Carved and originally polychromed. The reverse has been slightly rounded off, most likely for mounting in an outer concave frame. Small cavities have been made on the sides and background, functioning as rosette decoration.

The polychromy has been removed with a caustic. Both of the soldiers’ sticks are missing, as well as the right arm of the soldier on the right.

…; from the collection A.P. Hermans-Smits (1822-1897), Eindhoven, with numerous other objects (BK-NM-2001 to -2800), fl. 14,000 for all, to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, 1875; transferred to the museum, 1885

Object number: BK-NM-2478

This small retable group, representing the Crowning with Thorns, likely originated from the same Passion retable as a Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene (Noli me Tangere) in the museum collection (BK-NM-2479). The latter relief bears the Antwerp wood quality mark, the hand. Given their dimensions, the somewhat rounded-off reverse sides and the relatively simple finishing, the two reliefs are certain to have belonged to one of the retable’s concave figural frames. The subjects of these small groups were related to the iconography of the large scene they surrounded, presented in a chronological or otherwise logical sequence, starting at the lower left. Many of the Antwerp retables featured more or less with the same narrative series.

The present groups probably came from an altarpiece comparable to the Antwerp Passion retables of Elmpt (c. 1510-20) and Zukowo (c. 1520-25).¹¹Cf. H. Nieuwdorp (ed.), Antwerp Altarpieces 15th-16th centuries, 2 vols., exh. cat. Antwerp (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) 1993, vol. 1, nos. 6 and 10. Both include similar groups of the Crowning with Thorns and Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene, respectively situated on the right-hand side above the Crucifixion and on the right-hand side above the Deposition/Lamentation. The significant agreement shared by these examples with respect to the dimensions, iconography and style are the result of the serial method of production employed by the Antwerp workshops, especially with the numerous altarpieces made for sale on the open market. A Crowning with Thorns in the Suermondt-Ludwig Museum in Aachen – likewise guild-marked with the Antwerp hand – has the same standard dimensions (c. 20 x 10 cm) for figures belonging to the concave figural frame and generally adheres to the same iconography as the Amsterdam group discussed here.²²H. Nieuwdorp (ed.), Antwerp Altarpieces 15th-16th centuries, 2 vols., exh. cat. Antwerp (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) 1993, vol. 1, no. 37.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 149, with earlier literature; P. Williamson, Netherlandish Sculpture 1450-1550, coll. cat. London (Victoria and Albert Museum) 2002, p. 74

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, The Crowning with Thorns, Antwerp, c. 1515 - c. 1520', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20015003