English, Nottingham, second half 15th century

Sotheby's London, 6 July 2017, lot 21

Cheetham notes that the Dormition 'is a very rare subject in English alabaster' (1984, op. cit., p. 198, no. 125). This beautiful example is an important addition to the list of only four reliefs with the subject recorded by Cheetham in his 2003 publication Alabaster Images of Medieval England. The present relief is compositionally close to the example in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. no. A9-1946), though in reverse and with the surviving bed canopy. The Virgin lies prostrate on her death bed, surrounded by the twelve Apostles who, according to legend, were miraculously transported to her side. Note the charming attributes held by several of the apostles, including the censer being swung in the hands of one apostle, and the palm leaf held by another, who can be identified as the beardless St John the Evangelist. Cheetham recalls a legend that the Virgin was presented with the palm by an angel who had gathered it in Paradise and instructed her that it should be carried ahead of her bier.

RELATED LITERATURE

F. Cheetham, English Medieval Alabaster: With a catalogue of the collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Oxford, pp. 113-115; F. Cheetham, Alabaster Images of Medieval England, Woodbridge, 2003, pp. 46-48; R. Marks and P. Williamson, Gothic Art for England 1400-1547, exh. cat. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, pp. 390-396, nos. 275-283