Gothic boxwood miniature

Gothic boxwood miniatures are very small Christian wood sculptures produced during the 15th and 16th centuries. There are around 150 surviving examples; most are spherical rosary beads, statuettes, skulls, or coffins. They typically contain imagery from the life of Mary, the Crucifixion of Jesus, and vistas of Heaven and Hell.

About Gothic boxwood miniature in brief

Gothic boxwood miniatures are very small Christian wood sculptures produced during the 15th and 16th centuries. They consist of highly intricate layers of reliefs, often rendered to nearly microscopic level. There are around 150 surviving examples; most are spherical rosary beads, statuettes, skulls, or coffins. Some 20 are in the form of polyptychs, including triptych and diptych altarpieces, tabernacles and monstrances. They typically contain imagery from the life of Mary, the Crucifixion of Jesus, and vistas of Heaven and Hell. Boxwood is a dense hardwood with fine grain, resistant to splitting and chipping—ideal for wood carving. In the 16th century, woodcut blocks used for woodblock printing were usually made of boxwood. Uses for boxwood were similar to those for ivory in medieval carvings, but boxwood was a far less expensive option than ivory. Designs were overseen by master craftsmen who must have had access to prints and woodcuts of contemporary works of art, and who were apparently influenced by diptyCh and triptyCh panel paintings. Some of the original owners can be identified from markings, usually initials or coats of arms, emplaced by the sculptors. Some may have taken decades of cumulative work to complete, suggesting that they were commissioned by high-ranking nobles. Because of their rarity and the difficulty in discerning their intricacy from reproductions, box wood miniatures have not been as widely studied as other forms of Netherlandish visual art. The pieces were difficult to produce in production because of their very small wood brace during carving.

They were likely positioned on two posts, so that they could be turned on a bench, or drilled or drilled between two spaces between two posts. The tools used in production included saws, planes, card scrapers, chisels, augers, braces, and gimlets. The wood loses its tactility when painted, explaining why most of the miniatures were in monochrome. The carvINGS in the interiors were typically made separately from the smaller hemispheres and later fitted onto an outer shell. In some cases, these wooden shells were placed in silver glasses placed inSilver glasses were used to magnifying glasses were placed on their small wood housing. These reliefs were created from multiple separate wood sheets, joined in layers, before being individually produced before being joined in sheets. These were sometimes implanted into functional or functional reliefs which were obviously visible or implanted into the reliefs. Major figures, usually saints, usually carved from single blocks of wood, were carved into single layers, and these were divided using comphes, compasses, and a straightedge into pie-shaped segments and a plane established onto which the relief was placed. Prayer beads were turn on a lathe. The wood was cut into the required dimensions as blocks, after which the joints were carved out. Most of the beads are 10–15 cm in diameter and designed to be held in the palm of a hand, hung from necklaces or belts.

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