found in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (inv. 3264-1856), also of Flemish origin and from the same century; several examples of Flemish or Dutch origin were in the magnificent exhibition 'Small Wonders: Late Gothic Boxwood Micro-carvings from the Low Countries,' jointly held by the Rijksmuseum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Art Gallery of Ontario.