Beautiful carved walnut head of Saint John the Baptist. The prophet's face is emaciated, with a wrinkled forehead, arching eyebrows, high-relief eyes with finely hemmed eyelids, prominent cheekbones and hollow cheeks, and a half-open mouth with thin lips revealing the teeth. The bifid beard and long hair are treated in tight curls with strong waves.
Middle Rhine, Westphalia, Dortmund, circa 1460/70
H. 22 cm
(some wear and tear)
The abundance of curls with strong waves and this curious face with crossbow-shaped eyebrows in high relief, semi-circular eyes with heavy eyelids, with the same placement of the whiskers around the well-defined lips, can be found on several sculptures in the Schnutgen Museum in Cologne given as coming from Dortmund in Westphalia (inv. A 452, A 503 and A 508).
Book consulted :
- R. Karrenbrock, Die Holzkulpturen des Mittelalters II, 1400 bis 1540, Cologne, 2001, p.406-414
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