Gothic boxwood miniature

Boxwood is a dense hardwood with fine grain, resistant to splitting and chipping, making it ideal for wood carving. In the 16th century, wooden blocks used for woodblock printing were usually made of boxwood. The uses for boxwood were similar to those for ivory in medieval carvings, however boxwood was a far less expensive option. Designs were overseen by master craftsmen who must have had access to prints and woodcuts of contemporary works of art, and who were apparently influenced by diptych and triptych panel paintings. Boxwood grows slowly, and the trunk remains fairly narrow, a fact that limits the size of any carvings made from any single piece. The wood assumes an even, soft, and tactile surface if polished or frequently handled, such as was the case for prayer nuts. The wood loses its tactility when painted, explaining why most of the miniatures are in monochrome. Polychromy reduced the legibility of the carvings, "quite apart from the difficulty of effectively coloring such tiny and complex scenes" as the art historian Frits Scholten has noted. The tools used in production were similar to those used in the production of larger altarpieces, and included saws, planes, card scrapers, chisels, augers, braces and gimlets. Wood was cut into the required dimensions as blocks, after which the joints were carved out. Prayer beads were turned on a lathe. The woodcutters carved a single block of boxwood into a sphere, cut it in half, hollowed it out, and attached a fastening hinge and carrying loops. The carvings in the interiors were typically made separately from the smaller hemispheres and later fitted onto an outer shell. , boxwood and silver, –1570, Netherlandish. Height: . Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Because of the diminutive scale of the pieces, magnifying glasses were used in their production. The very small wood pieces were difficult to brace (hold in place) during carving. They were probably positioned on a bench, between two posts, so that they could be turned around. Domed spaces, intended to evoke church architecture, were drilled or carved, and these were divided using compasses and a straightedge into pie-shaped segments. A surface plane was established onto which the reliefs were added. These were created from multiple separate wood sheets, individually produced before being joined in layers. or they were bound with pegs, which were sometimes functional and obviously visible or implanted into the relief form. Because of this layered structure, they are often fragile. The level of detail indicates the use of magnification in their production, probably with the same instruments used by contemporary jewelers. Describing these intricacies, the art historian Eve Kahn writes that the works can be so rich that "individual feathers are visible on angel wings, and dragon skins are textured with thick scales. Crumbling shacks are shown with shingles missing from their gabled roofs. Saints' robes and soldiers' uniforms are trimmed with buttons and embroidery, and there are minute representations of jewelry and rosary beads." ==Attribution and dating==

Only one miniature is explicitly dated, a triptych (WB.232) in the Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum is inscribed with "1511". A minority bear a coat of arms or other indications of origin or the source of commission. A carving in the Musée de Cluny, Paris, contains the letter "M", and must have been completed before the 1524 inventory of Margaret of Austria. Approximate dates for other examples can be inferred from the inventories of their owners. The rosary beads owned by Henry VIII of England must have been produced between his marriage to Catherine of Aragon in 1509 and his earliest efforts to separate from her in 1526. Due to their quality and stylistic similarities to the full-sized Flemish and Brabantine altarpieces, they were for centuries assumed to originate from Southern Netherlands. However, more recent research has found that a majority of the early owners came from the northern provinces of Holland and Zeeland. There are examples from Italy, although according to Wilhelm Bode, "The broad monumental tendency of Italian art, especially in sculpture, seems to exclude a taste for daintily executed small works." German examples include a carving encased in a miniature skull, now in the Art Gallery of Ontario, which contains branchwork () of a type often found in contemporary German sculpture. That a majority of the miniatures share technical, stylistic, and thematic similarities, and could be considered as a near homogeneous group was first noted by the art historian Jaap Leeuwenberg. Such stylistic traits include broad and densely populated animated scenes, often placed, in the words of the art historian William Wixom, on "steeply angled ground planes of tiled floors." Other shared features include spatial devices, figures in contemporary dress, and draperies arranged in angular folds. On this basis, Leeuwenberg attributed a large number of the objects to Dircksz, around 35–40, although that estimate has been revised down in more recent years. Because the miniatures are so intricate, only a small number of workshops were probably involved in their production. Due to this high degree of artistry, art historians presume they were intended as luxury items and status symbols for a high-born and sophisticated European elite; Henry VIII and Catherine, Emperor Charles V and Albert V of Bavaria are known to have owned individual boxwood miniatures. Adam Dircksz Because of shared characteristics, including the common use of horror vacui, similar spatial approaches and use of depth, as well as similar hinges and methods of construction, Leeuwenberg has suggested that production of a number of the miniatures was overseen by Adam Dircksz, Dircksz was first identified through a signature on a prayer nut now in the Statens Museum Copenhagen, reading "" (Adam Dircksz has made me). The Latin name "Adam Theodrici" may be translated into English as "Adam of Theodoric," but art historians usually use the Dutch version of his name. Although it was rare in the 16th century for artists to sign a work when done, it usually took the "" (made me) form, in effect making the object speak. Almost nothing is known about Dircksz except that the works were produced  1500–1530. The signature may indicate that he was a woodcutter, sculptor, medallist, or just simply the patron. Dircksz is thought to have been active between 1500 and 1530, and responsible for some sixty of the surviving examples. given that Flemish inscriptions appear on some of the carvings. In any case, apart from Henry VIII and Catherine, all of the original owners come from the Netherlands. Regardless of the number of works that Dircksz or his workshop can be attributed with, art historians often debate what the artistic and technical precedents for the miniatures might be. Scholten observes how, to a large extent, it seems "as if this exquisite sculpture was born ex nihilo around 1500", but points out that "giant strides are rarely made in art history," pointing to affinities with silversmith's art, especially the miniature architectural elements often found in ecclesiastical silver and ornaments. ==Iconography==

