the number 21171 inscribed twice, once in pencil and in yellow paint on the back

Some losses, abrasions, and minor worming, some splits throughout. Vertical crack down back stabilized with glue. Repaired at proper right wrist and down back of ointment jar. Loss to tassel on proper right side of headdress. Remains of later paint. An iron ring for mounting in the upper back.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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RELATED LITERATURE
Barbara Rommé, Gegen den Strom, Meisterwerke niederrheinischer Skulptur in Zeiten der Reformation 1500-1550, Berlin, 1997
Lucretia Goddard Kargère, "The Kalkar School of Carving: Attribution of a Wooden Polychromed Sculpture", in The Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol. 35, 2000, pp. 121-135

The Kalkar Schoo🌼l comprises a small group of artists working in the northeast German city of Kalkar bordering the Netherlands.

The work of three sculptors, Heinrich Douwerman (d. 1533/4), Heinrich van Holt (d. 1545/6), and Arnt van Tricht (d. 1570), can be largely indistinguishable; in particular the work of Douwerman and van Holt, who were probably both trained by Drieܫs Holthuis, bear remarkable similarities.

As in the present example, the figures these artists depicted often wore the latest local fashions of the Northern European nobility. The long, thin nose and pursed lips of this figure of the Magdalene are typical of Kalkar sculpture, but perhaps the most distinguishing feature of sculpture from this group is the carving of the eyes, with a dramatic brow bone, carved at a distinct angle from the plane of the forehead. Even the hair, though it is largely confined beneath an elaborate headpiece, is carved with the same type of undulating curls featured on other figures from this school, as seen in the locks falling onto the shoulders of the figure of Saint Roch in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. no. 16.32.186, attributed to the Kalkar school (Kargère, op. cit., p. 132, fig. 20). The positioning of the hands, one at the body holding the drapery with the 🦹forefinger extended and the other holding an object (in this case the ointment jar) are equally comparable, and the long, delicate fingers seem particularly indicative of the work of Van Tricht. Other figures attributed to the Kalkar school are also draped in a voluminous mantel gathered over the arm and with deeply carved folds.

The sculptors from the Kalkar region provided religious and secular sculpture for🉐 Kalkar, Xanten, and Cleves. Though the Reformation ravaged other areas of Germany, the Lower Rhine region remained mostly unaffected, allowing the economy and thus artistic production to flourish.