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A carved stone relief panel of the Throne of Grace, probably…
Auction House:
Auction Location:
Melbourne
Date:
14-Sep-2014
Lot No.
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Description:
A carved stone relief panel of the Throne of Grace, probably Florentine, late 15th century. 65 cm high, 36 cm wide. This small, sculpted stone relief depicts an image of the Throne of Grace. The iconography demonstrates the Holy Trinity with God the Father supporting the body of Christ who is variously shown as crucified, slumped as though being taken down from the cross or in the mode of a Pieta image, or being lowered into the tomb. Between the figures is always a dove, the symbolic representation of the Holy Spirit. The iconographic title comes from the text of St Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews: 'So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.' (Hebrews 4:16). This asks that the viewer contemplate the sacrifice of Christ and pray for the mercy this offers. The central grouping is placed in a shallow carved representation of an ecclesiastical niche. It therefore draws comparison with Masaccio’s depiction of the Trinity in Santa Maria Novella, Florence, where the extraordinary perspectival rendering suggests a space beyond the picture plane. Here, as in the Masaccio image, we might read the niche as the apse of a church with God the Father representing an altar across which the literal body of Christ lies, referring to the Eucharistic body of the Host consecrated during the Mass. The articulation of the figures and facial features combined with the classically inspired architectural form of the niche suggests the work was created in Italy in the latter half of the fifteenth century or early sixteenth century. Two other interesting features of the relief are the shield at the base and the crosses on each sculpted architectural pier. The shield comprises a stemma an informal type of heraldic emblem, commonly adopted by families in late medieval and Renaissance Italy. This stemma depicting the head of a pig or cinghiale (boar) might have been that of the Giunta-Bindi family who were Florentine priori ('first citizens') in the second half of the fifteenth century. The double barred cross represents a Patriarchal Cross, sometimes referred to as the Cross of Lorraine as it was an heraldic emblem of the Dukes of Lorraine, one of whom, Rene d’Anjou, held a number of ruling titles in Italian states in the second half of the fifteenth century. The connection between the emblems remains, however, a tantalising mystery. Dr. Bronwyn Stocks
Estimate:
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Price:
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Category:
Unclassified