The wings are carved in low relief. They turn on metal spindles: at the top, in wooden hinges affixed to the side of the central door; at the bottom, in small holes made in the altar itself. The central scene is executed in a higher relief, composed of varying doweled and/or glued elements: together with the angels, the moulded frame forms a whole, with the front consisting of various components, including the stars – carved separately and affixed with glue – between the rays of sun emanating from the Virgin.¹¹See P. Dandridge and L. Ellis, ‘Workshop practices’, in F. Scholten (ed.), Small Wonders: Late-Gothic Boxwood Micro-Carvings from the Low Countries, exh. cat. Toronto (Art Gallery of Ontario)/New York (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters)/Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2016-17, pp. 514-77, esp. pp. 570-73 and fig. 265. The small doors on the reverse turn on wooden spindles: at the top in wooden hinges; at the bottom, in small holes made in the socle. The altarpiece is finished in great detail. The background of the aureole, the wings, the inscriptions and tiles are enlivened with punched dots.

Missing are two hovering angels holding a crown above the Virgin’s head, and four stars surrounding her. The hinged section at the bottom of the right wing has been repaired.

…; collection Chaplain H. Beekman, Utrecht, in or before 1857;²²Catalogus der tentoonstelling van voor Nederland belangrijke oudheden en merkwaardigheden in de stad en provincie Utrecht voorhanden …, exh. cat. Utrecht (Gebouw voor Kunsten en Wetenschappen) 1857, p. 16 and no. 39. …; Aartsbisschoppelijk Museum, Utrecht, before 1883;³³M. van Vlierden et al., Hout- en steensculptuur van Museum Catharijneconvent, ca. 1200-1600, coll. cat. Utrecht 2004, pp. 272-73. transferred to the Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht (inv. no. ABM bh356), 1976; on loan to the museum, since 1979

Object number: BK-BR-946-H

Credit line: On loan from Museum Catharijneconvent

This small triptych can be attributed to Adam Theodrici (‘Adam Dircksz’) on the basis of the style of the micro-carving.⁷⁷For this woodcarver and his oeuvre, see F. Scholten (ed.), Small Wonders: Late-Gothic Boxwood Micro-Carvings from the Low Countries, exh. cat. Toronto (Art Gallery of Ontario)/New York (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters)/Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2016-17, pp. 24-51 (with previous literature). In 1960, Leeuwenberg identified this otherwise unknown artist as the maker of an entire group of miniature sculptures carved in boxwood on the basis of a prayer nut bearing his signature, today preserved in Copenhagen.⁸⁸J. Leeuwenberg, ‘De gebedsnoot van Eewert Jansz van Bleiswick en andere werken van Adam Dircksz’, in J. Duverger, Miscellanea Jozef Duverger. Bijdragen tot de kunstgeschiedenis der Nederlanden, vol. 2, Ghent 1968, pp. 614-24. Recent scholarship has established that Dircksz’s workshop was in all probability located in a city in the Northern Netherlands, presumably Delft, where it is certain to have been active for approximately one generation (see the entry on BK-1981-1).⁹⁹For Adam Dircksz’s localization in the Northern Netherlands (Delft?), see also P. Williamson, Netherlandish Sculpture 1450-1550, coll. cat. London (Victoria and Albert Museum) 2002, pp. 140-41; F. Scholten, ‘A Prayer Nut in a Silver Housing by “Adam Dirckz”‘, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 59 (2011), pp. 323-47; I. Reesing, ‘The Donors of the Louvre Boxwood Miniature Altar Identified’, in E. Wetter and F. Scholten (eds.), Prayer Nuts, Private Devotion, and Early Modern Art Collecting (Riggisberger Berichte, vol. 22) Riggisberg 2017, pp. 158-68, esp. pp. 163-64; F. Scholten, ‘The Boxwood Carvers of the Late Gothic Netherlands’, in F. Scholten (ed.), Small Wonders: Late-Gothic Boxwood Micro-Carvings from the Low Countries, exh. cat. Toronto (Art Gallery of Ontario)/New York (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters)/Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2016-17, pp. 13-78, esp. p. 35; I. Reesing, ‘Patronage and Early Ownership of Sixteenth-Century Micro-Carvings from the Northern Netherlands’, in F. Scholten (ed.), Small Wonders: Late-Gothic Boxwood Micro-Carvings from the Low Countries, exh. cat. Toronto (Art Gallery of Ontario)/New York (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters)/Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2016-17, pp. 244-89, esp. pp. 247, 276-84. For the period in question, this workshop was responsible for a steady output of dozens of prayer nuts and other miniature carvings produced for the elite in the Netherlands and, in some cases, for foreign patrons elsewhere.

