Lot 1626 Nα

Austria ca. 1480

An Austrian carved wood figure of Saint Cecilia, around 1480

Carved three-quarters in the round, with a deep, narrow opening on the reverse. With partially overpainted older polychromy. A figure of the crowned saint sitting on a stone bench, designed for a frontal and slightly lowered viewpoint. Cecilia is the patron saint of music and is depicted playing a lute, behind which is a fluttering scroll. The artist skilfully conveys movement in the figure through the turn of the saint's head, her raised right hand and her withdrawn right leg. The work's design indicates knowledge of the works of Niklaus Gerhaert, who was active in Vienna and Wiener Neustadt until 1473.
A finger of the left hand lost. Some vertical hairline cracks. Wear with minor losses to the front of the plinth. Height 72 cm.