Christ Emerging from the Tomb

Christ Emerging from the Tomb
York, ca. 1470
Polychromous alabaster
H. 0.425 m ; W. 0.265 m ; D. 0.04 m
Cl. 19327

His head surrounded by a crown of thorns attached to a Nimbus, Christ emerges triumphantly from his tomb. He holds in his left hand the rod of the Cross and has his right foot on a prone soldier. In the top left corner, the angel has been replaced by a tree whose three limbs end in large bulbs. This panel is very close to the corresponding scene on the altarpiece in Saint-Michel Church in Bordeaux (ca. 1470), where there is an example of the tree that is characteristic of York workshops. English alabaster sculptures were very popular towards the end of the Middle Ages. Alabaster was worked in small panels. Separate scenes, the Annunication, scenes from the Passion, the Resurrection, were then assembled according to the iconography and final size of the altarpiece. Bright polychromy completed the sculptures.