Oval Carved Wooden Medallion, Education Of The Virgin, Masterpiece By A Companion, 1782

Large medallion in solid wood carved with a curved profile, comprising a rich arrangement of elements represented in flattened form, bas-relief, and high-relief, depicting the education of the Virgin by Saint Anne, the two holy figures surmounted by an angel emerging from the clouds and preparing to crown Mary. The back carved with elegant antique writing in capital letters, mentioning the nature of the object, its maker (JS Roy) and its date, 1782. The object raises questions. Described as a "tombau", it is unlikely that it is an element of a funerary monument, but rather a work with a votive purpose to the glory of Saint Anne and Mary - it would then be a "tombeau" in the musical sense of the term, namely a work "dedicated" to the glorification of a character. The other possibility, without the two being mutually exclusive (quite the contrary), consists of seeing in this terminology the strictly companion dimension of the work, the tomb designating both the "masterpiece", or work of reception of the companion, as well as the work left in a chapel or a place of pilgrimage by the Companion, for devotional purposes. A final hypothesis concerns the completely original form of this piece, which alternates convex and concave surfaces, giving it this very curved appearance, which is reminiscent of the tomb chests, which precisely adopted this type of profile. In any case, this is in our opinion a unicum, a rare and singular object, of great formal elegance, made by a talented companion. There are some missing parts (crown) and cracks in the upper part.