Circle of Tilman Riemenschneider (1460-1531), German, Franconia, circa 1510-1520 | Virgin and Child on a Crescent Moon

This sensitively carved group corresponds to a type of Madonna established by Tilman Riemenschneider, the most celebrated of the Southern German limewood sculptors, who was active in Franconian Würzburg. The composition is near-identical to two Madonnas from Riemenschneider's workshop; one from the Gerolzhofen Retable (circa 1515), now in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich, and the other from the Gramschatz Altar, which is housed in the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum, Hannover. While the Christ Child in the present work is carved with particular refinement and its facial features closely resemble those of the Child from the Gerolzhofen Madonna, the Virgin's face appears more angular here. The drapery, too, conforms in its arrangement to that of the Gerolzhofen Virgin, but the folds are overall more less elaborate. Its close proximity to the Riemenschneider works, however, indicates that the sculptor of the present group may have been in direct contact with the master.

RELATED LITERATURE
M. Weniger, Tilman Riemenschneider: Die Werke im Bayerischen Nationalmuseum, Petersberg, 2017, pp. 164-169

The present sculpture is accompanied by a Radiocarbon Dating Measurement Report prepared by Jill Walker for RCD Lockinge, which states that the wood from the sample dates between AD 1298 and 1405 (95% confidence interval).