Finch & Co

Medium / Material

Stone

Description

An English Medieval Sandstone Carving of a Grotesque Man
With staring eyes and partly opened mouth, his hair extending in ringlets down his head
2nd half 14th Century

Size: 24cm high, 18.5cm wide, 21cm deep – 9½ ins high, 7¼ ins wide, 8¼ ins deep
36cm high – 14¼ ins high (including stand)

Provenance

Provenance: Ex English Private collection

Literature

Medieval Grotesques were placed on the exterior of a church and were intended to scare away the devil making a symbolic contrast between the bedevilled world outside the walls of the church and the sanctuary within. The stonemasons would take their inspiration from medieval illuminated manuscripts, bestiaries and the Bible for their carvings hoping to instil terror into the sinning observer and guide him onto a virtuous path.