Rare carved boxwood Virgin Mary with gold highlights... Lot 51

Rare carved boxwood Virgin Mary with gold highlights for the crowns. Mary is seated on a rock, her dress unzipped, offering her right breast to the Infant Jesus; a long, wavy lock of her hair rests on her right shoulder; her cloak falls to the front of her knees, forming numerous deep, uneven folds. Southern Germany, first quarter of the 16th century H. 11.5 cm (cracks, crowns removed) Representations of nursing Virgins at the end of the Middle Ages are rare. We know the one used by Dürer to illustrate the title page of his collection of woodcuts illustrating the Life of the Virgin, published in Nuremberg in 1511 (fig.). It's quite possible that the sculptor of this fine little boxwood was inspired by it.