Crib with Christ Child

Entry

In the late Middle Ages, simple pipeclay (white-firing clay) sculptures such as this were serially produced in the Low Countries using moulds.² 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.³

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.⁴ 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-4). 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