Reliquary Sculpture Of Saint Anne The Teacher - Rhone Valley, Late 15th-16th Century

Reliquary sculpture of Saint Anne the Teacher - Rhone Valley, late 15th-16th centuryImportant religious sculpture in walnut wood, depicting Saint Anne seated, holding an open book on her knees, in the traditional teaching attitude of the Virgin Mary. The figure of the Child, once carved at her side, has disappeared. The statue measures 86 cm in height, making it a good-sized work, probably intended for a chapel or parish altar. The style – oval face, rigid but expressive draperies – corresponds to the late Gothic production still in use in the Rhone Valley in the 16th century, a region known for its woodcarving workshops. Technique and structure Deep-carved wood: the back is hollowed out, a common practice to lighten the piece, avoid cracks, and hang it in a niche. The rear section reveals a recess made with nails and an added board, suggesting that the statue also served as a reliquary or consecration statue. This cavity could contain relics, fragments of parchment or sacred texts, a common custom in medieval and Renaissance devotional statues. State of preservation The statue has some missing parts: the disappearance of an arm, a hand, and the figure of the Virgin Child. Wear, old patina. Historical interpretation The visible mutilations (broken arms and hands, absence of the Child, chipped surface) seem to correspond not to simple accidental wear, but to deliberate destruction. It is entirely plausible that they were inflicted during the French Revolution, a period marked by strong iconoclasm. The revolutionaries destroyed or mutilated religious statues with heavy tools (axes, maces, iron bars), tore off heads, hands or attributes, and removed polychromes deemed "superstitious". Thus, the injuries on this statue are not just accidents of time: they constitute direct testimony to revolutionary violence and the troubled history of sacred art in France. Despite its shortcomings, this statue has great historical and artistic value: It illustrates the popular iconography of Saint Anne the Teacher, highly venerated in France at the end of the Middle Ages. It bears witness to the regional production of the Rhône Valley in the 16th century. Its hollowed-out back, arranged like a reliquary, makes it a rare work. Its revolutionary mutilations reinforce its heritage value as a document of religious and political history.