Formed (solid) in a mould and fired.

A large section is missing at the top.

…; excavated, with BK-KOG-1272-A to -O and -V, during the demolition of the city ramparts near the Tolsteegpoort, Utrecht, 1844;¹¹J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 887.…; Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap, Amsterdam, 1875; on loan to the museum, since 1972

Object number: BK-KOG-1272-N

Credit line: On loan from the Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap

In the late Middle Ages, simple pipeclay (white-firing clay) sculptures such as this were serially produced in the Low Countries using moulds.²²For pipeclay production in the Northern Netherlands, see e.g. S. Ostkamp, ‘Productie en gebruik van pijpaarden en terracotta devotionalia in de Nederlanden (ca. 1350-ca. 1550): Het ambacht van de heylichenbacker voor Judocus Vredis, een archeologisch verslag’, in A. Böing and G. Inhester, Judocus Vredis: Kunst aus der Stille: Eine Klosterwerkstatt der Dürerzeit/Kunst uit de stilte: Een kloosterwerkplaats uit de tijd van Dürer, exh. cat. Münster (Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte)/Vreden (Hamaland-Museum)/Borken (Kreismuseum)/Deventer (Historisch Museum de Waag) 2001, pp. 188-256, esp. pp. 188-239 and S. Ostkamp, ‘Van Utrechtse bodem? Utrecht en de productie van pijpaarden devotionalia’, in M. Leeflang et al., Middeleeuwse beelden uit Utrecht: 1430-1530/Mittelalterliche Bildwerke aus Utrecht: 1430-1530, exh. cat. Utrecht (Museum Catharijneconvent)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2012-13, pp. 108-27. Utrecht was unquestionably an important centre for the production of pipeclay devotional objects, as the large number of moulds and misfires unearthed there attest.³³Archaeological research shows that this production also occurred in cities such as Amsterdam, Leiden, Deventer, Kampen, Antwerp, Liège and Cologne, see S. Ostkamp, ‘Productie en gebruik van pijpaarden en terracotta devotionalia in de Nederlanden (ca. 1350-ca. 1550)’, in A. Böing, G. Inhester and T. Sodmann (ed.), Judocus Vredis: Kunst aus der Stille: eine Klosterwerkstatt der Dürerzeit/ Judocus Vredis: Kunst uit de stilte: Een kloosterwerkplaats uit de tijd van Dürer, exh. cat. Münster (Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte)/Vreden (Hamaland-Museum)/Borken (Kreismuseum)/Deventer (Historisch Museum de Waag) 2001, pp. 188-257, esp. pp. 206-07. The present relief depicting Christ as the Man of Sorrows was unearthed during the demolition of the Utrecht city ramparts near the Tolsteegpoort in 1844, together with a similar relief (BK-KOG-1272-M), a large number of other pipeclay miniature sculptures as well as (fragments and moulds of) larger pipeclay figures of saints.⁴⁴The inv. nos. of the miniature sculptures are: BK-KOG-1272-D, -E, -F, -G, - H, -I, -K, -M, -O and those of the larger figures are: BK-KOG-1272-A, -B, -C, -V. For other pipeclay objects excavated in Utrecht, see for example M. Leeflang et al., Middeleeuwse beelden uit Utrecht: 1430-1530/Mittelalterliche Bildwerke aus Utrecht: 1430-1530, exh. cat. Utrecht (Museum Catharijneconvent)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2012-13, nos. 78-82 and 88. Contrary to the larger figures, which were hollow, the smaller variants are solid.⁵⁵For the method of manufacture, see S. Ostkamp, ‘Van Utrechtse bodem? Utrecht en de productie van pijpaarden devotionalia’, in 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, pp. 108-27, esp. 111. They were also produced in larger editions: vast quantities of (virtually) identical figurines have been unearthed during excavation campaigns in the centres of medieval cities and on the grounds of (former) monastic complexes.⁶⁶Cf. M. Leeflang et al., Middeleeuwse beelden uit Utrecht: 1430-1530/Mittelalterliche Bildwerke aus Utrecht: 1430-1530, exh. cat. Utrecht (Museum Catharijneconvent)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2012-13, p. 108 and nos. 78 and 79. Thanks to the serial production method and the inexpensive material in which they were made, these figurines were affordable for almost any individual living in the Middle Ages. The convenient format also made these kinds of miniature sculptures ideally suited for carrying in one’s clothing. Besides serving as aids for private devotion, such objects could also be used as a talisman or ‘pocket saint’ to protect the devout Christian against danger, illness and misfortune.⁷⁷Reesing in M. Leeflang et al., Middeleeuwse beelden uit Utrecht: 1430-1530/Mittelalterliche Bildwerke aus Utrecht: 1430-1530, exh. cat. Utrecht (Museum Catharijneconvent)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2012-13, p. 329.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 886

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, Christ as the Man of Sorrows, Fragment, Utrecht, c. 1450 - c. 1500', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20036305