, were sometimes influenced by contemporary literature. ==Formats==

'', early 16th century. Height: . Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York broadly categorises the miniatures into two groups, those with simple reliefs and those with complex designs. Of the 150 surviving examples, most are single prayer beads, often with extravagant combinations of carving, Gothic tracery, and inscriptions on the outer shells. They often take the form of two hemispheres joined by a girdle with hinges and clasps, with the interiors hollowed out to accommodate the elaborate carvings. Apart from the more usual prayer nuts and polyptychs, other formats include statuettes, round pendants, coffins, and perfume flasks, and memento mori in the form of skulls (this latter format was also used for contemporary fruitwood carvings with equally dramatic and intense results). Owing to the commonality of materials, production techniques, and the general absence of paint application, the miniatures had similar original colouring. This diverged over the centuries, given various storage and handling methods, as well as different restorations and coating applications. Prayer nuts The English term "Prayer nut" comes from the equivalent Dutch word , and took on common usage in the 18th century. The use of the word "nut" may be derived from the fact that some of the beads were actually carved from nuts or pits, and although no such miniatures are known to survive, it was a known practice in medieval southern Germany. decorated with carved openwork Gothic tracery and flower heads, and of a size suitable for holding in the palm of a hand. Prayer nuts often contain central scenes depicting episodes from the life of Mary or the Passion of Jesus. Some are a single bead; more rare are those consisting of up to eleven beads, including the "Chatsworth Rosary" given by Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon, The figures are often dressed in fashionable contemporary clothing. The level of detail extends to the soldier's shields, their jacket buttons, jewelry, and candles. In some instances, they contain carved inscriptions usually related to the meaning of the narrative. There are more modest examples, such as the two medallions making up the "Half of a Prayer Bead with the Lamentation" (MS 17.190.458a, b) in the MET, which shows the Virgin and Child alongside a kneeling nun holding a string of beads, and a Pietà. The two images are unusually simple for the type; only a small portion of the available surface of the borders contain inscriptions. The beads are quite uniform in size and shape, with a diameter ranging from around 30 to 65 millimetres. They were often made as two half-shells that could be opened to reveal intricate interior detail. According to the art historian Dora Thornton, when the prayer nut was opened out, it "revealed the representation of the divine hidden inside." At their most detailed and complex, Suda describes how the beads "played out like a grand opera on a miniature stage, complete with exotic costumes, elaborate props and animals large and small" and observes how they have an "Alice in Wonderland" quality, wherein "one tumbles headlong into the tiny world created by the carver... into the world they reveal beyond one's immediate surroundings." Scholten notes that the tracery may have been intended to suggest that the object contained a small relic, "so that the object took on the character of a talisman and was deemed to have an apotropaic effect." A number contain a wooden loop in the middle of one half so they could be worn hanging from a belt, or carried in a case. A fragrant substance was sometimes placed inside the shell, which diffused when the beads were opened, making them comparable to the then fashionable pomanders. According to Thornton, "unfolding the nut is in itself an act of prayer, like opening up a personal illuminated prayer book, or watching the leaves of a large-scale altarpiece being hinged back in a church service". However, Scholten questions their use for private religious devotion, noting how their diminutive scale made them impractical for meditation, as their imagery was not discernible without a magnifying glass or strong spectacles. File:Half of a Prayer Bead with Jesus Carrying the Cross MET DP371017 (cropped).jpg|Half of a prayer bead with Jesus carrying the Cross, interior view. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. File:Prayer nut with carrying of the cross and crucifixion - carrying the cross.jpg|Prayer bead with the Crucifixion and Jesus before Pilate, interior view. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. File:Flemish - Rosary Bead with Scene of Christ Carrying the Cross - Walters 61131.jpg|Rosary bead with scene of Christ carrying the Cross, c. 1500–1525. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. Polyptychs Miniature boxwood polyptychs are typically altarpieces, with tabernacles and monstrances more rare. These multi-paneled works exist in both horizontal and landscape format. The polyptychs served as portable devices for laypersons for use in private devotion. Their popularity reflects the growing merchant class living in the major northern European port cities. Their iconography often follows contemporary larger scale panel altarpieces, with depictions of Christ carrying the Cross, and the Entry into Jerusalem as common subjects. They usually contain folding wings, carved in low relief, with smaller figures and scenes around the borders of the central pictorial space. Typically, the larger fixed elements were built from a single block of wood, with the connected components connected by interlocking mortise and tenon joins cut into the slabs. The reliefs are usually positioned on a horizontal plane, allowing a long space between the tops of the figures and the ends of rounded overhead arches. Many of the more elaborate and detailed carvings, including landscape elements, were created separately and then inserted; in these instances the tight space did not allow them to be carved in the main block of wood. Part of the appeal of the Passion was the contrast between relatively simple scenes from the Life of Christ juxtaposed against more complex scenes with detailed vistas, such as the Crucifixion or depictions of Heaven and Hell. ==Collections==

