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Lot 58

A Medieval Nottingham carved alabaster relief panel depicting the Entombment
Probably second half 15th century

5 July 2024, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £12,800 inc. premium

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A Medieval Nottingham carved alabaster relief panel depicting the Entombment

Probably second half 15th century
The panel carved in relief depicting the recumbent Christ being gently lowered into the tomb, a figure wearing a cap, possibly Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea, holding his feet, the cloaked figure of the Virgin with her head downturned in sorrow and hands clasped supported by her female companions, one probably Mary of Clopas or Mary Salome, John the Beloved to the upper left corner, Mary Magdalene kneeling at the foot of the tomb, her hands together in prayer and an urn of ointment before her, later mounted within a moulded wooden frame, the panel with traces of refreshed polychrome, 45cm high, 15cm wide, 6cm deep

Footnotes

Provenance
With the present vendor's great grandparents (b.1875 and 1879), Louviers, Normandy.
Thence by family descent.

Abbé R. Delamare has written about Nottingham Alabaster Panels in Louviers. He states that following the persecutions of Henry VIII, the church collected the precious 'Alabaster bas-reliefs of English origin which represent the five main scenes of the passion' and at one point adorned the Saint Martin altar.

Cheetham examines a number of surviving examples of 'Entombment' panels. The most similar to the present lot include a kneeling figure (Mary Magdalene) to the bottom corner with a jar of ointment. The example gifted by W.L Hilburgh, 1946, formerly in the collection of Robert Hillingford, is missing some of the heads of the figures to the top edge but the kneeling figure of Mary Magdalene is intact and wiping the hand of Christ with her long hair. Interestingly there are at least eight recorded English alabaster panels of the subject which show Christ's body being wrapped in a linen cloth, including two examples in the Cluny Museum, Paris and the Statens Historiska Museum Stockholm.

Related 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, Woodbridge, 2003.
F.W. Cheetham The Alabaster Men: Sacred images of Medieval England Daniel Katz, 2001.
F.W. Cheetham, Alabaster Images of Medieval England, Gli Ori, 2001.
F.W. Cheetham, English Medieval Alabasters, Oxford, 1984.

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