A Nottingham Carved Alabaster Panel Sculpture (15th Century)

A 15th century Nottingham alabaster panel sculpture. On burgundy velvet stand. Traces of original polychrome (e.g. pupils of eyes). Alabaster was quarried near Derby, west of Nottingham, from the Middle Ages onwards. Initially it was used in tomb carving it was later used for figures and reliefs illustrating the Life of Christ and the Saints. It was easy to carve as well as to paint with vivid medieval paints which in many instances remain. By the fifteenth century an international trade for such reliefs was in existence with examples reaching as far north as Iceland and as far south as Spain and the Mediterranean. Although these reliefs were carved in a number of places, it was Nottingham that emerged as the major centre for production. Condylis Collection Comparative literature:F. Cheetham, English Medieval Alabasters, Oxford 1984, see nos. 187-189. for similar pieces. Dimensions:10 in (H) x 8 in (W)