{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O151867"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O151867/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PK3150/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PK3150/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PK3150","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O151867/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O151867","accessionNumber":"70:1-1865","objectType":"Relief","titles":[{"title":"The Adoration of the Shepherds","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"This is a relief in alabaster, carved in high relief and mounted within a wooden frame, with gilt stucco ornament on blue ground. It is made in Malines in Flanders in ca. 1580. \nThere are two sorts of alabaster. Calcite alabaster is very hard and was used in ancient times. This object is made of gypsum alabaster which is a fine-grained, soft and smooth stone. Although at first glance it looks a little like marble, which it was intended to imitate, it was much easier to carve due to its softness, and alabaster objects were therefore significantly cheaper to produce. \n\nThe southern Netherlands were an important centre for the production of alabaster sculpture during the 15th century, and while not producing the numbers that the English alabaster workshops turned out, they certainly exceeded their English counterparts in quality of craftsmanship. The English alabaster-carvers dominated the lower end of the market, catering for patrons right across Europe who could not afford to spend very much but were eager to furnish their parish churches and homes with religious imagery. The Netherlandish workshops, by contrast, produced fewer but many times more carefully finished alabaster sculptures, which were also considerably more expensive to buy.","physicalDescription":"Carved in high relief with the Adoration of the Shepherds; in wooden frame, with gilt stucco ornament on blue ground.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"alabaster","id":"AAT11101"},{"text":"wood","id":"AAT11914"},{"text":"stucco","id":"AAT14966"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Alabaster, carved in high relief and wooden frame, with gilt stucco ornament on blue ground","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2025PK3150"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES395137"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"TCRPS (VA)","id":"THES49504"},"free":"","case":"FS","shelf":"","box":"3"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Relief","id":"AAT53622"}],[{"text":"Frame","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Flanders","id":"x36939"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Malines"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1580","earliest":"1575-01-01","latest":"1584-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"36.82","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"12.5","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This object was purchased in 1865 for £40 from a sale at the Pourtalès Collection in Paris, where many Italian art objects were being sold as a result of their flooding the market after the Napolenic wars.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Relief, alabaster, the Adoration of the Shepherds, Flanders (Malines), ca. 1580","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1865. <font -u>Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol. 1.</font> London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 47"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[{"text":"The Adoration of the Shepherds","id":"V162"}],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["70:1-1865","70:2-1865"],"accessionNumberNum":"70","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1865,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Relief Adoration of the Shepherds","Frame"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-14","recordCreationDate":"2008-04-01","availableToBook":false}}