MAJESTY VIERGE AUVERGNE, PUY-DE-DÔME (CANTON DE... Lot 12

MAJESTY VIERGE AUVERGNE, PUY-DE-DÔME (CANTON DE SAINT-GEORGES DE MONS?) Seated Virgin carrying the child Jesus 14th century H polychrome wooden sculpture: 78 cm Right hand of the Virgin redone, front part of the base redone, many accidents and lacks The Virgin is sitting, dressed in a wide dress with long sleeves and a long veil partially covering her wavy hair. She was wearing a crown, perhaps made of precious metal, which has disappeared but whose wooden soul is still present. The Child Jesus who sits on the Virgin's left knee is also dressed in a long dress. He blesses with his right hand. His left hand, which was supposed to hold a book, has disappeared. This sculpture still preserves the particularities of the Virgin in Majesty of the Auvergne Romanesque period. If the throne of the Virgin is no longer represented, if the folds of the clothes are freer, the frontality of the group remains absolute. Certainly, the child Jesus is eccentric (this is very rarely found in Romanesque sculptures such as the Virgin of Vergheas) but his position remains hieratic and solemn. Thus this sculpture attests to the turning point that occurred at that time: the Virgin became less sovereign and thus more human. His face softens, becomes less divine, less distant, and by its gentleness and humanity resembles more that of the local peasant women who came on pilgrimage to adore him. Cassone is the Italian term for a large chest traditionally offered to newlyweds on the occasion of their wedding anniversary to hold their trousseau. In Italy, it was an essential element of furniture until the end of the Renaissance, when it was gradually replaced by the chest of drawers. Florence was, from the 15th century, the largest production centre.