These images are provided for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). To license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who will discuss fees, terms and waivers.
Download this imageCreative commons explained - what it means, how you can use our's and other people's content.
The Nativity
Maker: Reymond, Pierre (Probably)
Rectangular copper plaque with arched top, decorated with polychrome enamels, and gilded. The Virgin kneels on the right before a wattled crib, and St Joseph holding a candle enters from the left through a doorway.
Rectangular convex copper plaque with arched top, enamelled on a white ground in dark blue, turquoise, yellow, pink, mulberry, brown, black, grey and white, and gilded. The reverse has clear counter-enamel.The Nativity is shown in an open loggia with a timber roof supported by a column. The Christ Child lies in the centre behind a turquoise wattled fence, watched by an ox and ass behind a similar fence. Mary kneels on the right with her hands together in prayer. She has fair hair, and wears a dark blue cloak over a mulberry dress. Joseph approaches through the door of a grey building on the left, raising his cap with his right hand and carrying a candle in his left. He has grey hair and beard, a blue hat, a mulberry tunic, and yellow boots (only one visible). The foreground is turquoise and in the background there are turquoise trees. The dark blue sky is scattered with gold stars, among which is one large star with rays. There are gold lines running round the door of the building, the edges of Mary’s cloak, and the edge of the candle, and the timbers of the roof are heavily gilded. The plaque has carved wooden frame (A) in the form of a tabernacle with a half-figure of God the Father above the pediment with a shell-shaped niche above, and a winged cherub's head between foliated scrolls at the bottom. A rectangle in the middle of the pediment and a horizontal line above the lower moulding are gilded.
History note: Uncertain before testator
Frank McClean Bequest
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1904) by McClean, Frank
16th Century, second quarter#
Renaissance
Circa
1535
CE
-
1545
CE
Dalton considered that the plaque recalled enamels by 'Jean Courtois'. Marquet de Vasselot in April 1911 described it as 'A late work of the atelier of Pierre Reymond'. Bernard Rackham on 20 January 1921 recorded his view that it might be an early Pierre Reymond, which is the current view.
The scene has some similarities with two Nativity plaques in the Victoria and Albert Museum (482-1899) and ADD
Decoration
composed of
enamel
( dark blue,turquoise, yellow, pink, mulberry, brown, black, and white)
gold
Frame
composed of
wood
Height 22.2 cm
Width 10.1 cm
Plaque
Height 10.4 cm
Width 8.1 cm
Inscription present: rectangular paper label with cut corners and blue border, crossed by two lines and inscribed in faded black ink
Inscription present: rectangular white paper label
Accession number: M.41 & A-1904
Primary reference Number: 156427
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
Mirador deep zoom
IIIF Manifest
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2023) "The Nativity" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/156427 Accessed: 2023-12-03 11:00:16
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/156427
|title=The Nativity
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2023-12-03 11:00:16|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-156427
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa20/M_41_1904_20_281_29.jpg"
alt="The Nativity"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">The Nativity</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
Accession Number: M.8-1928
Accession Number: M.54
Accession Number: M.1
Accession Number: M.20-1904
Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...
