Lot Essay
The organisation and iconography of the present relief, with the body of Christ falling forwards into the arms of Nicodemus, while Joseph of Arimathaea removes the nails from his feet, is found on a number of other 14th century examples (Koechlin, locs. cit.). What is unusual about the treatment here is the crowd of attendants beyond, who close off what is commonly a much more empty type of composition. For stylistically related groups, which, like the present piece, must originally have formed part of a larger whole, see Christie's, 8 December 1987, lots 18 and 19.