ÉCOLE FRANÇAISE VERS 1500 Tabernacle door: Christ... Lot 10

ÉCOLE FRANÇAISE VERS 1500 Tabernacle door: Christ of Piety with chalice. He is represented half-body in front of a parapet, the naked bust, showing his gaping wound, the head girded with the crown of thorns falling on the shoulder, the eyes closed and the arms folded. Tempera, stucco and gilded background on panel. Punched ornamental motifs. At the bottom left a cavity corresponding to the keyhole of the tabernacle door. On the reverse right the keyhole in studded metal. 36,1 x 43,5 cm. Some gaps, notably on the right arm; accidents and restorations. On the origins in Venice, Bohemia and Siena, as early as the 14th century, of the Christ of Piety or Imago Pietatis, taken from a Byzantine motif, and its meanings in medieval devotion as Lord of Mercy, see the study by Hans Belting, in L'Image et son public au Moyen âge, Ch. I. Le portrait de Dieu mort (L'Imago Pietatis), pp.35-48 (Gérard Montfort 1998) Here the unusual presence of the chalice in semi-relief collecting the blood of Christ on an isolated panel, and not in the form of a diptych or triptych, indicates its primary function in liturgical furnishings as a tabernacle door housing the ciborium.