German, Rhineland, second half 14th century

Both hands are lost. There are a number of smaller losses, including to the drapery. The coronet is lost, and there are three lacunae to the front and sides of the head where the coronet was attached (there are a few glue residues). There are losses to the polychromy throughout, and areas are refreshed, including to the face. There is non-active worming throughout, in particular to the Virgin's upper back. There are a few small holes, including two to the back. There is a cork insert to the base at the front. There are patches of original textile to the reverse, probably concealing knots in the wood. There is some stable splitting consistent with the material.
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The present figure belongs to a series of Rhenish statuettes of the Virgin which generally only survive in museums or in situ. They are united by a sideways and forward S-shaped sway of the body, and a rhythmic arrangement of the drapery typical of the 14^th century. They follow on from the early Virgin from the Rautenstrauch collection now in the Schnütgen Museum, but take on the traits of the International Gothic after the middle of the century, here characterised by the folds to the sides of the figure. The stylised hair appears in statuettes in both Cologne and Salzburg, but the contrast between the drapery and the archaic face, and the absence of columnar folds around the legs terminated by the horizontal edge of the mantle, are unusual. Perhaps this points towards an Austrian origin similar to that of an Enthroned Madonna exhibited in Gotik in Tirol (op.cit., no. 18), which originates from the Wipptal.

RELATED LITERATURE
Gotik in Tirol. Malerei und Plastik des Mittelalters, exh. cat. Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck, 1950, p. 19, no. 18, fig. 11; E.G. Grimme, Deutsche Madonnen, Cologne, 1966, pp. 101 and 105, nos. 7 and 16; R. Suckale (ed.), Schöne Madonnen am Rhein, exh. cat. LVR-Landesmuseums, Bonn, 2009, pp. 191 and 205, nos. 18 and 38