monk, bishop or pope ?

I have to demolish a wall, where this sandstone figure was cemented in.
could anyone have a guess of its style and age ? I get a mediev al feeling. height 27 cm.
all ideas welcome, TIA

 

Hi,
What a wonderful piece. As you can tell I am green with envy. I do not think a religious figure. Hair is too long. What a wonderful thing to have. Perhaps off a medieval church. I am getting a firm attachment to the piece.
greg

 

the figure is green too, but not of envy, rather by algae and/or lichen.
and I don't even know if it's worth listing on ebay or else.

 

My same feelings. I'll also throw in a perhaps from a cemetery. I have seen to some extant similar designs in cemeteries and/or on tombstones from the 1600s-1800.

--- Susan

 

The trim across his chest is a bit giddy for a monk, but the other two...no. He does have a wonderfully contemplative mien, doesn't he...

 

with that frock it looks female....

 

It doesn't look like most depictions of Jesus I have seen.

 

I'd agree with Susan: 1600s - 1800s. Don't know about the figure or the purpose. Maybe a tombstone, but I'm not convinced. I'm not convinced that it's ecclesiastical either. Might have been a signpost of some sort. I like it.

 

Is there any "backstory" about the wall or the area that might give us a hint? Was it in a niche? Ground level... eye level?
Could it be a really ancient Jesus, before we all got our stories straight as to how he looked?

https://www.google.com/search?q=inri+on+tombstone&biw=1600&bih=783&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMI7Z-XpJCsyAIViY-ACh0OQQWb#tbm=isch&q=earliest+carvings+of+christ&imgrc=51oGjVoRt3cNsM:

https://www.google.com/search?q=ear...iest+carvings+of+christ&imgrc=y6sOj-u0jJyjDM:


https://www.google.com/search?q=earliest+christ+inri&biw=1600&bih=783&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMI3--_7pesyAIVCtCACh2EeAft#tbm=isch&q=earliest+carvings+of+christ&imgrc=aoHn5qbpchJYnM:

https://www.google.com/search?q=earliest+christ+inri&biw=1600&bih=783&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMI3--_7pesyAIVCtCACh2EeAft#tbm=isch&q=earliest+carvings+of+christ&imgrc=iNSBTh0F5N_xQM:


I love this guy.

 

I see the INRI too, but I think this is just a piece of the original.

 

That is probably INRI, but also possibly I и B F or I и B E. The и may be a Cyrillic letter. Now if it does read I и B E, B E are also cyrillic letters. I don't believe "I i" is used in the Cyrillic alphabet today, but it used to be?

That frilly collar looks like a medieval church collar. Believe some of the 1600 Puritan clergy here in the states wore similar collars. Then there is a slight possibility it could be an angel in that collar with the rounded sides/shoulders representing wings. The angel may be above a cross with only the IRNI still intact. The rest of the cross broken off?

Medieval collars:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop#/media/File:Henning_Toft_Bro1_(bispevielse).jpg

I can't find a cross with angel head on top. Following are a few of 1600s tombstones with angel heads on top:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Y-PQrVcPM-0/TJ30Asa8r5I/AAAAAAAAH1M/wsnKmxb7yow/s1600/047.JPG

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Y-PQrVcPM-0/TJ3z5gSKgfI/AAAAAAAAH1E/UU-GAB_BOPU/s1600/041.JPG

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Y-PQrVcPM-0/TJ30EZm_A5I/AAAAAAAAH1Q/V8lxl8tkWqY/s1600/051.JPG

--- Susan

 

Thanks Lady....that frilly collar was really throwing me off !

 

there is sadly no backstory at all. the wall it was cemented in was 50 years old.
I suspect that it was taken from one of the many demolished chapels here in Alsace; a further problem is that this corner of Alsace was a German pocket in the last war, first liberated by the Free French and then reconquered by Heini's last contingent of SS and other krapp, before finally being liberated.
for a tombstone it's too small iMO, 27 centimeters are just shy of 11 inches.

 

I agree with the 17-18th c dating, and I am quite sure it is the top of a cross. Here is an example of a tombstone in the shape of a cross with an angel on top (see no. 15): http://wegkreuze.blogspot.gr/2012/04/erneute-besuche-in-hainfeld-und.html . Also the shape of the fragment reminds of a cross, compare the shape of the stone cross on this site: http://naturfreunde-nw.ch/kantonalverband/berichte-kv/erlebniswanderung-im-dreiland/ . It comes from Switzerland, but from that border region with Germany and France that Alsace is also a part of... So it could have bee a tombstone or a "Wegkreuz" ( I do not know how to translate that, "Weg" means road and "Kreuz" is cross".) These were set up at crossroads or dangerous parts of the road, and often there was a story behind it that gave a reason for setting up one of these crosses. Many of these were demolished in regions that were under French rule in the revolutionary period due to secularisation. You could try to find out if such a cross existed near the place you found it in the wall, maybe it was one of these? However, a very interesting find!
Mat

 

although interesting links, not conclusive for me. if it was a Wegkreuz or Flurkreuz (which btw have nothing to do with danger) this figure would be ABOVE the Jesus figure, which is simply a big no-no (except for the Norman conquerors of Southern Italy).

 

So this is Normannic? https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alte_...nn-Baptist-Grabkreuz-des-alten-Kirchhofes.JPG

 

And another one: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnich#/media/File:Erftstadt_Gymnich_Old_Cemetery_01.jpg . These are all grave markers, so maybe that is what your fragment belongs to. To me it seems that it was not sooo impossible to place an angel on top of the cross, above the INRI inscription.

 

As to the figure, it clearly is an angel, and the collar are the two wings with feathers, the sculptor was just not the best of his time...