Description
Mary is depicted sitting on a stool, with a slightly oversized Christ child figure sitting on her lap. She wears a tight, long-sleeved tunic and a cloak (palla) drawn over her shoulders. On her head she wears a veil, the ends of which are covered by the cloak. In her right hand she holds aloft a globe with her thumb and two fingers, while her left hand supports the infant in her lap. The Christ figure himself wears a pontifical gown and presses a book against his breast with his left hand.
The statue measures 74 centimetres (29 inches) in height; the pedestal is 27 centimetres (10.6 inches) in width. The core of the sculpture was carved from a single piece of wood, most likely from a poplar tree, though earlier art historians have assumed it to be pear, plum or lime. The sculpture’s surface is entirely covered with sheets of gold leaf less than 0.25 millimetres (0.01 in) thick, which are held in place by minute golden bolts. The size of the individual gold leaves varies to suit the surface texture. The faces of both mother and child are pounded out of one single leaf each. The coloured eyes of the figures are made of cloisonné enamel. While the eyes of the mother are inset into carved fittings, those of the child are merely pasted on the wooden core. The child’s hand is made of cast silver and was added only in the 14th century; the original right hand is lost. There are traces of original tenth century adornments on the orb in the Virgin's right hand, on the right back leg of the stool, as well as on the child's book and halo. The agrafe showing an eagle and seemingly pinning Mary’s cloak is an early thirteenth century addition; the fibula beneath has Gothic features and is dated to the fourteenth century.
Read more about this topic: Golden Madonna Of Essen
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