Lot 23 | Series of six large articulated nativity figures made of fir wood

SERIES OF SIX LARGE ARTICULATED NATIVITY FIGURES MADE OF FIR WOOD.

Alpenländisch.
Date: 18th century.
Technique: Carved fir wood partially decorated with colours.
Description: One female and five male figurines with the bodies roughly carved and the faces and limbs
somewhat more finely sculpted. Shoes, faces and hair accented sporadically with colour.
Measurement: Height ca. 78 to 82cm.

The widespread of nativity scenes in the form of relatively small-figured, three-dimensional settings, is a folkloric phenomenon that emerged in the 2nd half oft he 16th century.
However, the representations were not limited to the Christmas tale. There were also annual or lenten cribs with multi-figured sceneries of Passion scenes such as the Calvary or the Mount of Olives.
With the detachment of the figurines from the architecture as an effort to visualize the birth event in its historical details and in its ideational meaning, the number of figurines surrounding the crib and baby Jesus increases with time, the scenery gets more elaborate.
From the beginning of the 17th century, the setting for the christmas events sometimes is referred to as only a "mountain". "Betlehem" is often mentioned as a more specific setting for more compact cribs with identifiable figures.
The figures were usually carved from wood as well as molded from wax or clay. The figurines were either modelled with clothes or later dressed in different materials. The latter practice became the predominate technique in the 18th century.
The European nativity scenes mainly originate from Tyrol, Old Bavaria and Swabia, as well as Poland and Spain. However, the nativity scene undoubtedly originated in Italy where it experienced its greatest success in the Roman and Napoletan crib art of the 18th century.

Literature:
- Krafft, Barbara: Traumwelt der Puppen, Munich 1991, p.111f.
- Krippen im Bayerischen Nationalmuseum (Exhibition cat.), Munich 1972.