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A Medieval Nottingham alabaster relief carved rectangular panel depicting The Coronation of the Virgin Late 15th century image 1
A Medieval Nottingham alabaster relief carved rectangular panel depicting The Coronation of the Virgin Late 15th century image 2
A Medieval Nottingham alabaster relief carved rectangular panel depicting The Coronation of the Virgin Late 15th century image 3
Lot 72*

A Medieval Nottingham alabaster relief carved rectangular panel depicting The Coronation of the Virgin
Late 15th century

Fine Decorative Arts
29 November 2022, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £15,300 inc. premium

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A Medieval Nottingham alabaster relief carved rectangular panel depicting The Coronation of the Virgin

Late 15th century
The enthroned Virgin clad in a folded draped robe and flanked by God the Father and God the Son holding the crown over her head, each wearing draped robes and elaborate crowns and standing on architectural plinths, the holy spirit in the form of a dove hovering above, the panel with some minor traces of polychrome, mounted on a later metal plate fixing, the plaque 40cm high x 25.75cm wide

Footnotes

Provenance
The collection of Sir Michael and Lady Oppenheimer DD (3rd Baronet, British, 1924-2020), Jersey, thence by family descent.

Sir Michael Oppenheimer's maternal grandparents were Sir Robert Grenville Harvey, 2nd Baronet (1856-1931) and Lady Emily Blanche Harvey (1872-1935) of Langley Park, Buckinghamshire which was the Harvey Baronet's main family seat from 1788 until 1945.

Sir Michael's paternal family wealth was derived from mining interests in South Africa and his father Bernard Oppenheimer, as Chairman of the South African Diamond Corporation, received a baronetcy from George V in 1921 for setting up diamond sorting factories to employ wounded ex-servicemen after the First World War. The Oppenheimer family was involved with the prestigious De Beers brand over the subsequent decades of the 20th century and Lady Oppenheimer DD (1926-2022) was a distinguished moral and philosophical theologian, with a particular interest in the ethics pertaining to personal relationships.

From the late 1300s up until the Reformation alabaster carving was a major production in the Midlands -specifically in Nottingham. Altarpieces and smaller panels were produced for the market at home, but a great number were exported -there are even some surviving examples in Iceland. They were usually painted and gilded and had a distinctive iconographic style. During the Reformation such works were hidden in England or completely destroyed. It is largely thanks to the preserved European examples that historians and academics have been able to uncover the history behind these fascinating objects.

Similar panels depicting 'The Coronation of the Virgin' feature in Francis W. Cheetham's books, 'English Medieval Alabasters, A Catalogue of the Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum' and 'Alabaster Images of Medieval England'. The author illustrates a number of examples of 'The Coronation of the Virgin'. Some are more simplified, including one with only Christ as God the Son crowning the Virgin. However, on the present lot the trinity comprised of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are shown above the Virgin's head. A close comparable shows the Virgin wearing a crown and a cloak, with the Holy Spirit above her head and God the Father and God the Son flanking either side of her. Closely related to the offered lot, this panel also shows these two figures with their bare feet resting upon pedestals and both wearing similar elaborately tiered crowns.

Comparable Literature
F. W. Cheetham 'English Medieval Alabasters, A Catalogue of the Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum', Boydell Press, 2005
F.W. Cheetham, 'Alabaster Images of Medieval England', Gli Ori, 2001

Additional information

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