Object data
pipeclay
height 5.2 cm × width 3 cm × depth 1.5 cm
anonymous
Crib with Christ Child
Northern Netherlands, ? Utrecht, c. 1475 - c. 1525
Technical notes
Formed (solid) in a mould and fired. The bottom edge of the reverse is semicircular.
Condition
Possibly missing on the reverse is the semi-circular edge at the top, which, together with the surviving bottom edge, allowed the cradle to be rocked.
Provenance
…; acquired from the estate of G. Haasloop Werner, Elburg, by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, The Hague, 1864; transferred to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, 1875; transferred to the museum, 1885
Object number: BK-NM-4
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
In the late Middle Ages, simple pipeclay (white-firing clay) sculptures such as this were serially produced in the Low Countries using moulds.1 Utrecht was unquestionably an important centre for the production of pipeclay devotional objects, as the large number of moulds and misfires unearthed there attest. However, archaeological research shows that this production also occurred in cities such as Amsterdam, Leiden, Deventer, Kampen, Antwerp, Liège and Cologne.2
Depicted is the Christ Child lying in a crib. Sculptures of this kind were used for so-called ‘baby-cradling’, a religious ritual practiced both in the family context and in monastic life as a way to contemplate Mary in her role as Mother of God.3 The underside of these objects is often rounded off, enabling the worshiper to physically rock the child back and forth. Miniature sculptures of this kind have been unearthed in virtually every corner of the Netherlands, thus conveying their tremendous popularity and wide dissemination (cf. BK-NM-11289 and BK-NM-90). Far more common, however, are the fully independent pipeclay sculptures of the Christ Child, which, thanks to an integrated socle, were able to stand freely (cf. BK-NM-11283). These figurines were also probably used for the same cradling ritual, but instead placed in separate wooden cradles. An opulent example of such a cradle is preserved in the collection of the Rijksmuseum (BK-2013-14-1).
Bieke van der Mark, 2024
Literature
J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 893; B. Kruijsen, Verzamelen van middeleeuwse kunst in Nederland 1830-1903, Nijmegen 2002, p. 99
Citation
B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, Crib with Christ Child, Northern Netherlands, c. 1475 - c. 1525', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.25656
(accessed 23 November 2024 03:51:16).