St Catherine

This statuette from the 16th century by an unknown artist from Germany represents the saint St Catherine of Alexandria. She is standing crowned, with a wheel by her side. In her right hand is a sword, in her left a ring.

St. Catherine also called St Catherine of the Wheel or the Great Martyr Saint Catherine is a Christian Saint and Martyr. Her principal symbol is a spiked wheel and her feast day is 25th November by most Christian churches. The legend tells that she was to be condemned to death on a wheel, which broke, when she touched it. She was then beheaded instead.

The statuette is made of pipeclay, which is a fine white clay 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.