Sensitively carved in oak with remains of the original polychrome decoration, the heavily lidded eyes give the face a gentle serenity.
St Catherine of Alexandria is often depicted with a wheel to signify her sentence to death by breaking on the wheel, however a bolt of lightning is said to have split the wheel and Catherine was instead martyred by beheading.
Medieval artists depicted St Catherine in many ways, with a spiked wheel by her side, with a sword to signify her beheading, wearing a crown to signify her royal heritage or with an open book as in this case to signify her devotion to her faith and among many other things being patron saint of archivists and scholars.
Northern Europe, mid to late 15th Century
Height 76.5cm ( 30”)
Sensitively carved in oak with remains of the original polychrome decoration, the heavily lidded eyes give the face a gentle serenity.
St Catherine of Alexandria is often depicted with a wheel to signify her sentence to death by breaking on the wheel, however a bolt of lightning is said to have split the wheel and Catherine was instead martyred by beheading.
Medieval artists depicted St Catherine in many ways, with a spiked wheel by her side, with a sword to signify her beheading, wearing a crown to signify her royal heritage or with an open book as in this case to signify her devotion to her faith and among many other things being patron saint of archivists and scholars.
Northern Europe, mid to late 15th Century
Height 76.5cm ( 30”)
