St Anne and the Virgin

This portion of a group is by an unknown artist from the early 16th century from Germany and shows the lower portion of St Anne with a small figure of the Virgin standing by her side.

This object was dug up near Cologne and is made of pipeclay, which 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.