2-721-333 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Miniature altar, 1500-1570, (1881). Etching of a boxwood and silver house-altar, probably made in the Netherlands, 16th century. Relief scene originally carved as a roundel, showing a husband and wife being presented to the Virgin and Child with St Anne by St.James the Greater and St Michael, whilst kneeling at prayer desks. The roundel was later incorporated into a mount with doors to make a free-standing altar for domestic use in private prayer. The lay couple are the original owners of the carving. The top has an escutcheon with the head of a cherub, topped by a figure of God the Father. The silver mounts are of later date (about fifty years), but are also Netherlandish. From "The South Kensington Museum", a book of engraved illustrations, with descriptions, of the works of art in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (formerly known as the South Kensington Museum). [Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, London, 1881]