The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting on panel has not been cleaned for quite some time and is quite dirty. The panel is originally made from two pieces of oak joined horizontally; the join is just below the nose. The work is cradled on the reverse. There seem to be old restorations under an old varnish in the lower cheeks and in the beard. There is a good deal of varnish visible under ultraviolet light, but if one looks at the eyes, eyebrows and crown of thorns, there is no real abrasion or instability to the panel. Therefore, even though there may be some broad restorations, it is more than likely that the actual condition of the work is very good.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Small devotional images of Christ on panel were widely executed in Antwerp  throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This specific type of intricately rendered, frontal, and particularly realistic rendering of the suffering Christ seems to have been a speciality of Albrecht Bouts, the son of Dieric Bouts. Though this work displays only the head of Christ (as compared with the more traditional depiction of Christ as the Man of Sorrows, with his right hand raised in blessing, and his left hand raised to show the stigmata), its inspiration does appear to originate from the example of Bouts.