Black People in European Sculpture Project

51 (14/01/2022)

The Adoration of the Magi

Originally part of a larger pictorial sequence within an altarpiece, this oak relief depicts the Adoration of the Magi under the canopy of the stable. On the right, Balthasar, depicted here as the African Magus, carries a spherical vessel and wears an ornate robe and headpiece with an integrated coronet.

Relief panel

Base present - may be a later replacement

Height: 21 cm

Width: 15 cm

Depth ? cm

Oak

Carving

Monochrome – brown

Identifiable: person from Bible/Christian saint

Crown

Golden vessel

Key subsidiary role

Male

Adult

Royal

Wearing clothes – ‘exotic’ clothing

None

‘Exotic’ costume/dress

Standing

Neutral/emotionless

Unfocussed/blank eyeballs

Domestic: Biblical/mythological

Rural: Biblical/mythological

Sixteenth century (1500-1599)

c. 1500-1520

Inferred from stylistic features

13 February 1891: £5 15s 0d (around £700 in 2022)

Devotional

Sacred: church

Sacred: cathedral

Sacred: convent/monastery

96-1891

13 February 1891: bought by the South Kensington Museum (now named the Victoria and Albert Museum) from Christie's London, London (lot 667) for £5 15s 0d. This object was part of the Catalogue of the Collection of Objects of Art formed by Edward Hailstone, Esq., F.S.A., deceased, removed from Walton Hall, Wakefield.

unknown - 13th February 1891: owned by the estate of Edward Hailstone, Esq., Walton Hall, Wakefield