The Library
Religious Subjects > Nativity
Two Panels of the Nativity
This panel was once a cupboard door with egg-and-dart moulding on the frame and elaborate marquetry spandrels and pillars giving an overall effect of great richness and skill. The carved oak scene is The Nativity, so close in design to the following, simpler panel that they are both obviously based on the same engraving. The rail above Joseph’s head has been interpreted differently by the two carvers: as a saddle on a rack in the first scene and as a high window on the other. In each the ass reaches up to feed from the hay in the manger while the ox gazes towards the Mother and Child. In the foreground the second panel has a water barrel added to the objects brought by the family to the stable.