How does this artwork elucidate its Structure and iconography?
Miniature boxwood altars became popular during the late 15th century trend towards piety for the Passion and life of the Virgin, when they were used as visual aids for private prayer. Like many miniature boxwoods of its type, it shares characteristics with full scale altars built for churches, in this instance it resembles, and may have been modeled on, the contemporary altar, at St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium, where Jan van Eyck's famous Ghent Altarpiece has been held since it was created in the mid-1420s.Although the majority of boxwood miniatures are imbued with Gothic imagery, WB.232 contains also a number of Italian Renaissance influences. In this, it is similar to the smaller miniature altarpiece OA 561, a c. 1520–1530 boxwood sculpture now in the Louvre, which was bequeathed by Ferdinand's cousin Baron Adolph Carl von Rothschild's estate in 1901, and which may or may not be also by Adam Dircksz. Both works share a very similar architectural five level structure, with an upper Crucifixion triptych. Both works contain highly stylized figures, which resemble a third example in the Charlottenborg Palace, in Copenhagen, Denmark.The altar comes with a leather case with gilded borders. The Louvre altar has its original Tree of Jesse case intact. Its reverse contains two empty chambers, presumably intended for relics of saints, encased in a now-lost crest of arms, which would have represented the original donor or commissioning patron.
life of the Virgin Ferdinand Renaissance crest of arms miniature altarpiece OA 561 donor Passion Tree of Jesse Jan van Eyck Charlottenborg Palace gilded piety relic Louvre Copenhagen Adam Dircksz St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent triptych Ghent Altarpiece boxwood Gothic Crucifixion