A Masterly Hand / Scientia Artis 9

271 Emmanuelle Mercier and Delphine Steyaert 14 270 14.13 Master I*T also collaborated with one or more sculptors from Mechelen in the production of at least forty statuettes. It is interesting to note that in the statues of the Virgin and Child in this group the Virgin is usually attired in a gown painted in red glaze (to which gilded local applied brocades are added) or covered with continuous applied brocade highlighted with red. It demonstrates that the same polychromer opted to use blue to highlight the Virgin’s gown in narrative scenes on altarpieces but for small statues he preferred red, reflecting the usage on the large statues made in Brabant and the Meuse region. The sgraffito technique seems to have been rarely used by Master I*T. When it does appear, it is mainly in later works, dated after 1515. The Bormans did, however, work with another polychromer (as yet unidentified, though he may have been from Brussels or Antwerp) who used sgraffito with great splendour in the Altarpiece of the Virgin (called Strängnäs III) in Strängnäs Cathed ral. 27 T his altarpiece is characterised by a combination of various ­ techniques and decorative patterns. In the Adoration of the Magi the Virgin is gowned in continuous applied brocade highlighted with blue (fig. 14.12). The gown’s gilded border is ornamented with a series of black-painted letters, while the gilded mantle’s red hem is ornamented with sgraffito lettering com- bined with punched rosettes, stippled lines and rows of dots. The mantle’s blue ­lining has a design of fine parallel lines and a feston in sgraffito combined with punched dots. In Antwerp, the sgraffito technique developed spectacularly during the first four decades of the sixteenth century and until around 1515-1520 it was often used in combination with applied brocade. In the Lofta Altarpiece ­( Stockholm, Statens Historiska Museet, inv. 3880), applied brocades embellish the garments while sophisticated decorations in sgraffito cover the entire lini ngs. 28 As in the Liège Virgin, sgraffito palmettes and lettering can be observed, as well as triangular patterns made with a brown glaze and gold sgraffito . It is interesting to note that the circular sgraffito patterns on the blue mantle of the Blessing Christ from the Elsloo group can also be compared with ­ Antwerp altarpieces dated as early as 1500-1510, such as the Altarpiece of the Passion and the Infancy of Christ in the Louvre (inv. RF 17 69). 29 Si milar patterns also appear in the later Oplinter Altarpiece in the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels (1530-1540, inv. 3196), on the lining of the black magus’s cloak in the Adoration of the M agi. 30 Two female figures originally from a Lamentation scene now in the Louvre and dated around 1500-1510 (inv. OA 7258-7259) supply the earliest examples we could find of a punched stippled background made with a cog-wheel and decorated with painted letters, flowers and strawberries. Sophie Guillot de Suduiraut attributes these figures to an Antwerp works hop. 31 T he Paihle ­ Altarpiece from the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels provides another example of the ornamentation of a gilded border with red and blue lettering and flowers painted on a punched stippled background (fig. 14 .13). 32 In the Passion Altarpiece of Gaasbeek Castle (inv. 915-916) the borders with stippled background decorated with painted lettering and flowers are