"Capital With Bats And Chubby Figures - Basalt - 15th/16th Century "
Superb Gothic capital with bat decorations and a chubby character, basalt. 15th/16th century. Massif Central. Base. For medieval culture, the nocturnal habits of the bat make it a totally negative animal. It symbolizes the Jewish people who preferred darkness to the light of the Savior. Its unbearable cries to the ears of honest people sound like the laughter of madmen. Its face is very ugly and resembles that of the monkey, which likes to counterfeit man to better uglify him. Loved by the devil, the bat lends him its featherless wings to fly at night and go to the Sabbath. Dimensions without base: h22x18x19cm Bibliography, Bestiary of the Middle Ages, Michel Pastoureau