Vierge Ouvrante
Circa 1300
Rhine Valley
Oak, linen covering, polychromy, gilding, gesso
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 17.190.185, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan
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The Nativity is of the older style, with the Virgin recumbent in a lower register and the Christ Child with beasts above. The Magi scene below also keeps to the old style: one mage each representing youth, middle age, and senescence, and the middle mage pointing up to the star that led them.
In the shepherds scene, the shepherds also represent the three ages. The youngest, on the right, plays a bagpipe while the others point to the angel. The image of the angel has been scratched.
In the Throne of Mercy, the crucifix is T-shaped. It is missing the figure of Christ, for which there is still a peg-hole in the riser. Where the two parts of the cross join is a cruciform halo.
Also available: the closed state of the statue.
Read more about images of the Madonna and Child, the Throne of Mercy, the Nativity, the Magi, the Visitation, the Annunciation and the Presentation in the Temple
Photographed at the museum by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.