![]() ![]() This makes them unique, as there is very little medieval sculpture from this period anywhere. The lettering, style and ‘orante’-posture indicate these are very ancient carvings indeed, dating to the eleventh century at the latest. The panel has therefore something to do with the soul (anima) and resting (requi…). REQUI …’ (on the left side of the panel). ANIM … (on the right side of the panel), A … IA’ (on the bottom), and, ‘S. The wide rectangular frame around the lady is inscribed and, what is still there of the text, reads: …PRI. ![]() The sleeves are likely to have been embellished with beading also, but they are too badly worn to be able to make this out. On the front, the gown has incised vertical pleats with a vertical array of beading down the middle and along the lower hem of the garment. The Lochem lady is wearing a long gown that leaves her feet free, with very wide sleeves, so as to reveal the long sleeves of the tunic she wears underneath. The ‘orante’ posture of the lady went out of fashion after the eleventh century, when folded hands became the customary prayer posture. Such figures are known as ‘orans’ (male) and ‘orante’ (female) figures. It shows a subtly modelled, standing, veiled lady holding her arms in a traditional early-Christian prayer or pleading posture, with the elbows close to the sides of the body and with her hands outstretched sideways, palms up. Somewhat more remains of the second panel. Obviously, the relief had an outer frame with an inscription also, but what remains is too fragmentary to decipher. The medallion is encircled by a frame containing an inscription in classical Roman lettering. The fragment on the left of the first photograph shows an inscribed cross, with on top the remains of an indented medallion containing the hand of God held out in blessing. Two of the oldest medieval sculptures in the Netherlands van der Wal (1992), collection RCE, Amersfoort. The late Gothic carvings on the two slabs. While a commemorative panel of such an early date would have been spectacular enough, I think the find is even more momentous. ![]() When still complete, it would have been slightly over a meter high. He, incidentally, only mentions the slab with the lady on the right of the photograph and suggested a date in the tenth and possibly even the ninth century, and argued that, in view of the small measurements of the stone, it was a commemorative panel rather than a funerary slab. This stupendous find was first published by Harry Tummers in a 1993 article. Where the sculpture was foundĭuring the 1973-1975 restoration of the church, when two late Gothic panels on the exterior of the church, located left of the tower entrance, were taken out of the wall, it was discovered they had earlier carvings on their reverse. The early medieval carvings on the two slabs in Lochem. Gudula Church) in Lochem, a town situated some 25 km to the southeast of Deventer. Checking the database of the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed for my current research on medieval building inscriptions in the Netherlands, to see whether any examples had been missed, I stumbled upon the image shown below of two more or less rectangular, very high quality remnants of early medieval carvings in the Hervormde Kerk (formerly the St. ![]()
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