FLEMISH, PROBABLY ANTWERP, EARLY 16TH CENTURY

Details

A CARVED OAK FIGURE OF MARY MAGDALENE
FLEMISH, PROBABLY ANTWERP, EARLY 16TH CENTURY
Depicted dressed in an elaborate costume and a winged head-dress, on an integrally carved base, one of the wings of the hair dress lacking, with inventory number PV Wgd 8 and with a label inscribed Feudalmuseum Schloss Wernigerode Staatliches Museum to the reverse
45 cm. high

Special notice

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Sale room notice

Please note the lot numbers of the illustration on page 172 in the printed catalogue have been swapped.
The carved oak group of the swooning of the Virgin illustrated in the centre is lot number 424.
The carved oak figure of the Mary Magdalene illustrated on the right side is lot 423.

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Lot Essay

In Christian iconography the richness of Mary Magdalenen costume can be read into the renouncement of her vanity. Her richly attired and her facial expression seems to symbolise her moment of conversion where she renounces her vanities and is transformed into the Christian symbol of the repentant sinner.
This sculpture is also representative of the artistic production in Antwerp towards the end of the 15th century. The Oriental style of the costume is a possibly reflection of Antwerp's extensive trading routes at the time.
A comparable Mary Magdalene is illustrated in M. Van Vlierden, Hout-en steensculptuur van Museum Catharijnecovent, Utrecht, 2004, p. 276.

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