Stone fragment – France 14th century

This stone fragment, carved in bas-relief, most likely comes from a medieval rood screen, a major architectural feature of churches in the Middle Ages. The work dates from around the 14th century, a period when monumental Gothic sculpture was flourishing, and today only the lower parts of the figures remain: bare feet, loose folds of drapery, and a central vertical element resembling a tree trunk. Despite its fragmentary state, this sculpture remains a valuable testimony to the iconographic and liturgical richness of rood screens.

The term “rood screen” comes from the Latin liturgical phrase “Jube, Domine, benedicere,” pronounced by the deacon before the proclamation of the Gospel and meaning “Deign, Lord, to bless us.” The canons would climb onto the rood screen so that the congregation gathered in the nave could see and hear them, beginning their reading with this solemn invocation. It is from this first word, jube, that the enclosure took its name. Appearing at the end of the 12th century, this architectural structure separated the nave, the space for the faithful, from the choir reserved for the clergy, while serving as a platform for the reading of the Gospel, the Epistle, or for preaching.

The rood screen is a transverse enclosure, usually made of stone, with doors and topped by a gallery accessible from the choir. From the first third of the 13th century onwards, particularly in northern France, the sculpted decoration became fully integrated into its architecture. The arcades were then decorated with sculpted narrative cycles illustrating the life of Christ. Special attention was given to the Passion, whose dramatic force responded to medieval piety and the didactic function of the image.

The fragment studied appears to belong to such an iconographic program. The bare feet, frequently associated with the figure of Christ, as well as the lowered posture of one of the characters, suggest a scene from the Passion, possibly linked to an episode in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ is sometimes depicted praying near a tree or trunk. The appearance of a second foot, belonging to another figure, suggests the presence of one of his disciples.

The deep, rhythmic folds of the drapery reflect a concern for movement and narrative clarity, characteristic of Gothic sculpture. Here, clothing becomes an expressive medium, contributing fully to the dramatic tension of the scene. As in the fragment of the rood screen from Bourges Cathedral, The Kiss of Judas, iconographic recognition relies less on the faces, which have now disappeared, than on the posture of the bodies, their spatial relationship, and the architectural elements that give rhythm to the composition.

Originally, these sculptures were polychrome, and traces of tools still visible on the surface of the stone are a reminder of the sculptor’s work and the materiality of the artwork. The gradual disappearance of rood screens from the 17th century onwards, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as “ambonophobia,” explains the fragmentary state of these reliefs. The stones of the rood screen, considered sacred, could not be reused freely: some were recut for use in the cathedral’s interior, while others were buried under the building, allowing fragments such as this one to be preserved.

This bas-relief is thus fully in keeping with the tradition of medieval sculpture, at the crossroads of architecture, liturgy, and imagery. Fragmentary but expressive, it illustrates the medieval desire to make sacred stories visible and intelligible through stone, offering the faithful a sculpted interpretation of the Passion of Christ. A rare example of monumental Gothic art, it highlights the importance of the rood screen as a major medium for religious storytelling and mediation between the clergy and the community of believers.