Master Sculpture from Four Millennia

Master Sculpture from Four Millennia

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 321. Relief with the Coronation of the Virgin.

Property from a European Private Collection

English, probably Nottingham, 15th century

Relief with the Coronation of the Virgin

VAT reduced rate

Auction Closed

July 2, 03:06 PM GMT

Estimate

8,000 - 12,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property from a European Private Collection


English, probably Nottingham, 15th century

Relief with the Coronation of the Virgin


alabaster, with traces of gilding and polychromy, with an iron mount and an associated alabaster canopy

relief: 43 by 27cm., 16⅞ by 10⅝in.

canopy: 13 by 25.5cm.,

Please note that the description of this lot has been amended: The relief has an associated alabaster canopy, illustrated in the last image

The George F. Harding Museum, Chicago;

The Art Institute of Chicago, from 1982;

Its sale, Sotheby's, New York, 10 May 1985, lot 25;

Where acquired.

A. S. Tavender, 'Medieval English Alabasters in American Museums - Pt I', in Speculum, vol. 30, no. 1, 1955, pp. 64-71, p. 70, no. 60 and pl. IX;

F. Cheetham, Alabaster Images of Medieval England, Woodbridge, 2003, p. 103, no. 5 and p. 106, no. 53

Scenes from the Life of the Virgin were among the most popular subjects in English alabaster carvings, and the Coronation of the Virgin usually served as the final scene in altarpieces depicting this narrative. The present relief corresponds to 'type C' of the Coronation by the Trinity, as categorised by Cheetham (op. cit.) in his seminal survey of English alabasters. The Holy Trinity is represented as three male figures; Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit.