Gothic boxwood miniatures are extremely small carved wood miniature sculptures, mostly made in today's Belgium in the 15th and 16th centuries. They consist of layers of miniature wood reliefs, sometimes the width of a dressing pin, and are highly intricate, often to a near microscopic level. They were carved from boxwood and are mostly in the form of objects of personal devotion. The majority are spherical prayer nuts (the English term comes from the equivalent German term gebedsnoot). or pendants, statuettes or more rarely coffins. There are around 150 surviving examples; some 20 are in the form of multi panel triptychs, diptychs or tabernacle.
They were highly prised in the early sixteenth century. Their production rewuired exceptional craftsmanship and took an estimated 30 years to complete, indicating that they were intended only for members of the high nobility. However little is known of the artists or craftsmen who produced them. Apart from private veneration, they were worn as necklaces or hung from belts as fashionable accessories. The reliefs were mostly executed as multiple individual parts, later glued onto the main block of wood. Magnification was possibly used during the process. While the names of the sculptors and artisans are mostly lost, some of the original owners can be identified from markings, usually initials or coats of arms, left by the sculptors. Major collections are in the Art Gallery of Ontario, part of the Waddesdon Bequest in the British Museum, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Video Gothic boxwood miniature
Formats
The Metropolitan Museum of Art broadly categorise the objects into two groups, those with simple reliefs, and those with a complex design. A majority of the surviving examples are single prayer beads, often with extravagant combinations of carving, tracery and inscriptions on the outer shells. They often take the form of two hemispheres joined by a girdle with hinges and clasps, with the interiors hollowed out to make way for elaborate carvings.
The miniatures are similar in style to larger scale contemporary art works, especially panel paintings and altarpieces. They would have been conceived with similar religious outlook and conviction. Their iconography derives both from biblical scenes, with expansive depictions of the Crucifixion, and were also at times influenced by contemporary literature. The objects' dramatic and incongruous impact, being both tiny and expansive at the same time, are particularly suited to depictions of Heaven and Hell. Other examples include spherical pendants, coffins, statuettes and perfume flasks.
Rosary beads
The rosary beads are mostly around the same size so that they fit into a hand, and were intended to be held during private veneration. The beads are built from turned wood, made on a lathe turned by a bow. The woodcutters drilled a single block of boxwood into a sphere, which they then cut in half, hollowed out and attached a fastening hinge, and carrying loops. The carvings in the interiors were typically built separately from the smaller hemispheres, and later fitted onto an outer shell.
The reliefs are typically binded with pegs, which can be either functional and obliviously visible, or implanted into the form of a relief. The shells are often decorated with Gothic tracery and flower-heads. Some contain a wooden loop in the middle of one half so they could be worn hanging from a belt. The figures are often dressed in fashionable contemporary clothing. The level of detail extends to the soldier's shields, their jacket buttons, jewelry and candles.
The carvings mostly depict scenes from the life of Mary and the Passion. Some surviving artifacts consist of a single bead, more rarely there are examples of ten half beads, including those gifted by Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon. In some instances they contain carved inscriptions usually related to the meaning of the narrative.
Their shape was likely intended to carry a deeper significance; with the outer sheath representing Christ's human flesh, the bead stand for his cross, and the interior reliefs for his divinity. According to art historian Dora Thornton, "unfolding the nut is in itself an act of prayer, like opening up a personal illuminated prayer book, or watching the leaves of a large scale altarpiece being hinged back in a church service."
Triptychs
The triptychs tend to be either standalone altarpieces or fixed hinge pieces embedded in a larger structure such as tabernacles. They usually served a function similar to rosary beads; for use during private devotion. Their popularity reflects the growing affluence of merchants around the major northern European ports. The form and iconography of the altarpieces often follow the imagery of contemporary larger scale panel altarpieces. Miniature boxwood triptychs are highly intrinsic and complex, and because of their layered structure, often very fragile. A triptych altarpiece (MMA 17.190.453) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a compartment for holding relics.
Maps Gothic boxwood miniature
Commission
Art historians Lisa Ellis and Alexandra Suda estimate that at the high end, miniature objects of this level of intricacy each object took around 30 years to complete; a period equivalent to the entire career of a medieval master carver. Production would have been organised across a number workshops, each of which contained specialised craftsmen. Because the pieces were so complex, there was probably only a small number of workshops involved in their production.
