The so-called ‘Hove-Madonna’ is among the most precious medieval sculptures in Norway. Its shapes, carving and polychromy (painted decorations and gilding) are of the highest quality. The Virgin and Child are seated on a throne under a baldachin. Iron hooks on either side of the back panel indicate that the shrine could be closed. According to a source from 1824, the shrine originally had gilded wings with apostles’ reliefs on the insides. During the Middle Ages, the tabernacle shrine was probably situated on the high altar in the small, well-built Romanesque church in Hove.
Around Dover Strait (Northern France, Flanders or Southeast-England)?, 1230–1240
From Hove (Sogn)
Inv. no. MA 27