Alabaster head of Saint John the Baptist, carved in high rel - Lot 44

Alabaster head of Saint John the Baptist, carved in high relief with black, red and gold highlights. The Prophet's head rests on a dish with radiating decoration simulating a halo; emaciated face, frowning eyebrows, half-closed eyes lined with hemmed eyelids, half-open mouth, hair and beard with wavy or curling curls. Netherlands or Germany, workshop of the Master of the Rimini Altarpiece, circa 1420/30 H. 15 cm - W. 15.5 cm - D. 8.4 cm (minor accidents and edge restorations) A head of St. John the Baptist resting on his plate, recessed in a wall of the Church of St. Willibrord in Utrecht, shows similarities in workmanship: same frown, wrinkled forehead and curled locks on the forehead (fig.). The workshops of the Master of Rimini and those of Nottingham in England competed with each other, particularly on this very popular iconography of the great prophet's head. Here we find the quality of the alabaster from southern Germany, as well as the precision of the chisel and the interiorized expression of the workshop, far removed from the mass-produced pieces from across the Channel. Works consulted: - M. Debaene, Alabaster sculpture in Europe 1300-1650, Harvey Miller Publishers, 2022, p 254. - K. Woods, Cut in Alabaster - A Material of Sculpture and its European Traditions 1330-1530, Brepols Publischers, Turnhout, 2018, p 111.