Boxwood miniatures seem to have served three original functions: aids to private devotion, luxury objects of status, and novel playthings. Later, they became family heirlooms passed from generation to generation, but as medieval art fell out of fashion in the early modern period, their provenance was often lost. The earliest record of a collection is the 1598 inventory of the dukes of Bavaria, which contained several examples. '', Dircksz and workshop, 1511, British Museum, London Of the surviving works, over one hundred re-emerged in the 19th century Parisian antiquarian market, then the leading market for medieval art. During this period, they were acquired by people such as the British collector Richard Wallace (1818–1890), who purchased Count van Nieuwerkerke's (1811–1892) entire collection, including two boxwood prayer nuts, the Vienna-born collector of objets d'art Frédéric Spitzer (1815–1890), and Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839–1898). Spitzer was not a purist and commissioned metalsmiths to produce modern versions or copies of a variety of medieval artworks. Today, there are four surviving boxwood carvings he had augmented for the market. When the American financier J. P. Morgan purchased Baron Albert Oppenheim's collection in 1906, he acquired four boxwood miniatures, including a triptych with the Crucifixion and Resurrection, and a prayer nut showing the Carrying of the Cross, all of which are now in the MET. The Canadian publishing magnate Kenneth Thomson, was an important collector for over 50 years, and his collection included the world's largest gathering of boxwood miniatures, including two skulls, two triptychs, and six prayer beads. These were bequeathed to the Art Gallery of Ontario, along with three other works collected by his family after his death. ==Study and conservation==

Objects of this scale are difficult to view with the naked eye, and, even when held in hand, the true level of intricacy is not easily recognized. Micro-CT scanning, using technology similar to medical scanning, allows the capture of thousands of images, which can then be assembled into a three-dimensional model. == Examples ==

File:Letter P with the Legend of Saint Philip MET DP-12590-005.jpg|Letter P with the Legend of Saint Philip, Netherlandish, 1500–1506. Height (open): . The Cloisters, New York. File:Rosary bead (MET).jpg|Prayer nut (CA 17.190.328), Flemish, c. 1525–1550. Height: . Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. File:Adam Theodrici - Prayer nut with case 90402 BK 1981 1.jpeg|Prayer nut case with tracery, attributed to Dircksz, c. 1500–1530. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. ==References==