Lot n° 49
Estimation :
20000 - 30000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 29 900EUR
Great Virgin and Child in carved, polychrome... - Lot 49 - Pierre Bergé & Associés
Great Virgin and Child in carved, polychrome and gilded wood, dug back. Standing on a crescent, the Virgin carries the Child on her left side; head girded with a crown placed on a hair with long wavy strands falling on her shoulders and back; beautiful face with regular features; she is dressed in a dress with a buttoned collar and a coat, one side of which comes back to the front forming very deep open V-shaped folds; the Child, with an open chest, holds an apple in his left hand and blesses in the other; face with a clear upper forehead and pretty hair with tight curls.
Brabant, around 1480
Height: 138 cm
(missing crown, polychrome wear)
Given its dimensions, this head belonged to a fairly large statuette, over 80 cm tall. The traces of fixation on the back show that it was sealed, perhaps on the base of a tomb, in a niche, a rood chamber or an altarpiece.
In religious iconography of the late Middle Ages, the turban evokes the East as can be seen in many Flemish primitives or 15th century sculptures. Among women, it is essentially carried by the holy women surrounding Christ or the Virgin, especially in the Tomb
Entries and Crucifixions. It can also be seen encircling the head of the Sibyls, born of the Greek imagination and then assimilated by the Fathers of the Church to the prophets of the Old Testament who were supposed to announce the coming of the Messiah.
Most of the time depicted here is accompanied by a piece of canvas, the "touaille" or "barbette", passing under the chin in order to hold it, the turban is partly imprisoned here by a cap resembling a guimpe or even a chaperone by its extension at the back. It should be seen as a coquetry in this feminine hairstyle, such as the artists lend it to Marie-Madeleine or to the holy Women. The Holy Myrophorus of the tomb of the Thunderbolt Hospital (around 1454) thus gives a beautiful example with its wide turban, letting out mats, covered with an important veil and held to the chin b
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