Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 1, 2024
Gothic boxwood miniatures are very small Christian-themed wood sculptures produced during the 15th and 16th centuries in the Low Countries, at the end of the Gothic period and during the emerging Northern Renaissance. They consist of highly intricate layers of reliefs made from fine-grained boxwood, often rendered to a nearly microscopic level. Of the approximately 150 surviving examples, the majority are statuettes, skulls, coffins, or spherical beads known as prayer nuts; some 20 are in the form of polyptychs, including triptych and diptych altarpieces, tabernacles, and monstrances. They typically contain imagery from the life of Mary, the Crucifixion of Jesus, or vistas of Heaven and Hell. Each miniature required exceptional craftsmanship and may have taken decades to complete. Important collections are in the Art Gallery of Ontario, the British Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. (Full article...)