Virgin and Child

Composed of two hollow halves formed in a front mould and a back mould, fired and polychromed. There are traces of a weave pattern on the inside of the back, indicating that the pipeclay was pressed into the mould with a cloth. The hexagonal foot has ridged edges, arcades and niches; below, there are four integral rosettes at the front.

The heads and parts of the Virgin’s back and shoulders are missing. There are traces of polychromy throughout.

...; excavated at the site of the convent of the Sisters of the Common Life in Diepenveen, near Deventer, date unknown;¹¹W. Moll, ‘Diepenveensche oudheden’, Kalender voor Protestanten, Amsterdam 1858, p. 94. ...; collection Professor Willem Moll (1812-1879), Amsterdam, first recorded in 1858;²²Ibid. donated by his heirs to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden; transferred to the museum, 1898

ObjectNumber: BK-NM-11299

This Virgin and Child is a typical late-medieval mass product made from white clay, known as pipeclay, a cheap material with which batches of figures could be produced in moulds fairly easily. Pipeclay figurines of saints were generally used for private devotions.³³J.W.M. de Jong, Thuis in de late middeleeuwen. Het Nederlands burgerinterieur 1400-1535, exh. cat. Zwolle (Provinciaal Overijssels Museum) 1980, p. 77. A very large group of moulds and misfires found during excavations in Utrecht indicates that pipeclay statues and reliefs were produced there on a large scale. For this reason, and also on stylistic grounds, pipeclay figures of saints excavated elsewhere have long been assigned a Utrecht provenance almost as a matter of course. More recent archaeological investigation reveals, however, that pipeclay figures were also made in many other towns, including Antwerp, Deventer, Kampen, Leiden and Liège.⁴⁴S. Ostkamp, ‘Productie en gebruik van pijpaarden en terracotta devotionalia in de Nederlanden (ca. 1350-ca. 1550)’, in A. Böing and G. Inbester (eds.), Judocus Vredis. Kunst uit de stilte. Een kloosterwerkplaats uit de tijd van Dürer, Borken 2001, pp. 189-257, esp. pp. 206-07. These were often based on Utrecht prototypes or moulds.⁵⁵Cf. S. Ostkamp, ‘Productie en gebruik van pijpaarden en terracotta devotionalia in de Nederlanden (ca. 1350-ca. 1550)’, in A. Böing and G. Inbester (eds.), Judocus Vredis. Kunst uit de stilte. Een kloosterwerkplaats uit de tijd van Dürer, Borken 2001, pp. 189-257, esp. p. 209.

In view of the place where it was found, on the site of the former convent of the Sisters of the Common Life in Diepenveen near Deventer, this Virgin and Child probably belonged to a nun there. Traces of paint indicate that the figure was originally polychromed. A fragment of a second, virtually identical Virgin and Child was excavated from the same site (BK-NM-11300). The two figurines are of a widespread type that dates from around 1425-50, known as the ‘Utrecht Virgin’ type; countless examples exist, sometimes with minor variations.⁶⁶Cf. I. Reesing, ‘Notre-Dame de Foy: the Reuse and Dissemination of a Late Medieval Figurine of the Virgin in the Low Countries’, Simiolus 33 (2007-08), no. 3, pp. 145-65; M. Leeflang et al., Middeleeuwse beelden uit Utrecht 1430-1530/Mittelalterliche Bildwerke aus Utrecht, exh. cat. Utrecht (Museum Catharijneconvent)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2012-13, no. 80. The Virgin usually stands on a hexagonal foot, in which the arcades and niches could be openwork. She wears a crown on her head, regrettably missing from the pieces in the Rijksmuseum. She cradles the Christ child in her right arm and holds his left foot with her free hand. The child places his left hand on her breast and clasps an apple in his right hand. Whereas the present figurine accurately follows this ‘Utrecht Virgin’ type, the other example excavated in Diepenveen has three additional elements: a crescent moon under the Virgin’s feet, the suggestion of a fur lining in her cloak and a halo behind Christ’s head.

There are fragments of front and back moulds of this type in several places, including the Rijksmuseum (BK-NM-8530; BK-C-2018-2; BK-KOG-1272-A-1; BK-KOG-1272-A-2; BK-KOG-1272-V) and the Centraal Museum in Utrecht.⁷⁷Utrecht, Centraal Museum, inv. nos. 1856 and 1858, see J. Klinckaert, De verzamelingen van het Centraal Museum Utrecht, vol. 3, Beeldhouwkunst tot 1850, coll. cat. Utrecht 1997, nos. 141, 142; M. Leeflang et al., Middeleeuwse beelden uit Utrecht 1430-1530/Mittelalterliche Bildwerke aus Utrecht, exh. cat. Utrecht (Museum Catharijneconvent)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2012-13, no. 80. Small differences between the figures and the moulds rule out the possibility that one of the sets excavated in Utrecht was used to press the two Diepenveen finds, although the one actually used may well have come from Utrecht.⁸⁸It is clear from the typical Utrecht carved stone chimney-piece frieze that had graced the interior of the convent, that Diepenveen must have had contacts with Utrecht sculptors. This frieze is now in the Rijksmuseum (BK-NM-11304). Given the geographical distance, however, it is more likely that they were made by a specialist beeldendrucker (statue-squeezer) or heyligenbacker (saint-firer) in nearby Deventer.

The Reformation heralded the end of the manufacture of pipeclay figurines of saints in the Northern Netherlands.⁹⁹S. Ostkamp, ‘Gebed in eenvoud. Gebruik en productie van pijpaarden beelden in Gorcum’, in H. van den Berge et al., In Gorcum gebakken. Aardewerk, kleipijpen, wandtegels, Gorcum (Gorcums Museum) 2003, pp. 56-63, esp. pp. 61-62. In the south of the country production continued unabated. The specific ‘Utrecht Virgin’ type even enjoyed a revival there, after a late-medieval example was found in the trunk of an oak tree in Foy, Namur, when it was felled in 1609. This miraculous little statue of Notre-Dame de Foy is still reproduced in all sorts of materials to this day and sold to tourists and pilgrims (cf. BK-2005-1).¹⁰¹⁰For this type, see I. Reesing, ‘Notre-Dame de Foy: the Reuse and Dissemination of a Late Medieval Figurine of the Virgin in the Low Countries’, Simiolus 33 (2007-08), no. 3, pp. 145-65.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 11, with earlier literature; J. Klinckaert, De verzamelingen van het Centraal Museum Utrecht, vol. 3, Beeldhouwkunst tot 1850, coll. cat. Utrecht 1997, p. 353; P. Williamson, Netherlandish Sculpture 1450-1550, coll. cat. London (Victoria and Albert Museum) 2002, p. 112; K.W. Woods, Imported Images: Netherlandish Late Gothic Sculpture in England c. 1400-c. 1550, Donington 2007, p. 377, note 1; M. Leeflang et al., Middeleeuwse beelden uit Utrecht 1430-1530/Mittelalterliche Bildwerke aus Utrecht, exh. cat. Utrecht (Museum Catharijneconvent)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2012-13, p. 330, note 1

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, Virgin and Child, Utrecht, c. 1425 - c. 1500', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.24252