04 Virgin and Child

A PAIR OF CANDLESTICKS WITH LION FEET

Germany or South Netherlands (probably Nuremberg or Dinant) Late 15th/early 16th century

Copper alloy, cast Height: 135 cm

Provenance: Private American Collection.

Related Literature: Mende, Ursula. Die mittelalterlichen Bronzen im Germanischen Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg 2013.

D’Allemagne, Henry-René. Histoire du luminaire depuis l‘époque romaine jusqu‘au XIXe siècle, Paris 1981.

Flanders in the Fifteenth Century: Art and Civilization, exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit 1960. This particular form of candlestick is exemplary for Central Europe of the late 15th and early 16th century. Larger examples like ours, visually more impressive and more elaborated, were used as light sources in the residences of noblemen where they served as a sign of taste and prestige, as well as in churches during various ceremonies. Sets of such candlesticks were often arranged in a symmetrical manner around altars and tombs (see figs 1+2), providing light during services while gracefully complementing the surrounding church decoration.

Our pair of candlesticks, solid and of substantial weight, is in excellent condition. Each candlestick has a straight stem on a circular, hollow, bell-shaped base with a three-step profile. The stems are decorated with three flat knobs and shallow moulded rings. On the top there are high iron prickets (the pricket on one candlestick is a later replacement) above wide, bell-shaped, tapering drip pans. The base of each candlestick is decorated with three lions. With their elegant poses and stylised manes and tails, they were positioned on top of their respective orbs. The motifs of the lion and lion feet were used on candlesticks and other decorative arts objects throughout the 15th and 16th century, as well as in heraldry, and symbolise power, justice and wisdom.

At the time of their production these objects were certainly considered precious items, as casting was a highly specialised craft. They were made to hold expensive beeswax candles; unlike more common and affordable tallow candles, beeswax candles were more appreciated because of their clear bright flame, firmness, slow burning and more pleasant scent.

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Fig. 1. Master of James IV of Scotland (Flemish, before 1465–c.1541), Office of the Dead, circa 1510–20, tempera colours, gold and ink, Ms. Ludwig IX 18 (83. ML. 114), fol. 185, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Fig. 2. Master of James IV of Scotland, Office of the Dead, detail The high quality workmanship suggests that the candlesticks are of either Dinant or Nuremberg origin. The two cities were leading centres of metalwork production in Europe at the time. Brass foundries were associated with the Netherlandish Meuse region, particularly the town of Dinant, prompting the term ‘dinanderie’ being used for such objects. Due to the Sack of Dinant in 1466 by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, many of the town’s craftsmen fled to other cities including Nuremberg. As the relationship between Dinant and Nuremberg was very close, the Dinant-style objects made in Nuremberg are also often referred to as dinanderie. It remains difficult to establish with certainty where a particular dinanderie object was made.

Fig. 3. Pair of Candlesticks with Lion Feet, early 16th century, brass, Flanders or Netherlands(?), The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, inv. nos 54.940; 54.941

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Relief with the Head of Saint John the Baptist

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RELIEF WITH THE HEAD OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

England (Nottingham) Late 15th century

Alabaster, with the original partial polychromy Height: 29.5 cm, width: 18 cm

Provenance: Private Collection England, until c. 1960; Private Collection Spain.

Related Literature: Brink, Peter van den, Preising, Dagmar, Polfer, Michel (ed.). Blut und Tränen. Albrecht Bouts und das Antlitz der Passion, exh. cat., Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen, 8 March–11 June 2017, Regensburg 2016, pp. 164–167, cat. no. 44.

Williamson, Paul (ed.). Objects of Devotion, Medieval English Alabaster Sculpture from the Victoria and Albert Museum, Alexandria, Virginia 2010, nos 18, 46, 49.

Cheetham, Francis. Alabaster Images of Medieval England. Woodbridge 2003, reprint 2011, pp. 156–160, figs 1–21, esp. figs 15–19 (type F), colour ill. XXI, p. 14.

Cheetham, Francis. Alabaster Men, Sacred Images from Medieval England, Woodbridge 2001.

Arndt Hella, Kroos Renate. ‘Zur Ikonographie der Johannesschüssel’, in: Aachener Kunstblätter, vol. 38, 1969, pp. 243–328. The head of Saint John the Baptist is represented on a dish, the wound made by Herodias is depicted over the left eye; above two angels bear a small figure on a cloth representing the soul of the saint; below Christ stands in the tomb; flanked by Saint Peter and Saint Thomas Becket and above them Saint Catherine and Saint Dorothy.

The juxtaposition of Saint John the Baptist’s head and Christ as the ‘Man of Sorrows’ shifts the salvation of the soul to the forefront. The soul, supported by two angels that can be seen at the upper edge of the relief, is often interpreted as that of Saint John. It could, however, equally well imply the soul of the viewer who, by contemplating the relief, asks for the salvation of his own soul. This also accounts for the presence of Saint Peter who is always depicted at the bottom on the left of such reliefs. Peter, as the keeper of the key to the gate of heaven, is the mediator between man and god.

Unlike most reliefs made to be assembled and fitted into an altar, this relief and others with the same subject were carved for private veneration and hung in no other context. The closest comparison to our carving is preserved in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow (fig. 1).

Alabaster has been a material of choice for sculpture since Ancient Egyptian times. The aesthetic advantages of this relatively soft, marble-like stone are its warm lustre and translucent surface. It is easy to sculpt but is not weather resistant and, therefore, only suitable for an interior space. In the Late Middle Ages extensive reserves of alabaster were discovered near Nottingham, England. Numerous workshops were established in which so-called ‘alabastermen’ carved figures of saints, altarpieces and tombs to meet the great demand for religious artworks in England and for export.

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Fig. 1. Altarpiece panel depicting the Head of St John the Baptist, in original triptych case, circa 1470–1485, alabaster, Burrell Collection, Glasgow, inv. n. 1.34

The types of figural works created in or around Nottingham include simplified or schematised but nevertheless expressive faces as well as bodies that are not quite to scale. The painting of alabaster figures is also something characteristic of works produced in this area. The manufacture of religious works of art stopped abruptly with the Reformation under King Henry VIII.

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Head of Saint John on a Platter ‘Johannesschüssel’