Inv. DLXIX
Seated Virgin and Child (Sedes Sapientiae); Christ seated frontally; Christ making a blessing gesture with his right hand; Christ holding a fruit in his left hand; bench; closed book.
Sides: prophets or apostles.
Back: Annunciation.
Inscription on the Archangel Gabriel's scroll: 'AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA'.
Inscription on the Virgin's scroll: 'ECCE ANCILLA D[OMI]NI FIAT MICHI S[ECUNDUM] V[ERBUM] T[UUM]'.
Liebgott 1985: Rhineland, c. 1225-1250.
Museum's opinion 2013: Rhineland, c. 1250.
Attribution
Unknown
Polychromy - Gilding
Traces of green on the base.
Reverse
Carved in the round. Annunciation. Inscription on the Archangel Gabriel's scroll: 'AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA'. Inscription on the Virgin's scroll: 'ECCE ANCILLA D[OMI]NI FIAT MICHI S[ECUNDUM] V[ERBUM] T[UUM]'.
Object Condition
Hole in the underside, with trace of a now lost closing plate. Holes in the Virgin's head possibly for a missing halo or metal crown. At the back of the bench, two holes and a ridge for fastening a missing backing or canopy.
Provenance
Acquired by Nationalmuseet in 1822 from instrument maker Cetti.
Bibliography
A. Goldschmidt, Die Elfenbeinskulpturen aus der romanischen Zeit (Berlin, 1926), III, p. 38, no. 136, pl. XLVII.
N. K. Liebgott, Elfenben - fra Danmarks Middelalder (Copenhagen, 1985), pp. 41-42, fig. 33.
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