English 15th Century

Anonymous English 15th Century

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This freestanding sculpture consists of a central panel with two narrower panels on hinges that could close like shutters. The central panel shows a crowned woman holding a baby, Mary and Jesus, and each side panel holds two people, one stacked over the other and about half the scale of Mary. All five people are shown under canopies carved with triangular moldings carved with filigree-like tracery. The panels appear to be wood, and the people are carved from white alabaster. The faces are all oval with large eyes, straight noses, and small mouths. They all wear robes, dresses, or habits that fall in thick folds to the small bases on which they stand. Mary has long, wavy hair, and she holds a sprig of roses in her left hand, to our right. Resembling a miniature man, Jesus sits upright in her other hand, his hands clasped in his lap and his knees together. He appears to wear a collared vestment, and his hair is either damaged or is curly only on each side of his narrow face. To the left, the top woman wears a crown over long wavy hair. She props the end of a chest-high sword with one hand and holds a small wheel with the other. Below her, a woman wears a cloth covering over her head and a rosary hangs from her waist. She holds a what might be small vessel and a green object, perhaps a book. In the top right, the woman also has wavy hair under a crown, and she holds a book and a tall cross. The fifth woman, in the lower right, holds two objects that are difficult to make out, perhaps an incense burner or jar and a short staff. Traces of red, green, black, and other colored paint are especially prominent on the objects the women hold and the backgrounds.
English 15th Century, Figures from a Retable of the Virgin and Child, with Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint Apollonia, Saint Margaret of Antioch, and (possibly) Saint Mary Kleophas, c. 1440/1460, alabaster with traces of polychromy, in a modern tabernacle with four replaced canopies, Florian Carr Fund, 2014.60.1

Figures from a Retable of the Virgin and Child, with Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint Apollonia, Saint Margaret of Antioch, and (possibly) Saint Mary Kleophas

English 15th Century · c. 1440/1460 · alabaster with traces of polychromy, in a modern tabernacle with four replaced canopies ·  Accession ID  2014.60.1

Carved from cream-white alabaster stone, this free-standing sculpture shows an armored knight sitting atop a horse, which straddles a curled up, snarling dragon in front of a kneeling person. In this photograph, the bodies of the horse and man face our left in profile. The dragon is pinned on its back with its head under the horse’s mouth. There are some losses: the head of the kneeling person is gone, and parts of both of the knight’s arms are missing. The lance the knight holds and the sword at his hip are also fragmented. The knight leans forward with his right arm, farther from us, raised and a shield with a red cross is affixed to the opposite upper arm. His pointed, rounded helmet is lined with chain mail around the chin and neck. Simple bands in gold, red, and black decorate the knight’s armor as well as the saddle and bridle on the horse. The horse looks down at the dragon underfoot, his chin pulled sharply back. The dragon is painted burgundy red, and has a large head with a gaping mouth filled with sharp teeth and fangs. Claws tear at the horse’s legs as the knight drives the lance into the dragon’s body. The creature’s black wings are pinned under its body, and its dotted tail curls up between the hind legs. To our left, near the dragon and horse's heads, the kneeling person wears a gold-edged dress under a voluminous robe. One hand holds the black and gold striped band looping around the dragon’s neck, and the other is raised to that person’s chest. The stone under the people and animals is roughly carved, suggesting a rocky ground.
English 14th Century, English 15th Century, Saint George and the Dragon, 1370/1420, painted and gilded alabaster, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1953.2.2

Saint George and the Dragon

English 14th Century, English 15th Century · 1370/1420 · painted and gilded alabaster ·  Accession ID  1953.2.2