Lot 1315 Dα

Swabia circa 1480/1490

A Swabian carved limewood figure of the Virgin and Child, circa 1480/90

The reverse flattened and deeply hollowed out. With partially overpainted older polychromy, possibly partially original. A large and finely carved figure of the standing Virgin Mary designed for a frontal viewpoint. She wears a floor length high-waisted gown and a cloak which covers Her shoulders and falls in regular curves to the right side of the figure. She holds the left hem of the cloak tucked under Her left arm, where it forms radial folds spanning across Her hips. The work’s sculptural volume is largely dominated by this deeply carved drapery and by the almost freestanding figure of the nude Christ Child held in a horizonal position against His mother’s body.
With vertical hairline cracks, a crack to the Child's left thigh. Minor wear throughout. A wooden base applied with a metal clamp to the reverse alongside two small wooden supports. Height 131 cm.