LATE 15TH/EARLY 16TH CENTURY

This superbly carved figure relates quite closely to another boxwood Virgin and Child by Veit Stoss in the Victoria & Albert Museum (inv. no. 646-1893). Though the drapery of the present figure is treated in a more excited manner, both Virgins have rather high rounded foreheads, heavily lidded elongated eyes and locks of hair carved with long parallel strands. Standing above a crescent moon, the present Virgin can be identified as the woman from the Apocolype described in Revelation 12:1. Likewise, the book she holds in one hand is traditionally the book of Wisdom which marks her as the 'Mater Sapientiae' or Mother of Wisdom.