Carved in the round and originally polychromed. The top of the head has been carved flat to accommodate the missing crown. The missing hands were carved separately and attached with pegs. Discernible are a hole (Ø 2 cm) on the underside and a ring for securing purposes on the reverse.

The polychromy has been removed. The crown, both hands and the attribute (or Christ Child) are missing. The left corner of the base and a fold of the cloak have been reattached.

…; from the dealer J.J. Boas Berg, Amsterdam, with BK-NM-10447 and -10449, fl. 800 for all, to the museum, 1896; on loan to the Museum Kurhaus, Cleves, 2004-09

Object number: BK-NM-10448

In this sculpture’s current state, the identity of this female figure can no longer be determined with certainty. Both hands are missing, as are the attribute(s) they once held. Judging by the bent angle of the arms and the fairly crude finishing of the wood surface between them, however, one can deduce that in all probability the missing ‘attribute’ was a Christ Child. In that case, the woman can be identified as the Virgin Mary.

The escutcheon next to the figure’s right foot indicates that the statue was erected by a dignitary or a member of the nobility in a public building. Unfortunately, the painted coat of arms, along with the rest of the sculpture’s polychromy, has been removed. Consequently, the donor remains anonymous.

The figure’s overall style, with its expressive face, the hair fanning out behind the temples, the contrapposto pose and the voluminous treatment of the drapery of the robes, accentuated with heavy, deeply carved folds, strongly indicates an origin in the Lower Rhine region. Moreover, the polygonal plinth with concave sides is a trademark of late medieval Lower Rhenish sculpture of the late fifteenth century and a detail frequently encountered in the workshop of Master Arnt of Kalkar (active c. 1460-d. 1492) and his followers along the Lower Rhine. The wide collar, lined with fur (?), the round cut of the neck and the blunted point of the right shoe peeking out from beneath the figure’s robes likewise support a date of origin circa 1500.

Guido de Werd, 2004 (updated by Bieke van der Mark, 2024)
This entry was originally published in F. Scholten and G. de Werd, Een hogere werkelijkheid: Duitse en Franse beeldhouwkunst 1200-1600 uit het Rijksmuseum Amsterdam/Eine höhere Wirklichkeit, Deutsche und Französische Skulptur 1200-1600 aus dem Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, exh. cat. Cleves (Museum Kurhaus Kleve) 2004-06, no. 7

G. de Werd/ B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, Female Saint (Virgin Mary?), Lower Rhine region, c. 1500', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20035591