Lot 2
Seat of Wisdom (Sedes Sapientiae). Carved and polychromed wooden sculpture. Nordic Europe. Sweden / Norway. Romanesque. 12th century.
68 x 30 x 17 cm. Its original polychrome is preserved.
From the 11th century, in a movement that culminated in the Gregorian Reform (1073), the image of the Virgin in Majesty and its symbolism developed, the Sedes Sapientiae, or seat of wisdom, becoming the Marian representation par excellence. Thus, Mary is the instrument for incarnating the Lord, and His main support.
In our opinion, this magnificent sculpture is included within the group of Romanesque Madonnas in Majesty, made in the North of Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries in the territories of the former Viking Kingdoms such as Gotland, or in what is now Sweden. , Norway and Denmark. All of them have their own characteristics that allow them to be grouped, which are, in addition to the same style, carving technique and polychroming, the following: The throne model on which Mary rests, a specific type of chair with a very high back and turned arms, Mary's clothing is reminiscent of the clothing worn by the ancient inhabitants of these towns, such as the Viking cape Mary wears and in the typical married women's hairstyle with long braids. In addition the sculpture has somewhat elongated faces, and the characteristic folds in the clothing, of Byzantine influence.
These Marian representations, found in the North of Europe, are some of the oldest known examples of this type of statue. Few remain in private hands, most of them are in museums, and few examples have survived due to the iconoclasm brought about by the advent of Protestantism in that area.
Other examples of these Nordic Majesties are, for example, the Virgin of Mosjo, dressed as an ancient goddess, dating from the 12th century, The Virgin of Viklau from Gotland, in present-day Sweden, and which is considered one of the best preserved in Europe, the Virgin of Okänd ort, the Virgin of Nävelsjö and the Virgin of Mo, all of them are part of the collection at the Stockholm History Museum, as well as the Virgin of Urnes dated in 1175, and kept in the University Museum of Bergen , the Virgin of Dyste and the Virgin of Forssa of Södermanland.
Reference bibliography:
- Mercier, Emmanuelle. (2018). “New research findings on 11th-early 13th-century polychrome wood sculpture at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Brussels”. Medievalista, nº 26. https://doi.org/10.4000/medievalista.2313
- Kollandsrud, Kaja, y Plahter, Unn. (2019). “Twelfth and early thirteenth century polychromy at the northernmost edge of Europe: Past analyses and future research”. Medievalista, nº 26. https://doi.org/10.4000/medievalista.2303
- Kollandsrud, Kaja. (2016). Accessing the past in the present: A search for meaning in polychrome medieval art. En C. Hanner Norstrand; T. Warscheid y A. Henningsson (Eds.), “Medieval Murals in the Church Attics of Östergötland: Technical Art History, Reception History, Value” (pp. 34-46). ICOMOS Sweden.
- Plahter, Unn. (2014). “Norwegian art technology in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: materials and techniques in European context”. Zeischrift für Kunstechnologie und Konservierung, hefte 2. (pp. 298-332).