Post Medieval Painted Wooden Saint Barbara Statue

An architectural gilt wooden casket with hinged lid; the exterior with billeting, egg-and-dart ornament and gadrooning, flowering vegetal schemes over the whole; the two principal faces each with a central heater shield painted with heraldic devices, flanked by robed standing figures holding a book each within a niche and with a palmette motif above; remains of polychrome to the shields and elsewhere. 69.5 x 44.5 cm



English private collection. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11679-199810

The arms are quartered: or an eagle sable; sable a demi-lion rampant or issuant from a fess; sable a mullet of eight points or; or a lion's head erased sable; the repetition of the colours 'or' gold and 'sable' black may be due to the overall colour-scheme of the casket. The timber shows some old insect flight holes and we are advised that this piece has been recently treated with Permethrin, as a precaution.

A copper-alloy ring with expanding arms and raised triangular knop to two faces, set with a carnelian intaglio gemstone engraved with a standing nude male figure holding a bunch of grapes and a goblet, possibly representing the god of wine. 9.25 grams, 26.43 mm overall, 17.76 mm internal diameter (approximate size British O 1/2, USA 7 1/4, Europe 15.61, Japan 15)



Acquired in the late 1990s-2000. Property of an East London gentleman.

A magnificent and superb quality Victorian Gothic revival painted altar or reredos panel, as exemplified by the works and designs of Augustus Pugin, on Welsh slate depicting a large golden cross with latticed arms and squared quatrefoil terminals showing the emblems and names of the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; the cross set over a circle enclosing a quatrefoil background with the main discus showing a white cross trefoil on a red expanding cross against a green background with the Christogram letters 'IHS' entwined for Jesus Christ; the design set against a dark blue field ornamented with 48 golden radiant six-pointed stars; complete with the original carved oak frame together with the carved oak projecting base plinth shelf with quatrefoil perforations and another Christogram 'IHS' within a blue oval to the central projection. 73 kg total, 134.5 cm base and 159 cm high

Fine condition.

Collection formed in the 2000s. Property of an East Anglia gentleman.

From the 4th century A.D., the vision of Ezekiel and John's Apocalypse, assigned the lion, the angel, the eagle and the ox a stable place in the iconography of the tetramorph to represent the evangelist Mark (lion) next to the calf (Luke), the angel (Matthew) and the eagle (John). They are, in Christian iconography and theology, the four winged cherubs singing the triumphal hymn, exclaiming, proclaiming, and saying: 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord Sabaoth'. The oldest representations date back to the 5th century A.D., and are found in the mosaics of the baptistry of Naples and in the apse of S. Prudenziana in Rome. The tetramorph was a favourite subject in 12th century ecclesiastic art and its use has continued to the present day.