LOT 0354

Medieval Stained Glass Section of The Agony in the Garden

GERMANY, SWABIA, CIRCA 1500 A.D.

9 5/8 in. (497 grams, 24.5 cm).

Rectangular panel formed from a central disc, arms and quadrants; at the centre, Christ kneeling on a patch of grass between two high, rocky outcrops, extending his hands in prayer towards a golden chalice perched among rocks above him; around him, three disciples who recline in sleep, having failed to keep watch over Christ, all three clothed in full-length garments; a small bridge over a running brook separating Christ and his sleeping disciples from the approaching figures of Judas Iscariot and a group of armed Roman soldiers arriving to arrest Christ; mounted in lead-cames.

Ex Fritz Geiges (1853-1935) collection, Freiburg im Breisgau.
Walther Bremen collection, Krefeld, by 1964.
Lempertz, Cologne, 2005, no.196.
Klaus Tiedemann collection, acquired from the above.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13479-262829.

Cf. a similar scene in a German Stained Glass of the Cleveland Museum of Art, made in 1522-1526 A.D., inv. no.1940.340.

The scene is one of the key moments leading up to Christ's Crucifixion that is described in detail in all four of the Gospels: the agony of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.