Holy Wisdom (?) in a Lunette

The craftsmanship of these two works is comparable to the best of the Brooklyn Museum’s genuine Late Antique stone carvings. However, many features show that neither is ancient. Like many forgeries, both figures have unrealistic hair and heavily outlined, staring eyes. The female figure’s garment, with its odd folds and neckline, is without parallels, as is her headdress. She holds an orb with a cross and a scepter, objects held in Late Antique Sculpture only by male archangels, and she appears to stand in front of the framing arch, rather than within it. The paralytic man healed by Jesus was seldom illustrated in this period; moreover, this sizable figure would have been inappropriate in either a tomb or a church. It has been carefully—and unrealistically—damaged only on both hands and one lower edge.