CRUCIFIXION depicting fourteen characters in bas-relief in hand-painted polychrome porcelain in its blackened molded wooden frame with reverse profile.
Mark of the royal manufacture of Capodimonte showing a crowned “N” referring to the period from 1771 to 1834.
Naples, Italy
End of the 18th century
Porcelain
H.: 40.5; L.: 32.5 cm (at sight)
H.: 66; L.: 59 cm (with frame)
This crucifixion takes up the Gospel of Saint John (19, 25-27): “Now, near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. Jesus, seeing his mother, and near her the disciple whom he loved, said to his mother: “Woman, behold your son. » »
Mary Magdalene, in the center of the scene, placed in alignment with Christ on the cross, wears a yellow tunic with one shoulder uncovered. To her right, the Virgin Mary, her head covered with a blue cloth, almost wavering, is supported by Mary, wife of Alphaeus known as Cleophas, in a purple habit and John dressed in red. These colors refer to a particular symbolism: yellow echoes the eternal light, blue to the mantle of Humanity and red to the Passion. The lower right part of the scene presents two horsemen including Longinus the centurion, the helmeted Roman soldier.
In the background, and occupying the upper half: Christ and the two thieves.
On the right, Dismas, the good thief looks at Christ while Gestas, the bad thief turns away. They are both attached by ropes to the patibulum of their T-shaped cross. That of Christ is Latin, animated on the upper part of the stipes by the Latin initials “INRI” referring to Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
The city of Jerusalem stands out in the background.
This composition recalls the Crucifixion of the Missal of the Master by Jean Rolin or that of the Saint-Jacques church in Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany.
Ref. : 4082
Text and photos © FCP CORIDON
+33681153179
ff.coridon@wanadoo.fr
