Stove plate

Description

The plate has an important place in research due to the initials G.F. on the banderole. They are assumed to be the initials of a mould maker working in the early C16 in Alsace, to whom more than two dozen stove plates in museums in the Upper Rhine region have been attributed. Characteristic of this master is the depiction of individual people or statuesque groups; he avoids scenes in motion. Almost all the figures are surmounted by a round arch with dogtooth-like tracery along its lower edge. The spandrels are filled with foliage linking to the rectangular frame. The apex is surmounted by a bird or a fabulous creature. Master G.F. stands at the transition from Late Gothic to Renaissance, not only stylistically but in subject matter. Apart from traditional religious subjects, figures from ancient history and mythology appear increasingly in his work. The left half of the plate shows Thisbe over the corpse of Pyramus. The lovers had met in a wood because of their parents' hostility. A lion tore Thisbe's dress to pieces, and Pyramus, believing his beloved dead, committed suicide, as did Thisbe on her return (Ovid, Metamorphoses 4,55). The half length male figure in the right field has not been identified.