"Seat of Wisdom(Sedes Sapientiae)". Carved wooden... Lot 12

"Seat of Wisdom(Sedes Sapientiae)". Carved wooden sculpture. Italy. Romanesque. 13th century.  This is what in recent histography has been called a "Dossal altar" or "Dossal altarpiece", a type of liturgical furniture similar to a tabernacle shrine but without folding wings. These elements were composed of a sculpture arranged above a pedestal, with a canopy at the back and with no baldachin in the upper part. Many examples of these have survived in Sweden, especially in the Island of Gotland, and the earliest are from the 13th century. They are also documented in Norway and outside Scandinavia there are some examples from Italy, such as the one kept in the Castle of Rochelambert. In the case of the Dossal altar in the auction, this is a mid-13th century example that has a Virgin Mary with similarities to the tabernacle shrine in Alatri Cathedral, which points to the Italian origin of the altarpiece.  To read more about this type of altarpiece, see: Justin Kroesen and Peter Tangeberg’s: Helgonskap. Medieval Tabernacle Shrines in Sweden and Europe, Pertersberg, Michael Imhof Verlag, 2021, pp. 248-253.