Sainte Catherine in carved oak - 15th century

Very beautiful Saint Catherine of Alexandria carved on oak in the round from the 15th century.
The Saint is standing, holding in her right hand the sword of her martyrdom and a book in her left hand, illustration of her erudition.
She is represented as a princess, crowned and richly dressed. Her long dress belted at the waist and her coat fall in large broken pleats on the front.
Her face, surrounded by beautiful wavy hair, expresses all her courage and determination in her Christian faith.
At his feet, the head of the Emperor Maximian, as if struck down by the stature of Saint Catherine.

Dimensions: H. 81cm x L. 30 cm x D. 13 cm

Flanders
Oak
15th century

Catherine was born in 294 to a noble family in Alexandria, Egypt. She quickly acquires knowledge which places her at the level of the greatest poets and philosophers of the moment.
Daughter of the governor of Alexandria of Egypt, Constus, during the reign of Emperor Maximian, Saint Catherine's real name was Catherine of Alexandria.
A very cultivated woman, Catherine of Alexandria decided after dreaming of Jesus Christ to dedicate her life to him.
She tried to convert Emperor Maximian to Christianity. The emperor, knowing Catherine to be very learned, decided to put her to the test against fifty scholars, but his intelligence made it possible to convince and convert them.
Mad with anger, the Emperor Maximian had all the scholars executed. Seduced, however, by Catherine's knowledge and intelligence, he proposed marriage to her. Catherine refused.
Humiliated, Maximian had Catherine tortured using a wheel made of sharp points. But miraculously, the tips broke on contact with Catherine's skin. The emperor then had her beheaded.
Saint Catherine is invoked against migraine by nursing women, and to preserve shipwrecks. She is also the patron saint of barbers, wheelwrights, tail-makers, clothiers, schoolchildren and students, wool-spinners, millers, notaries, nurses, orators, philosophers, plumbers, potters, preachers, grinders, tailors, theologians, turners.