A minority are dated or contain plates of arms which might indicate origin or the source of commission. Outside of these, little is known as to the object's production or commission. Due to the high degree of artistry involved in their production, art historians presume they were intended as luxury items and status symbols for a high born and sophisticated European elite; Henry VIII of England, Catherine of Aragon, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and Albert V of Bavaria, are known to have owned works of this kind.
Production
Boxwood is a hardwood which is very consistent in property, with a fine grain ideal for wood carving, although its application is limited by the small sizes available. It is resistant to splitting and chipping, while its extremely fine endgrain makes it suitable for woodblock printing and woodcut blocks, for which it was the usual material in 16th century Europe. Boxwood is especially appealing to miniature wood carvers as it has an "evenly soft and tactile surface when polished." In some instances the miniatures were lined with or encased within silver structures.
The majority of the surviving examples are attributed to Northern Renaissance craftsmen working in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th and 16th centuries. There are examples from Germany and Italy, although according to Wilhelm Bode, "The broad monumental tendency of Italian art, especially in sculpture, seems to exclude a taste for daintily executed small works".
The designs were overseen by master craftsmen who must have had access the prints and woodcuts of contemporary works of art, and seem especially influenced by diptych and triptych panel paintings. The tools were similar to those used in the production of larger altarpieces, and would have included rip and crosscut saws, planes and card scrapers (to smooth out the markings left by the saws), chisels, augers, braces and gimlets. The wood was at first cut into the required dimensions as blocks, after which the joins were carved out. The next step was to establish the surface plane onto which the final reliefs would be added. These would have been created from multiple separate wood or gossamer sheets, individually produced before being overlaid onto one another and joined in layers.
Because of their diminutive scale, the pieces were extremely difficult to hold in place (brace) during their shaping and cutting. They were likely positioned on a bench between two posts, so they could be turned 360 degrees. The major figures were usually saints, and carved from single wood blocks of wood. Once fully composed, all components were pinned and fastened with glue onto prefixed niches within the overall object. A notably delicate example of this layering technique is in the Prayer bead (AGO 29365) in the Art Gallery of Ontario, where minuscule, individually carved, pointed rods suggesting rays of light were added to the vaulted ceiling via tiny drilled holes.
The polyptychs are composed of similar horizontal, landscape formats, and are usually from a single block of wood, with its components hinged to each other. The triptychs generally follow the format of their larger scale counterparts, consisting of a central panel with major saints (the corpus) with two ancillary wings. The depth of the reliefs can vary dramatically, with the best examples including figures placed in domed spaces drilled or carved out by the artists, features that in some instances include Gothic windows and ribbed vaultings.
The level of detail indicates the use of magnification, probably with the same instruments used by contemporary jewelers when assessing diamonds. Describing the level of detail achieved, art historian Eve Kahn writes that the works can be so rich that "individual feathers are visible on angel wings, and dragon skins are textured with thick scales. Crumbling shacks are shown with shingles missing from their gabled roofs. Saints' robes and soldiers' uniforms are trimmed with are nearly microscopic representations buttons and embroidery, as well as jewelry and rosary beads."
Study and conservation
Objects of this scale are difficult to view with the naked eye. The level of intricacy means that even, when the object are held in the hand the true level of complexity is only realised via reproduction. The difficulty of producing reproductions contributes to the fact that there has been comparatively little research into the format. Even traditional photography can fail to convey the true level of detail. Meaningful reproduction can only be achieved via computer modeling, where series of photographs at various focal depths are stacked to achieve consistent sharpness.
21st century technology has greatly improved the study of the objects, including the use of X-radiography and CT scanning. The latter technique allows the capture of thousands of x-ray images which can then be assembled into a three dimensional model.
Notes
Sources
Further reading
- Waddesdon Bequest, British Museum: "The Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum Part 1 by Mark V Braimbridge" and Part 2, European Boxwood and Topiary Society, reprinted from their journal Topiarius Vol. 14 Summer 2010 pp. 15-17, and Topiarius Vol. 15 (2011) pp. 20-23
External links
- Media related to Gothic boxwood miniature at Wikimedia Commons
- Series of high resolution images. Alexandra Suda and Lisa Ellis of the Art Gallery of Ontario
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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