This highly abraded group, entirely worked in the round albeit rather rudimentarily, depicts the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-14). Mary sits on the donkey led by her husband Joseph while holding the new-born Christ Child, wrapped in swaddling clothes, in her arms. The group possibly appeared in the predella of an altarpiece centring on the Life of the Virgin or the Passion of Christ, though rarely are such pieces finished on the reverse. The theme’s sober presentation, Mary’s thickset figure and plain facial type, but also the wood type used (oak), all point to a Northern Netherlandish origin. Somewhat similar but unquestionably superior in quality is the much larger Flight into Egypt in the collection of the Rijksmuseum from around 1500 (BK-NM-11769). In the case of the present piece, details such as Joseph’s muscled, breastplate-like abdomen suggest a dating of circa 1525-50.
Bieke van der Mark, 2024
