King, from a Tree of Jesse

This king, enthroned above a twisting branch, belongs to a “Tree of Jesse”, a representation of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. It must have shown the ancestral father Jesse, from whose breast the twining roots with the Saviour’s forefathers grew. The Berlin figure, seen in a tense posture, his head inclined slightly forward and his gaze attentive, is notable for his lifelike and individual facial features. The thick, curly hair and the minutely folded turban give him an air of splendour, which would have been originally confirmed by the ornamental leafage of a crown, now broken off. The figure may have come from the base of a Marian retable like that of Veit Stoss’s altar in the Church of St. Mary in Cracow.