Italian, Lombardy, circa 1500

This relief representing the Nativity can be compared to a number of gilt and polychromed ancone, reliefs within a rounded arch, which were carved in Lombardy in the late 15th century and can be found in churches throughout the region. These combined the depiction of saints, donors and narratives of the Virgin, usually surmounted by a relief with Christ's passion. The scenes were depicted in several registers in varying scale. In monumental form such reliefs were used as altarpieces, whereas the present relief, on a smaller, more domestic scale, would be considered an anconetta.

A close parallel for the present relief is found in an anconetta with the Nativity by Giovan Pietro and Giovanni Ambrogio De Donati in the church of Santa Maria in Mazzo, dated circa 1490-1495 (illustrated in op. cit., pp. 124-125, no. 26).

RELATED LITERATURE

A. Straffi et al., Legni sacri e preziosi: Scultura lignea in Valtellina e Valchiavenna tra gotico e Rinascimento, exh. cat. Museo valtellinese di storia e arte, Milan, 2005