Christ Child as Salvator Mundi

Entry

The naked Christ Child is depicted in his future role as the Salvator Mundi, saviour of the world and redeemer of mankind, as conveyed by the globe in his left hand – the symbol of Christ’s dominion over heaven and earth – and the sign of benediction made with his right hand. This representation is part of the late medieval iconography associated with Christ’s birth and earliest youth. Starting at the end of the fifteenth century, vast numbers of these figures were produced in Brabant, mainly in the woodcarving centres of Mechelen and Brussels. Demand was greatest in the Southern and Northern Netherlands, with export to Germany, Spain and the Spanish territories overseas. Many of these works survive to the present day.¹

Many of these infant Christ figures functioned as objects of private devotion, ideally suited for the dowries of young women from affluent families upon entering the convent.² At Christmas, the nuns dressed their infant Christs in elaborate clothing, prior to placing them on display for veneration. Both clothed and unclothed versions of these wooden sculptures were presumably made. Even so, the nuns also sewed clothing themselves, with some of these figures accumulating an extensive, often richly embroidered wardrobe, including jewellery and crown-like headdresses, as can be observed with the Christ Child at Schloss Güstrow (fig. a).³ This last detail explains why the curls crowning the head are typically rendered flat against the skull while splaying outward at the temples and neck. In this manner, the crown fit precisely around the head, supported by the curls emerging from underneath. This dressing and pampering of the infant Christ was no child’s play, but a spiritual exercise practiced by nuns in preparation for Christ’s mystic birth in the human soul. The same carved images were likely also placed in the cell of dying members of the convent, as a presage of heavenly salvation awaiting them after death.⁴ Sculptures of the infant Christ also played a role in prayer ceremonies accompanying the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, occurring each year on 1 January. The feast marks both Jesus’s circumcision and the day he received his name. It was also a day on which indulgences could be earned by reciting certain prayers and venerating images of Christ.⁵

With his round head and high, domed forehead, somewhat squinted eyes with heavy eyelids, sharply cut nose and smiling, heart-shaped mouth, the small infant in the Rijksmuseum displays all the characteristics of a so-called poupée de Malines (Mechelen doll). Carved in Mechelen workshops on a large scale during the first half of the sixteenth century, these statuettes of saints were exported across Europe. Just as with the Christ Child in the Rijksmuseum, virtually all of the infant Christ figures surviving today stand on a socle carved separately in oak, as opposed to the walnut typically reserved for the figure itself.⁶ The present figure has a polygonal socle flattened on the reverse, just as those of many of the miniature saints produced in sixteenth-century Mechelen (cf. BK-NM-1214 and BK-KOG-653).⁷ These works were probably made in series, possibly by specialised workshops. The Mechelen provenance of the Amsterdam Christ Child is confirmed by the city’s marks for the wood quality (the three pales, both on the figure and the socle) and the polychromy (the letter ‘M’, on the socle). Sometimes the socles of Mechelen dolls are punched with the polychromy mark of the city Brussels (the word BRVESEL).⁸ By no means does this necessarily imply that the socle (or the entire sculpture) was made in that city, however, as it was not uncommon for Mechelen-carved works to be polychromed in Brussels.⁹ Frequently, these socles were decorated with sgraffito, painted and punched motifs, and small metal and glass ornaments in the form of beads, flowers and crosses. This ornamentation has usually been lost,¹⁰ as is the case with the present work, with the exception of one small bead¬.

The majority of these infant Christs are based on the same prototype.¹¹ Variations are limited to factors such as height (between circa 20 and 60 cm high), the number of curls hanging down over the forehead (usually two or three), the supporting leg (left or right), and the form, depth and quantity of skinfolds on the neck, legs and upper arms. In qualitative terms, however, major differences can be distinguished, with sculpturally realistic toddlers versus stiff, puppet-like dolls that would have satisfied only when fully dressed. In quality and style, the Rijksmuseum statuette can best be compared to a group of closely related Christ Child figures of Brabantine origin, especially to two works preserved in Ludwigshafen and Frankfurt am Main (fig. b), and a third preserved at the Loyola Museum of Art in Chicago, which may all be viewed as the finest examples in this genre.¹²

Titia de Haseth Möller, 2024