Statuette

This German statuette by an unknown artist from the 16th century shows an angel holding an escutcheon bearing the instruments of the Passion.

It is of pipeclay and was dug up near Cologne. Pipeclay is a fine white clay also used to make tobacco pipes and pottery. Conveniently situated on a major trading route, Siegburg was a centre of ceramic production with well-organised workshops and kilns in which also pipe-clay figures were fired.