Medieval Bronze Thimble Collection

Chess piece type seal matrix with a pierced trefoil-shaped lug, circular die with a merchant's mark and inscription reading '+PIETER VAN DEN SANNE'; accompanied by a museum-quality impression. 12.5 grams, 29 mm



Found whilst searching with a metal detector in Folkestone and Hythe, Kent, UK. Property of a Kent gentleman, a specialist medieval collector. Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.KENT-566C60.

Carved in high relief, depicting an open-fronted wooden structure with a tiled or shingled roof and gabled dormer; beneath the roof, a wickerwork crib with the Christ Child, Mary and Joseph on each side of the crib and gazing down adoringly, a group of angels behind the crib, a pair of shepherds look on from the right, an ox and an ass behind Joseph; suspension wire to the reverse. 9.5 kg, 79.5 cm h x 91 cm w



Private collection, Burgundy, circa 1960s. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13552-262840.

The compositional model for this relief comes from the Bladelin Triptych painted by Rogier van der Weyden around 1450, which for the first time set the architectural setting of the stable in which the Nativity takes place on the diamond rather than with its fourth wall parallel to the picture plane. The treatment of the carving and the ambitious planar construction of the stable's roof and columns can be compared with sculpture produced in Freiburg, Colmar and Strasbourg at this date, by artists including Hans Wydyz and Weit Wagner.

With low-relief scene of a standing figure of Virgin Mary holding a baby Christ and possibly Saint James, both facing each other separated by a tall tree, with a scallop above their head. 3.1 grams, 25.2 mm



Acquired on the UK art market in the 1980s. From an East Anglian private collection.