Mechelen was an important production site of alabaster reliefs in the 16th century. These small representations were usually taken from the Old and New Testaments and offered the owners of such tableaux the opportunity to seclude themselves in devout meditation for a while at home (or in the monastic cell). The finely carved reliefs were usually glued to wooden panels and framed in papier-mâché. The finish often consisted of polychromed and gilded accents.
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Goa (India), Celao (Sri Lanka), Malacca (Malaysia) and Macao (China) and even as far away as Japan were important trading posts of the Portuguese. In addition to trade, they also brought the Catholic Church there. Local carvers manufactured, according to Western guidelines, Christian cult and (personal) devotional objects in ivory. Very popular were the reclining Child Jesus with index finger at mouth. The pax table in this collection is particularly interesting for its iconography, while the figurine of St. Jerome with his lion clearly betrays an influence from the Far East.
As with paintings, medieval wooden sculptures testify to the connection between art and religion. Large statues and retables were set up in churches for public devotion. Small statues were for personal devotion (like Mechelen "dolls"). The wooden statues and retables were carved from oak or walnut larch by a carver, then polychromed and gilded with variegated colors by a painter. Some of this carving still retains (partially) its painting.
Two particular 15th-century architectural pieces are found in the collection. First, a scale model of a cathedral facade in which a portal, gallery and rose window are very finely carved. Next, an impressive beam decorated with angels holding the coat of arms of Florence. It comes from the facade of the nation house of the Italian city-state in Bruges and dates from 1460-1470. This makes it the only sculpted work in the medieval collection of the castle with a Bruges origin.