Text, Shrine Madonna, cross inside a circle

Carved Altarpieces Southern Germany; Shrine Madonna; Upper Rhine (Germany); End of the 13th century; poplar, painted, acquired in 1918 as a gift of James Simon, 8035; By opening the image of Mary with the Christ Child one would have seen a Trinity located in the now empty center; this is a depiction of God the Father enthroned, holding the crucified Christ before him, with the dove of the Holy Ghost usually placed between them. The faithful could thus experience how, through Christ becoming flesh in the body of the Virgin Mary and through his sacrifice, the redemption of mankind came into the world.