Although one of the more austere examples of the workshop’s production, this miniature altarpiece nevertheless excels in the highly refined and sculptural depiction of the central scene, with Mary in sole. She presents the Christ Child, supported on her arm, with an apple. As such, she can be identified as the ‘new Eve’, who as Christ’s immaculate mother is an instrument in the redemption of original sin incurred by the Old Testament figures Adam and Eve. Mary, flanked by two small angels kneeling at her feet in adoration, stands crushing the head of a cowering, lion-like monster – the personification of the devil’s wrath. Originally suspended in the upper section above this central scene were two hovering angels, together holding Mary’s crown. The altarpiece’s remaining scenes, executed in low relief, are devoted to popular saints from the late Middle Ages. Depicted on the interior of the wings are St Barbara and St Catherine, attired as affluent women with falcons perched on their arms. In addition, each figure bears the attributes of her martyrdom (in both cases a sword, with Barbara accompanied by a tower, Catherine a broken wheel). These female saints were role models for wealthy ladies and nuns. As a pair, they signified the active and contemplative life; they also functioned as patronesses of a blissful death. The falcon on the arm is a motif seldom encountered, perhaps indicating the miniature altarpiece was made for a noblewoman, as falcon hunting was a privilege reserved for the nobility.¹⁰¹⁰My thanks to Anne-Maria van Egmond for this suggestion. The closed wings show St Christopher, patron saint of travellers, and St George, protector of knights and other military figures, including archers. St John the Evangelist stands in a niche in the altar’s ‘predella’: a reference to the Book of Revelation, in which he describes the Virgin’s appearance as the Woman of the Apocalypse, surrounded by the rays of the sun and standing on a crescent moon (Book of Revelation 12:1). This bottom section of the altar contains a compartment – meant to hold a relic, most likely of one of the saints depicted¹¹¹¹This compartment currently holds a lock of hair from the former director of the Aartsbisschoppelijk Museum, Dr D.P.R.A. Bouvy. Oral communication, Hanneke Asselbergs to Frits Scholten (c. 1998). – that can be opened from the back via two small doors. In front, two windows filled with an openwork lozenge pattern flank the figure of John on either side.

Two known variants of this miniature altarpiece feature the Virgin in sole, both attributable to Adam Dircksz. The first altarpiece, today preserved in Portugal, is virtually identical to the Amsterdam triptych.¹²¹²My thanks to Ana Paula Machado Santos, Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis, Porto (written communication, 11 December 2017), who drew my attention to this hitherto unpublished altarpiece. It is first documented in the museum’s collection in 1836. Notable differences are the more austere execution (e.g. with representations lacking on the wings’ exteriors), differing inscriptions, St John seated versus standing in the bottom section, and the presence of a sliding door on the reverse of the reliquary compartment. The second variant, surprisingly enough, is half the size of the Rijksmuseum altar. The two small wings in the predella of this miniature altarpiece, held in the Wyvern Collection (London), flank a scene of the Resurrection. It has no reliquary compartment.¹³¹³London, The Wyvern Collection, inv. no. 1293, see F. Scholten (ed.), Small Wonders: Late-Gothic Boxwood Micro-Carvings from the Low Countries, exh. cat. Toronto (Art Gallery of Ontario)/New York (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters)/Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2016-17, no. 49. In the case of both altars, two hovering angels still hold Mary’s crown – figures missing from the Amsterdam piece. In essence, all three altars are compact renditions of large church altarpieces executed in the late-gothic style. Nevertheless, the influence of the Renaissance can clearly be discerned in the shell-shaped niches framing St John and the Virgin.

Frits Scholten, 2024

Catalogus der tentoonstelling van voor Nederland belangrijke oudheden en merkwaardigheden in de stad en provincie Utrecht voorhanden…, exh. cat. Utrecht (Gebouw voor Kunsten en Wetenschappen) 1857, p. 16 and no. 39; J.J.M. Timmers, ‘Achtenveertig eeuwen beeldhouwkunst in hout’, in W. Boerhave Beekman, Hout in alle tijden, Deventer 1949, pp. 598-772, esp. pp. 726-727 and fig. 12.108; D.P.R.A. Bouvy, Beeldhouwkunst van de Middeleeuwen tot heden: Uit het Aartsbisschoppelijk Museum te Utrecht, coll. cat. Utrecht 1962, no. 93; S.J. Romanelli, South Netherlandish Boxwood Devotional Sculpture, 1475-1530, 1992 (diss., Columbia University), no. 9; F. Scholten and R. Falkenburg, A Sense of Heaven: 16th Century Boxwood Carvings for Private Devotion, exh. cat. Leeds (The Henry Moore Institute) 1999, no. 5; M. van Vlierden et al., Hout- en steensculptuur van Museum Catharijneconvent, ca. 1200-1600, coll. cat. Utrecht 2004, pp. 272-75; F. Scholten, ‘A Prayer Nut in a Silver Housing by “Adam Dirckz”’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 59 (2011), pp. 323-47, esp. p. 331, fig. 12; F. Scholten (ed.), Small Wonders: Late-Gothic Boxwood Micro-Carvings from the Low Countries, exh. cat. Toronto (Art Gallery of Ontario)/New York (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters)/Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2016-17, no. 48, and fig. 10; P. Dandridge and L. Ellis, ‘Workshop practices’, in F. Scholten (ed.), Small Wonders: Late-Gothic Boxwood Micro-Carvings from the Low Countries, exh. cat. Toronto (Art Gallery of Ontario)/New York (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters)/Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2016-17, pp. 514-77, esp. pp. 570-73

F. Scholten, 2024, 'workshop of Adam Dircksz or , Triptych with St Christopher, St George, St Barbara, The Virgin in Sole, St Catherine and St John the Evangelist, Northern Netherlands or Delft, c. 1500 - c. 1530', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200410222