Sculpture Of Mary Magdalene – Southern Germany – 16th Century

A beautiful polychrome linden wood sculpture depicting Mary Magdalene, recognizable by her usual iconographic attribute: the perfume jar she holds in her right hand. This is the ointment jar she used to anoint Christ's feet during the meal at the house of Simon the Pharisee, before drying them with her long hair.

Mary Magdalene is portrayed here as a richly adorned courtesan. She wears a dress with a fitted bodice that creates a square neckline. The drape of the cloak rises towards her left hand, revealing one foot in a round-toed shoe.

Her head is adorned with a ribboned roll, a style found on several statues of women from the late Gothic period in southern Germany and also in the Southern Netherlands. Her long, flowing hair cascades in gentle waves over her shoulders.

The facial features offer a delicate, feminine interpretation with almond-shaped eyes, a fine nose, and a small mouth with well-defined lips.

The work presented here is a beautiful example of the elegance of figures in 16th-century Southern Germany.

Dimensions

H. 86 cm x W. 31 cm x D. 24 cm

Southern Germany

Polychrome linden wood

16th century

Some minor retouching of the polychromy

Two fingertips missing from the left hand