Pilar throne with statue of Holy Mary

Pillar throne for statue of Our Lady

In 1688, Willem I Kerricx designed and installed the white marble console on the first pillar of the Lady Chapel.
It became a veritable throne for the sixteenth-century wooden statue of the Virgin Mary.

Pillar throne for statue of Our Lady, 1688, oak and marble, Willem I Kerricx (1652 – 1719)

The statue stand on a globe, representing the world redeemed by Christ. Mary and her child are ringed by an aureole with eighty-six gilded roses.

The Madonne figure is still carried each year in the procession to mark the Blessing of the River Scheldt.
There are half-reliefs on either side recounting a medieval devil legend. On the left, a rich woman sells her soul to the devil in exchange for eternal youth and beauty. On the right, she wins back her soul after confessing and praying the Rosary at the Dominican church in Antwerp.

The figures are refined and naturalistically carved.

Below the pillar throne is a wooden prayer stool, above which five small painted panels were hung in the eighteenth century. These too extol the benefits of praying the Rosary.

Source: Baroque Pleasure, Masterly craftmanship in the Antwerp monumental churches, 2018